The GS500 and it's place in the motorcycle communities worldwide!

[TundraOG]

With a very big following and over 20 years of production, the GS500 is known in many countries around the world. To some just a budget commuter, it holds a place in our hearts, and in some countries even some status even after all those years.

Here in Israel, Suzuki was the first to break the "Japanese apartheid" in the 80's and started importing bikes to a market that mostly consisted of Vespas, BSA's, Enfields and the likes of them. In the 90's came the introduction of new license regulations - "Up to 500cc" and "No restriction", meaning that anyone who wished to get a motorcycle license was at first restricted to a 500cc or less motorcycle, and had a chance to remove the restriction at the age of 21 (but were required to have at least a year of experience with a restricted license, no matter the age of the rider).

These new regulations made certain bikes a lot more appealing than others, as many did not want to go through the hassle of essentially re-learning to ride a motorcycle in order to get an unrestricted license. Thus, bikes like the Honda CB500, Kawasaki's 500 series (consisting of the GPZ, ER, EN and KLE) and of course the Suzuki GS500 were on very high demand for being the most powerful bike any young person with a fresh new license could ride.

As times went by, the GS500 has earned it's respect in the Israeli biker community for being a "reliable workhorse", an all-rounder that could take abuse and get you anywhere, the perfect beginner's bike, or just a great touring machine for the average Joe.
By the early 2010's the GS500 has gained a whole new reputation. The new European license registration were assigned to Israel as well, and there were now 3 types of licenses - the A2 license, which you could get at the age of 16 and is restricted to 125cc or 14 horsepower, the A1 license which has engine capacity restriction but is restricted to 47 horsepower, and the A "unrestricted" license.

With these new regulations, GS blue-book values have skyrocketed. The distributor of Kawasaki motorcycles has registered the entire 500 line as "50 HP" (even though most have 45-47 HP, probably to boost sales with a rounder number. It is possible to get a document that re-registers the bike as a restricted model, but those are VERY rare ), and the Honda out, as well as the GS500F which is registered as 51 HP. With a registered 47 HP, right on the nose, the GS500E got a whole new place in the Israeli biker community as the ONLY budget-friendly commuter that offered more power than the other 250's on the market, especially for those who couldn't afford to pay for a new 500cc bike like the Honda CBR500/CB500F/CB500X or the various "restricted" 650's.

Most of the recent owners have bought the bike as a compromise until they're able to get their unrestricted license, some treating it with a lack of respect and abuse it until they can jump unto the next victim, most fitting an aftermarket cheap exhaust on it to make it sound like a lawn mower, with very few riders who actually care for the aging bike.

Today, most GS500's here have had a tough life, leaking or burning oil almost as a standard, thrown from one abusing owner to the next, faded graphics which are cheaply repainted in many cases, finding one in original condition seems to be impossible, but there is still hope that some day some of these bikes will be saved and restored to working condition.


So tell me guys, how are the GS500's viewed in your country? what's the state of the bikes there? do they hold some sort of "cult-status" as well? Please share your thoughts and opinions!

[gruntle]

It's a workhorse with a tadful of grunt if you scream the ballllls off it, get off your high horse 'n' ride the efffin' thing...

[Watcher]

In the USA there are no restrictions on licenses.  It's dumb, but what can you do...  You get your license and can get a damn Hayabusa as your first bike!

But that being said, the GS500 seems fairly common.  A lot of people take the same sort of bikes whether Ninja500 or Honda CB500 and treat them as something cheap and small to learn street manners before getting power, so you see a LOT that are abused.
But many people see them as good all around working-man's motorcycles and hold onto them for years at a time instead of tossing them to the side after a month or two.

You see a good blend of used and abused and well cared for in the market.  It all depends what you want to pay for it.
Interestingly enough, despite always seeing them for sale I don't run into them so often actually on the road.
Nobody flaunts them, people here seem mostly into cruisers or sport-bikes and the whole "naked" class seems to be treated as a novice style or something.

[MichaelM3]

In the Australian market a GS500 is considered a fine learner's bike (we have a license restriction system too). Cheap and cheerful - until you want something more. Frequently the bikes have had several learner owners which means the bikes have been dropped, not carefully repaired and not well maintained. Although, you do still see some very low kilometer bikes on the market for not a lot of money.

From what I've seen on other forums the bike doesn't have much in the way of status. It's "in between" in a lot of ways - a lot were made but you don't see that many on the road, it's 'old' technology but you can get one that was made only three years ago. My guess is that as time passes there will be some increase in interest for these bikes with no technology.

[TundraOG]

In the Australian market a GS500 is considered a fine learner's bike (we have a license restriction system too). Cheap and cheerful - until you want something more. Frequently the bikes have had several learner owners which means the bikes have been dropped, not carefully repaired and not well maintained. Although, you do still see some very low kilometer bikes on the market for not a lot of money.

From what I've seen on other forums the bike doesn't have much in the way of status. It's "in between" in a lot of ways - a lot were made but you don't see that many on the road, it's 'old' technology but you can get one that was made only three years ago. My guess is that as time passes there will be some increase in interest for these bikes with no technology.

I personally love the lack of technology on this bike. Simple and raw, 2 wheels, frame and engine is really all you need. No traction control, engine modes, cruise control, etc. I love how you can just strip a bike like this apart in your back yard and figure it out yourself.
If wr can mabage without a fuel gauge we can hadle anything!

[mr72]

I personally love the lack of technology on this bike.

Same here. The simplicity was one of the main things that attracted me to the GS500 to begin with.

The other thing I don't really get is the "beginner bike" thing. First of all, the GS500 is not even close to being slow or underpowered. I can understand if you regularly commute at 75+ mph then you probably need something with more power but this is not a beginner/expert thing, it's a matter of where and how you use it. Some very common bikes around here are the Harley Sportster 883s and they have about the same power as my GS500E. Only die-hard Harley guys call a Sportster 883 a 'beginner' bike. And my GS500E has very noticeably more power than my dad's Shadow 750, especially considering that it's well over 100 lb lighter. But nobody calls a sub-45hp cruiser a "beginner" bike, even though there are tons of them in the 750-1000cc range and they are almost all way over 500 lb.

I guess it's just the sport bike guys who think a 45-50hp sub-400lb motorcycle is for "beginners". But for a standard bike it's right in the range of normal and significantly above average for most sub-liter cruisers.

[sledge]

In your (very inexperienced) opinion of course.

You really should spend some time with something that came about in say the 21st century. You may have a different opinion.

[qcbaker]

I personally love the lack of technology on this bike.

Same here. The simplicity was one of the main things that attracted me to the GS500 to begin with.

The other thing I don't really get is the "beginner bike" thing. First of all, the GS500 is not even close to being slow or underpowered. I can understand if you regularly commute at 75+ mph then you probably need something with more power but this is not a beginner/expert thing, it's a matter of where and how you use it. Some very common bikes around here are the Harley Sportster 883s and they have about the same power as my GS500E. Only die-hard Harley guys call a Sportster 883 a 'beginner' bike. And my GS500E has very noticeably more power than my dad's Shadow 750, especially considering that it's well over 100 lb lighter. But nobody calls a sub-45hp cruiser a "beginner" bike, even though there are tons of them in the 750-1000cc range and they are almost all way over 500 lb.

I guess it's just the sport bike guys who think a 45-50hp sub-400lb motorcycle is for "beginners". But for a standard bike it's right in the range of normal and significantly above average for most sub-liter cruisers.

I think most sportbike fans (myself included) consider the GS500 a good beginner bike because it is relatively light, has decent handling, delivers power in a predictable way, and most of all its pretty forgiving. You can learn to ride (read: make mistakes) with the bike and most of the time it wont be catastrophic. And it being so low-tech, its a great way to introduce yourself to working on your bike. Lastly, its powerful enough that you're less likely to get bored with it after your first year or two riding. Its something forgiving enough to start on, but powerful enough to grow into.

[mr72]

In your (very inexperienced) opinion of course.

Yes, of course. Although I don't lack experience driving other vehicles on the road, or talking to other motorcycle owners and riders with a ton of experience, many of whom I have known for decades.

Any vehicle that will go 0-60mph in under 5 seconds and has a top speed over 100mph is hard to consider "beginner" outside of the context of sport bikes.

You really should spend some time with something that came about in say the 21st century. You may have a different opinion.

No doubt. I probably won't change my opinion that I like older, simpler and lighter options. But I certainly can see the appeal of some more modern technology.

[Bluesmudge]

I had a Vstrom 1000 for awhile. Eventually I sold it and stuck with the GS. I don't know if its true about all modern bikes, but the Vstrom just didn't have the life in it that my GS does. Also the Vstrom required no maintenance at all and would cruise happily at 90 mph. It was just boooooring and required no commitment from me to keep it running.

The GS is simple, lightweight, powerful enough, and has just enough problems and quirks to keep me interested mechanically. Best of all, the GS is simple enough that I can work on it and even make a few drastic mechanical mistakes and it will keep running and teaching me.

Additionally, there is just enough aftermarket parts/accessory/"farkle" support that you can turn the GS into whatever bike you want, but you have to do just enough parts hunting that the resulting bike feels uniquely yours.
The very existence of this amazing forum speaks volumes to the broad appeal of the GS500 in all of its forms.

[MichaelM3]

I personally love the lack of technology on this bike. Simple and raw, 2 wheels, frame and engine is really all you need. No traction control, engine modes, cruise control, etc. I love how you can just strip a bike like this apart in your back yard and figure it out yourself.
If we can manage without a fuel gauge we can handle anything!

It's a really good point.

I was on a ride recently with a group of Learner riders (mostly on small Ninjas and Honda CBRs) being shepherded by more experienced rider (on a variety of bigger machines).
One of them glanced at their dash and quoted 'external' air temperature. This is just information for information's sake. And, following Murphy's Law, just another thing to go wrong.
But the thing that really surprised me was how much time they spent talking about where the next petrol station was. It occurred to me that if you're riding a bike that has a petrol gauge or a 'get petrol' warning light then you may not ever actually work out how far you can go on a tank. You'd depend on the machine to do the thinking.
All I knew was that the round trip was going to be about 350 ks and I'd started with a full tank, that meant I'd get home before going to reserve. If a really strong head wind came up or I felt like twisting the wrist a bit harder, I'd tick onto Reserve and get home.

What I like about the GS500 - it's an honest machine that isn't trying to be something that it's not nor is it a restricted version of something else.

[TundraOG]

I personally love the lack of technology on this bike. Simple and raw, 2 wheels, frame and engine is really all you need. No traction control, engine modes, cruise control, etc. I love how you can just strip a bike like this apart in your back yard and figure it out yourself.
If we can manage without a fuel gauge we can handle anything!

It's a really good point.

I was on a ride recently with a group of Learner riders (mostly on small Ninjas and Honda CBRs) being shepherded by more experienced rider (on a variety of bigger machines).
One of them glanced at their dash and quoted 'external' air temperature. This is just information for information's sake. And, following Murphy's Law, just another thing to go wrong.
But the thing that really surprised me was how much time they spent talking about where the next petrol station was. It occurred to me that if you're riding a bike that has a petrol gauge or a 'get petrol' warning light then you may not ever actually work out how far you can go on a tank. You'd depend on the machine to do the thinking.
All I knew was that the round trip was going to be about 350 ks and I'd started with a full tank, that meant I'd get home before going to reserve. If a really strong head wind came up or I felt like twisting the wrist a bit harder, I'd tick onto Reserve and get home.

What I like about the GS500 - it's an honest machine that isn't trying to be something that it's not nor is it a restricted version of something else.

Exactlly! My "fuel gauge" is my trip meter 
Coming from a CBF250, which wasn't that high tech compared to most modern 250s (still had s carb and mechanic speedo/tachometer), it still had things like a clock and a fuel gauge, but "luckily" the fuel gauge didn't really work that often and I was used to relying on my trip meter by the time I got the GS.

Bluesmudge - I can totally relate. There is some kind of thrill in riding on a bike that isn't 100 precent reliable and has it's quirks (I say this despite my ol' lady being remarkabley reliable on long rides). A bike with 10K miles service intervals...what kind of fun is that? 
Also - you're right about the costumisation part. I sometimes hang out with a couple of othef GS500 riders and every bike feels a LOT different than the next one - one with clip ons, LED dash, windscreen and loud pipes; another one with pink pinstripes and fluffy pink grips and a cushion-like seat (belongs to a female friend obviously), and then there's my stock lady