Watch out for a burnt front fender - like this one.

[The Buddha]

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/mcy/5951358633.html

Look for the you tube link at the bottom of the ad, and @ the end he shows the burnt front fender. Its a classic sign the motor overheated @ some point. And oddly I've noticed that in 96 and later bikes far more than earlier.

It could have over heated one time and still work fine for a long time. But its one of those someone should watch out for.
A overheated motor will also always use oil, even if it is just 1 time, till a good nice full rebuild (rings especially) are done. Of course a normal GS also uses oil, so no surprise there. Maybe the 96 on ones used oil cos the factory tightened up the rings tolerances cos they got sick of hearing the customers complain of oil use. Then they gave it a reason to overheat and use oil. LOL.
Cool.
Buddha.

[J_Walker]

I've had my GS's pipe glowing a faint red for over 3 hours due to broken exhaust valve before I fixed it., with the stock fender [before I molested it] while it had been a cold night that night, it never warped the front fender like this.. not even slightly. that is horrible.. that's almost like its spent most of its life sitting in traffic... oh GS's LOVE TRAFFIC. [not] 

first time seeing this issue actually.. very interesting indeed.

[ShowBizWolf]

It really is horrible J_Walker... that is the worst one I've ever seen... my jaw literally dropped when he showed it in the video.

I've seen melted fender threads on here before, seen quite a few melted ones on ebay and one of the scrap fenders I bought off here that I used to make the one that's currently on my GS was melted when I got it. Not any more tho!

[The Buddha]

Its got to be running and the suspension compressing and getting close to the overheating exhaust/motor.
Its one of those sell it before the overheated motor seizes up.
It could be a non issue, but every bike I've seen with that type of damage was also owned by a clueless clown, and obviously they blew it up, or smartly sold them (one to my friend - but he only paid $150 for it) before it blew.

Cool.
Buddha.