Moving up to a slightly larger bike?

[mr72]

And maybe even an older Ducati Monster ~600 if you feel up for a little more involved maintenance.

Lots of good advice Watcher.

But an m600 doesn't have any more power than a GS. Might be 10 lb lighter.

According to this website (which who knows how accurate but at least it's a consistent source), the GS500E makes about 45HP/29LB-FT and weighs 381 dry.  The M600 makes about 53/35 and weighs 383.

Other sources I read indicate the M600 has 43hp and GS500 51hp. So I suppose the sources vary. Maybe there are differences in the bikes delivered according to geography.

For example, this site quotes the following numbers:

M600 46hp 13.7    sec 1/4 mile
gs500e 51hp 14.2 sec 1/4 mile

Any way you look at it, I think this says performance-wise, the two bikes are comparable if not very close. There would be little point in swapping for performance reasons alone. Now, like I said before, I'd swap over aesthetic reasons. Maybe a hint of "cool factor".

... it reaches peak power at a lower RPM which can change how much pull the motorcycle seems to have.

Yes, my suggestion about "low-end torque" applies here. If you don't rev it, regardless of power, the bike that generates its torque lower in the rev range is going to be quicker and feel a lot quicker.

[Torstein]

lol, i did the opposite... I moved "down" from 750, which admittedly was quicker, but it was also way heavier and not as fun to ride. I'm a smaller guy though, so your milage may vary! best of luck with whatever you decide.

[Watcher]

lol, i did the opposite... I moved "down" from 750, which admittedly was quicker, but it was also way heavier and not as fun to ride.

I went from 500cc to 1200cc to 750cc.

The power was fun but actually a little boring for me.  I missed being able to crack that throttle way open and not immediately get in trouble for it.
Plus better gas mileage, and a more nimble chassis.

[Jim Moore]

First of all I congratulate you for starting on the GS. That makes you smarter than about 90% of the riders I meet. And I meet a lot of them.

Second, your bike will happily rev to the red line all day long. Seriously. To the red line. At full throttle. All day long. Do that for awhile and see if it satisfies your need for speed.

Eventually it won't, so you will need to move on. My advice is to ride the GS this season while saving your pennies. Save up $4000 over the winter and buy an early-2000s 600cc sportbike next spring. The performance you can get out of a $4000 600cc bike will astound, amaze, and appall you. The first time you pass 100 mph in second gear at full throttle you'll be thinking, "OMFG, this can't be legal!" It's great.

[mr72]

. Do that for awhile and see if it satisfies your need for speed.

Eventually it won't, so you will need to move on. My advice is to ride the GS this season while saving your pennies. Save up $4000 over the winter and buy an early-2000s 600cc sportbike next spring.

If you take this advice then the only thing I will add is be sure and fill out your organ donor card.

[Jim Moore]

. Do that for awhile and see if it satisfies your need for speed.

Eventually it won't, so you will need to move on. My advice is to ride the GS this season while saving your pennies. Save up $4000 over the winter and buy an early-2000s 600cc sportbike next spring.

If you take this advice then the only thing I will add is be sure and fill out your organ donor card.

Really? I thought spending a year on the GS then moving up to a 600 was a pretty good idea.

[ski_rush]

If you take this advice then the only thing I will add is be sure and fill out your organ donor card.

I am also not understanding this comment. Why would I "need to fill out an organ donor card" for moving to a 600cc sport bike after a year of riding the GS500? That comment doesn't really seem to make sense.

I will probably keep the GS for a year and move on to something larger next year. I want to take my time and also test out several bikes of different styles to see which one works best for my needs. I don't want to buy something again just to want to swap it so soon again.

[mr72]

The first time you pass 100 mph in second gear at full throttle you'll be thinking, "OMFG, this can't be legal!" It's great.

Yeah, but on public roads in the USA in nearly all cases passing 100mph in 2nd gear is not legal.

[mr72]

Really? I thought spending a year on the GS then moving up to a 600 was a pretty good idea.

I wouldn't say it's a good idea or not. I am mostly commenting on the motivation you intimate, which is that one's desire to go fast and accelerate quickly on public roadways is not satisfied with a GS500.

Now, if you had said, spend a year riding a GS500 then when you are ready to go to the track, try a 600cc sport bike which will be much faster on a racetrack, then sure thing. Sounds great. You ride that 600cc bike all the time without revving it over 8K rpm and it'll be quite similar in road-going performance as a GS500.

But you suggested that somehow it is a given that ordinary motorcyclists will get "bored" with a GS500 and then desire a faster bike. I'd say if that's your personality type, you don't belong on a motorcycle of any kind on the street; certainly not one that will fulfill a need to go 100+mph in 2nd gear and accelerate from a stop light to 100+mph in 11 seconds.

I recently wrote about this very topic on my blog.

[mr72]

I will probably keep the GS for a year and move on to something larger next year.

You may spend a year with the GS500 and find that you no longer feel the need for a larger motorcycle. Or you may find that you want one that's not any more powerful but just different in some other way. Or you may do like a lot of beginners do and lay down your GS500 then scare yourself to the point that you sell it and never even look at a motorcycle again. It's not a given that you will ever need a bigger bike. Plenty of older motorcyclists with hundreds of thousands of miles under their belt and decades of experience choose to ride sub-50hp motorcycles with no regrets at all.

[qcbaker]

...

Now, if you had said, spend a year riding a GS500 then when you are ready to go to the track, try a 600cc sport bike which will be much faster on a racetrack, then sure thing. Sounds great. You ride that 600cc bike all the time without revving it over 8K rpm and it'll be quite similar in road-going performance as a GS500.

But you suggested that somehow it is a given that ordinary motorcyclists will get "bored" with a GS500 and then desire a faster bike. I'd say if that's your personality type, you don't belong on a motorcycle of any kind on the street; certainly not one that will fulfill a need to go 100+mph in 2nd gear and accelerate from a stop light to 100+mph in 11 seconds.
...

While I agree that if the only reason you want to upgrade is that you want to be able to ride like a squid, then you shouldn't be riding on public roads, I do feel the need to point out that being "faster" isn't the only thing a middleweight supersport has to offer as an upgrade from the GS. A supersport will have better brakes, better suspension, better handling, better tire options, and more rider aids (ABS, traction control, etc.). There's more to it than simply "Well, my GS500 couldn't do 120mph rolling burnouts, but my GSX-R can".

But, regarding more power, I don't think wanting a bike with more "oomph" is necessarily a bad thing. Sure, you could accomplish that feeling with similar peak power numbers, if the power is delivered lower in the rev range. But, you'd then miss out on some of the other benefits of having a supersport (given, of course, that the things a supersport offers are what you're looking for).

[Watcher]

Plenty of older motorcyclists with hundreds of thousands of miles under their belt and decades of experience choose to ride sub-50hp motorcycles with no regrets at all.

At least one forum resident has over 100k miles and decades of experience on exactly a GS500.  It's quite a capable machine.

[mr72]

While I agree that if the only reason you want to upgrade is that you want to be able to ride like a squid, then you shouldn't be riding on public roads, I do feel the need to point out that being "faster" isn't the only thing a middleweight supersport has to offer as an upgrade from the GS.

Yes but this was precisely the advice that was given, and what I was responding to.

A supersport will have better brakes, better suspension, better handling, better tire options, and more rider aids (ABS, traction control, etc.).

If so it will also be a lot more expensive than a GS500.

But, regarding more power, I don't think wanting a bike with more "oomph" is necessarily a bad thing.

Neither do I, even though I am not convinced that most solo riders actually need more power.

There are times when more power and a different chassis geometry are really a big advantage, that's for sure. I ride my GS500 at 1/3-1/2 throttle 99% of the time and shift before 8K, so you know even I can understand that if I had a bike with 20% more power I would just ride at 1/4-1/3 throttle. No big deal. Performance is the same. You need 9 hp? you use 9 hp, even if the bike can do 20, 30, 50, 100. As long as you can get what you need, then go for it. There are lots of uses for "more power" and I concede fully that the way I enjoy riding a motorcycle happens to work great with a bike like a GS500, and some folks may use their bike differently and desire more power.

But the presumption that you are going to somehow find yourself "needing" a more powerful bike after spending a year on the "beginner" GS500, like it's some kind of training-wheels thing, and then the discussion of passing 100mph in 2nd gear, well that's the talk of an immature fool. By your definition, "ride like a squid".

And I will point out that the OP did suggest one of the downsides of the GS500 is "Tires are kind of skinny looking."

Given the admitted inexperience of the OP (and no offense to the OP here... you said you have only been riding two months...) sticking with the GS500 for a while is the best advice. Your stated reason for wanting a bigger bike due to wind will not improve dramatically with something bigger unless you go with a heavy touring rig anyway. What will improve your "bike's" performance in wind is more experience. Most of what you are attributing to weaknesses in the motorcycle are actually just the fruit of inexperience with the bike. I know this because I went through it myself less than a year ago.

Check this out, it details my thoughts more thoroughly. And spend a year learning how to ride and about yourself. The GS500 is the perfect platform for that.

[qcbaker]

A supersport will have better brakes, better suspension, better handling, better tire options, and more rider aids (ABS, traction control, etc.).

If so it will also be a lot more expensive than a GS500.

Well, yeah. But, I feel like that's to be expected when "upgrading" your bike.

Neither do I, even though I am not convinced that most solo riders actually need more power.

Most people don't even "need" a motorcycle. Barely anything is truly about what a rider "needs", its about what a rider wants.

There are times when more power and a different chassis geometry are really a big advantage, that's for sure. I ride my GS500 at 1/3-1/2 throttle 99% of the time and shift before 8K, so you know even I can understand that if I had a bike with 20% more power I would just ride at 1/4-1/3 throttle. No big deal. Performance is the same. You need 9 hp? you use 9 hp, even if the bike can do 20, 30, 50, 100. As long as you can get what you need, then go for it. There are lots of uses for "more power" and I concede fully that the way I enjoy riding a motorcycle happens to work great with a bike like a GS500, and some folks may use their bike differently and desire more power.

I ride my GS more aggressively than you, for sure. When riding for fun (i.e. not commuting), I try not to shift until around 9-10K (not quite redline, but close) to keep the bike near peak power. It feels more responsive this way to me. I can understand wanting the bike to feel like that even when not near redline.

But the presumption that you are going to somehow find yourself "needing" a more powerful bike after spending a year on the "beginner" GS500, like it's some kind of training-wheels thing, and then the discussion of passing 100mph in 2nd gear, well that's the talk of an immature fool. By your definition, "ride like a squid".

I agree with you here, since like I said earlier, barely thing concerning motorcycling is truly a "need." And yeah, proclaiming a goal of going 100mph in 2nd is squid territory. All I'm saying is, if the kind of riding you want to do is best served by a supersport, then the GS absolutely can be viewed as a beginner "training wheels" kind of bike for you. That doesn't make it a bad bike, or that it can't be a "forever bike" for someone else.

Maybe I'm biased because I plan on upgrading to a GSX-R600 next year and trying to get into track days... lol

And I will point out that the OP did suggest one of the downsides of the GS500 is "Tires are kind of skinny looking."

Given the admitted inexperience of the OP (and no offense to the OP here... you said you have only been riding two months...) sticking with the GS500 for a while is the best advice. Your stated reason for wanting a bigger bike due to wind will not improve dramatically with something bigger unless you go with a heavy touring rig anyway. What will improve your "bike's" performance in wind is more experience. Most of what you are attributing to weaknesses in the motorcycle are actually just the fruit of inexperience with the bike. I know this because I went through it myself less than a year ago.

Check this out, it details my thoughts more thoroughly. And spend a year learning how to ride and about yourself. The GS500 is the perfect platform for that.

I agree with basically everything you said here. I'd just like to add that if the OP is getting blown around by the wind, they should try to make a conscious effort to grip the tank hard with their legs, and unweight the bars. The less downward pressure on the bars, the less accidental steering input will be given to the wheel. If you're light on the bars, you wont get blown off course as much.

[Jim Moore]

If you take this advice then the only thing I will add is be sure and fill out your organ donor card.

I am also not understanding this comment. Why would I "need to fill out an organ donor card" for moving to a 600cc sport bike after a year of riding the GS500? That comment doesn't really seem to make sense.

I will probably keep the GS for a year and move on to something larger next year. I want to take my time and also test out several bikes of different styles to see which one works best for my needs. I don't want to buy something again just to want to swap it so soon again.

Hey, I think you messed up the quotes a little bit. I didn't say anything about donor cards. I said 600s are awesome! Because they are!

But to be clear, I'm not endorsing high speed shenanigans on public roads. Just kidding, of course I am. OP, that's why you bought a motorcycle. Let your inner hooligan be free!

[Watcher]

I'd just like to add that if the OP is getting blown around by the wind, they should try to make a conscious effort to grip the tank hard with their legs, and unweight the bars. The less downward pressure on the bars, the less accidental steering input will be given to the wheel. If you're light on the bars, you wont get blown off course as much.

Maybe not grip hard but proper posture requires your contact with the bike from the waist down bear the entire burden so your arms can remain free to move.  Balls of your feet on the pegs, not the heel or arch, knees against the tank, rear positioned for a comfortable knee bend, your core holding your upper body up.
Not only will it make the bike feel "lighter", but it will be less effected by wind, bumps, and other roadway influences and follow your input more readily.

[qcbaker]

Maybe not grip hard...

Maybe "hard" was the wrong word. "Firmly" is probably better lol.

[1018cc]

So much hate for upgrading to a larger bike! I get that this is a GS500 forum but I mustn't be the only person that looks around for a new bike just to see what's out there just because? Maybe I'll cop some flack because I can appreciate other brands / models for what they are? I'd love a Buell or a Triumph Street / Speed Triple.

More power would be nice but it'll only go as fast as you twist your wrist. I think the real upgrade comes from better suspension (which everyone knows the stock GS suspension - both ends - is ordinary at best) and the brakes. I've been on smaller bikes than the GS and their brakes feel like they pull up way better than just being slightly lighter in weight. I mostly commute everyday on my bike but I do enjoy a weekend ride to get coffee and my bike does see redline / full throttle quite often.

I think you should probably spend a bit more time on the GS / something smaller if you are just commuting every day as 2 months isn't all that long. Although if you are commuting I can see that something like better brakes wouldn't go astray as I always feel like I have to grab a handful of front brakes compared to other bikes. Its just a shame that new flash bikes with good suspension, brakes and more power cost money!

[ski_rush]

Update...I took the bike for a long ride yesterday and I made sure that I shifted at over 7000 rpms... It was a lot more fun. That said, I still feel like I could use some more low end grunt.

I originally didn't like cruisers but I'm definitely interested in testing some different style bikes. A "modern" style cruiser is growing on me.

[J_Walker]

Update...I took the bike for a long ride yesterday and I made sure that I shifted at over 7000 rpms... It was a lot more fun. That said, I still feel like I could use some more low end grunt.

I originally didn't like cruisers but I'm definitely interested in testing some different style bikes. A "modern" style cruiser is growing on me.

V4, or Vtwin is what you're looking for... I'm a torque junkie myself, [Suzuki 2strokes from the late 90s URGGHHHH YES LOW END POWERRRR] check out the SV650, seriously...