DR650 or a pair of offroad tires and engine guards...

[TundraOG]

Hey guys.
I've had my GS500 for a little more than a year now, over that time I've clocked about 20K KM on her (she's now at the ripe age of 87K), replaced a bunch of things and basically have got an almost-new bike. I love it, it looks pretty good, it's economical, cheap to run and fix, comfy on long rides, fast as hell if you have the guts for it (about 190 KPH), overall a great bike...but I miss the offroad part so much.

I used to have a beat up Honda 250 street bike that I'd take trail riding around forests, that thing wasn't built for it but I never dropped it once, it was very light and stable at the trails. The GS has been through some gravel as well, where I dropped it on my leg and realized just how heavy this bike is...not at all confidence inspiring offroad, though it might have been my lack of experience with it since I crashed just a few months after I bought it.

I'll soon be going to the University, and affordability is a very important factor. For what I can sell my GS for I can get a used DR650 (also with a fair amount of miles, we use bikes here as a primary means of transportation and ride year-round). On the one had the DR650 can be great offroad, but who know what I'll have to fix in order to get it running properly. On the other hand, my GS had everything replaced already and I think with some 80/20 tires and an engine guard I'll be able to cover some dirt tracks/fire roads with relative ease...wouldn't I? I'm also fairly sentimental about my GS and don't really want to sell her...

Plus, because I'll be taking the train to the University, most of my rides will be around town, to the train station and once every couple of weeks a 100 KM ride to visit my family and friends down south... I've seen people who put dual sport tires on a GS and cover fairly large distances on it...will it do the job? I'm not looking to do any extreme offroading/hill climbing/dune riding.

[qcbaker]

With knobby tires and tuned suspension, the GS can handle light off-road duty pretty well. It'll never truly be the right tool for off-roading, but as long as you keep it reasonable you should be okay.

[Watcher]

If all you're doing is dirt roads or gravel some nice DS tires will suit you just fine.

But, if you want to actually do some single-track the suspension, weight, and handling of the DR will be much better.

Can you find a used DRZ400S for cheap?  I really like the 400cc engine as opposed to the more industry common 250 and 650, you get a good amount of torque and power over the 250 without being as large of a bike as the 650.

[1018cc]

I take my GS off road reasonably regularly. I'm surprised at how well it handles it on 100% road tyres. I mainly stick to gravel / dirt vehicle tracks so it depends on how rough you want to go. My brother in law has a 650 Versys and I seem to handle the off road things we do better than him on his bike. I think it more comes down to the rider than the bike for easy going stuff - I have more experience off road than he does.

[TundraOG]

First of all - thanks for the replies, guys!

qcbaker - what do you mean by tuned suspension? do you mean adjusting the preload on the monoshock or replacing it and the forks as well? because the GS absorbs bumps on the road quite well.

Watcher - sadly , all cheap DRZ400s are in horrible condition (as are 95% of the GS500s in my country), and new ones would cost me about 3 times what I can get for my GS...so not quite an option.

1018cc - I tried offroading with my Pilot Street Radial set, as well as my previous Metzler Lasertec set, felt very sketchy at best on both of them and not very confidence inspiring...

[1018cc]

1018cc - I tried offroading with my Pilot Street Radial set, as well as my previous Metzler Lasertec set, felt very sketchy at best on both of them and not very confidence inspiring...

I run Pilot Street Radials at the moment too. Sure they move around a lot but I've gotten used to them - definitely not for full motocrossing. My BIL runs 90/10 tyres which harks back to I think most people need to work on their skills before blaming their bike / equipment.

[qcbaker]

qcbaker - what do you mean by tuned suspension? do you mean adjusting the preload on the monoshock or replacing it and the forks as well? because the GS absorbs bumps on the road quite well.

All I mean is that the suspension system is set up with off-road riding in mind. With the stock suspension, I think the front suspension is a bit soft. I would stiffen it up a bit for off-road use to avoid bottoming it out.

[Bluesmudge]

With the GS suspension set up for your weight and a good set of tires, it does pretty good off pavement. Most single track is going to be too much for the GS to handle but most anything you would drive in an SUV should be possible on the GS. I have put TKC80s on mine and had a blast on gravel roads.

The biggest problem with the GS is ground clearance over rocks (fairing on F models and exhaust headers on E models). The next problem is the foot peg placement (bad ergonomics when standing).