GStwin.com GS500 Message Forum

I've ridden a few bikes in my day.  Most recently, an r6, gsxr750, and a fz1.  In my opinion, the GS is more than enough bike for the street.  Rode a FZ1 tonight and bought crapped my diaper.  I ride the GS to and from school, work, girlfriends house, and everything in between.  I don't see the need for anything more.  I have several friends that have super sports and ride them at most twice a week.  It's my opinion that too much bike leads to too much garage time.  Am I the only one that feels this way?  While I might get a super sport for the track, I'm dedicated to the GS for the street.  I recommend the GS as a good street bike to all riders new and experienced.  I often see others gettin post happy about thier "new" bikes.  I admit, I sometimes suffer from bike envy, but is there any need for more than the GS on the street?

I have too much garage time no matter how much bike I have.  In actuallity I've only had 400's, 500's, 600's, 750's, 900's, and 1000's as streetbikes and they didn't follow any particular fluid curve:

The 400's (Bandit, XJ) have spent the most time in the garage being worked on.
The 500's (GS, EX) almost the entire time I owned them in the garage, but because I had no time for them.
The 600's (FZ, FZR, CBR, ZX) have spent the most time borken.
The 750's (GS, ZX, Kat) had no down time.
The 900's (CB, KZ) NEVER worked.
The 1000's (TL, Goldwing) have spent more time in the shop than any of the others, but because I build custom parts for them.

I do consider it enough for what I currently do, which is pretty much joy-riding.   It keeps up with 80MPH traffic with no complaints, and God knows it's reliable.   

My 2005 F is my second GS, but the "next" bike will be something more like a V-strom, because I want to do some long-distance travelling, and the GS is just a little small for that (for me...mainly because it is too tough on my 41-year-old legs and lower back). 

:thumb:

The GS500 is 'enough' for the street, but my Ninja 650 isn't 'too much' either.

I find the GS500 alot more fun around town, and the Ninja much more pleasant on the highway.  The only thing I can thing of that the GS isn't good for is two-up long distance touring. Solo tours, track days, commuting, recreational street riding, all within the realm of the GS.

That being said, I loves me some fuel injection, and the Ninja 650 is perfect for my street uses. Now that I found top and side cases, I shoudn't have any need for another (street) bike. Dirt bike, on the other hand ...  :icon_twisted:

Spagthorpe ... yea those wooden wheels man ...
Cool.
Srinath.

I don't quite get the statement "more than enough for the street and I don't see the need for anything more. "

Just like anything else in the world people will buy what they like or pleases them.  If everybody was only allowed to buy a car that was enough for the street, then the world would be full of Yugo's.  The power is there in any automobile out there, do we really need a 500hp car?  A turbo charged SUV?  A super sportcar that only rides 2?  

No but people buy them because it's what they like / want.   If I fancy a busa thats what I would get, doesn't matter if it has more power than I'll ever need.  What matters is haveing the sense the maturity ( maybe thats the work I'm looking for ) not to go 200mph in a car or on a bike.  Having the sense to realize that the local roads are not my private race tracks.  Having the sense not to use the power that is on tap.  And if your not smart enough to realize that then you shoudn't be driving anything faster than a peddle car.

I got a little under 3K miles sense I got the 750, the wife has over 4K on her 600 and she's been out of town for a month and a half.  So no I don't think to much bike leads to to much garage time.  Maybe your friends are just weekend riders  :dunno_white:. 

Having a lot of horsepower and torque is a lot of fun.  I know now that I can never. . . ever. . .  buy a bike with less power than the one I currently ride.  Onward and upward, I say.
I am sure if I ever got a bike with less power, I would be disappointed with it, so I don't want to do that.  I think that power is something you get addicted to and then you get used to it and then you want more.

I dream about having a VFR800 but I would miss the extra HP of my VTR so I would have to have both. 

I have to say that for some the GS is definitely not "enough for the street".  I am 6'4" and weigh 230lbs.  While the bike is a blast around town it just does not cut it on the highway, even with me alone on it.  Also, the stability is not very confidence inspiring over longer distances.  For a city bike, it would be perfect, but that is about it for me.  As far as down time goes, the gs only saw a week worth of time where it was not out.  Other than that I rode it every day, just as I do now with the gt650r.

the gs is a good city bike. so are many other nakeds of more displacement and horsepower. its the light weight and upright ergos that make it good for the city.
my 600rr gets ridden maybe once a week-often at the track-but it gets ridden no more or less than my gs did.

Don't get me wrong I LOVE my GS but... after owning a DL1000 V-Strom, which is still upright, has lots of power, and is suprisingly flickable, the GS is now just left to track days for me.