I'm curious how many miles these engines have gone without giving up the ghost or requiring a major rebuild. I am at 22k on my clock right now, and hoping to get many many more click on the odometer before she needs a rebuild... How far have you are you at without a rebuild?
Not me but a mechanic at my local Suzuki Dealership said he's seen em with 75k still runnin no rebuild no major work done!!!!
I only got 35,488 miles before the base gasket let go (here: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=25011.msg353778#msg353778); if it hadn't been for that, I don't know how much longer it would'ave lasted.
Put 80k on my 97 with no engine work and it still ran as good as ever, but I parked it last June because the newer 02 runs much better particularly when cold outside. It just didn't make a good winter bike so the 02 is getting rust ugly instead.
On the 97 the intake valves never were adjusted in 80k miles, but the exhaust valves were receeding into the seats and one was down to a minimum thickness shim. Would have had to do something with that within the next 5-10k miles if I was still using it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/valveclearances.jpg
Mine was using tons of oil at 48K. That was the only problem though. Didn;t even bother, just oil up and ride.
Cool.
Srinath.
I've got 25K and it's running better than ever. Hasn't needed a valve adjustment since initial check at 6K, and I rev it out to redline (valve-float limiter) all the time. Oil consumption hasn't changed either, still just about .75L every 1500mi or so.
I kad a friend who supposedly had 200,000 miles on a GS500 who was a courier in South Africa. He gave it a new top end (bored and new pistons, and a valve grind) at 100,000miles. After 200K the motor was still going but the rest of the bike was shot.
He was in South Africa so he could have meant KM instead of miles, but stilll 60,000 miles before a new top end and then another 60,000 miles is pretty damn good, especially seving courier duty.