Hi folks.
I recently bought my first bike which is a 1990 GS500 with approx 40,000kms . I was wondering if anyone could give me some pointers of things to look at that may be common issues for my year of bike? It dont seem to be in too terrible shape, but being a new rider, i want to make sure i didnt buy a lemon. :D
a couple things i have noticed so far is that the motor has a bit of oil on it, but isnt dripping anywhere. best bet i figure, is to clean the motor first and try to see where it comes from.
the main concern for me at the moment is that there is a rattle that comes and goes once in a while. i'm guessing cam chain?
I've got a good friend who knows a fair bit about bikes and he is willing to help me get it sorted out, but i thought i would ask you kind folks and see if there is anything particular i should be paying attention to. once i have all the mechanical stuff back to a1 , i'll start with cleaning it up and painting it...lol
Any advice or suggestions are appreciated. I have a feeling i will be online here on the forum quite often over the next few months reading threads... :thumb:
Thanks for reading and heres a pic.
(http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt110/billybongw/0925100911a.jpg)
Looks pretty good for it's age! Do you have a service manual for it? They are extremely useful.
Depending on the previous maintainence, the carbs may need cleaned, valves adjusted, battery topped off & charged, oil changed, brake pads, etc, etc. But as far as a lemon...... I havent heard of a bad GS500 yet.
Hi there,
Welcome to our site. :)
Hmmm, so you are a new rider, bought a bike and are NOW asking what kinds of things to look out for, after you BOUGHT it?
Very interesting. :)
Why didn't you ask about it BEFORE you bought it? :)
Seems like it doesn't matter if it has any issues or not now. You already own it. :)
Best wishes,
Trwhouse
Hi,normal for early models to have a little rattle from cams (too much endfloat from factory,don`t worry if thats what it is) looks ok for year,looking at fork tubes on photo frontend looks soft,might be worth fitting spacers above springs or progresive springs.
Quote from: Trwhouse on September 26, 2010, 02:48:23 PM
Hi there,
Welcome to our site. :)
Hmmm, so you are a new rider, bought a bike and are NOW asking what kinds of things to look out for, after you BOUGHT it?
Very interesting. :)
Why didn't you ask about it BEFORE you bought it? :)
Seems like it doesn't matter if it has any issues or not now. You already own it. :)
Best wishes,
Trwhouse
lol.... i didnt figure it would take long for someone to leave something sarcastic.... :D
Quote from: JAY W on September 26, 2010, 03:06:46 PM
Hi,normal for early models to have a little rattle from cams (too much endfloat from factory,don`t worry if thats what it is) looks ok for year,looking at fork tubes on photo frontend looks soft,might be worth fitting spacers above springs or progresive springs.
i noticed that the one fork tube has oil leaking from it, so fork seals are down on the list.....lol.
good to know about the rattle.
thank you.
Quote from: Big Rich on September 26, 2010, 01:17:29 PM
Looks pretty good for it's age! Do you have a service manual for it? They are extremely useful.
Depending on the previous maintainence, the carbs may need cleaned, valves adjusted, battery topped off & charged, oil changed, brake pads, etc, etc. But as far as a lemon...... I havent heard of a bad GS500 yet.
Thanks for the compliment! i dont mind the red/white, but after looking at pics of other gs500's, i really like black.
I'll be calling around for a service manual tomorrow.
so it sounds like there isnt really much to them then. most of what you listed has either been already done or is already on the list of "to be done".
i think its more of the rattle that makes me worry, but i guess i will have to get someone more experienced to have a listen to it.
Thanks for the tips!
B
rattling or buzzing? if its buzzing it could be your tank. doesnt look like you have the rubber liner along the bottom of it.
Is a rattle or a knock? It is a GS thing that when they get warmed up and say you pull up to a stop sign or traffic lights they will knock. Give it a rev and it goes away? If so this probably the cam endfloat. Mine will do this too on occasion. Don't worry to much about this. A lot of GS's do this and it is not terminal. Also did yours come with the stock standard squeally rear break? Kerosene and a rag is a good way to get the engine clean as well.
Quote from: killbilly on September 26, 2010, 03:09:34 PM
Quote from: Trwhouse on September 26, 2010, 02:48:23 PM
Hi there,
Welcome to our site. :)
Hmmm, so you are a new rider, bought a bike and are NOW asking what kinds of things to look out for, after you BOUGHT it?
Very interesting. :)
Why didn't you ask about it BEFORE you bought it? :)
Seems like it doesn't matter if it has any issues or not now. You already own it. :)
Best wishes,
Trwhouse
lol.... i didnt figure it would take long for someone to leave something sarcastic.... :D
Hi again,
I wasn't being sarcastic.
It's called being honest.
:)
It's just amazing to me that you would buy something as substantial as a motorcycle and not ask those kinds of questions before you make the purchase.
No big deal.
Just my opinion, as someone who has been riding and buying motorcycles for 35 years.
What do I know? :)
Best wishes,
Trwhouse
Gotta agree with TRW and I am not being sarcastic either :D
"i want to make sure i didnt buy a lemon."
Lets be realistic, you have bought a 20 year old bike (history unknown) with some obvious issues and an indicated 40k km on the clock...... You have to accept it is NOT going to be perfect in all respects, that you ARE going to have problems with it and that it IS going to cost you time and money in the long run :thumb:
I just hope you didnt get buttf***ed over the price :thumb:
Sometimes you buy something on a whim and then as an afterthought you do all the research and ask all the questions, just hoping you did the right thing. Then you sit back and revel at the good points and groan at the bad---and just hope the good gets the edge. I know I've done that for sure many times.
I suppose i could have written my opening post a little better.
I did do a little reading on the gs500 on this forum before i joined. i just didnt read every post. I asked around to people i knew in my area who have owned bikes and no one ever had anything bad to say about them. I was basically told to make sure it didnt leak fluids, ran good, and hadnt been crashed. and there isnt a shortage of parts for them out there at salvage yards if i do have any problems.
so, i came upon this one i have for a reasonable price.(not going to say how much because its nobodys business.) It appeared to be in good shape to me, had new tires, chain and sprockets, brakes, didnt leak fluids, and mostly, it was licensed and on the road at the time i purchased it and not leaning against some barn.
the seller wanted it gone, another guy was coming to look at it soon after me, so i made a quick decision to take a chance and buy it. I made an offer and if he didnt take it, i would walk away, but he took it.
So now that i've got it, i know i'm stuck with it, i just want to make it as best of shape as i can now and move on.
no regrets so far.
Twrhouse, i wont disagree that i may have taken the purchase of a motorcycle lightly. but its not like i just walked into a dealership and bought the first bike i saw on the showroom floor. I've had friends with bikes drive hours to go test ride bikes for me over the past few weeks. this one came up for cheaper than what was in my budget and was in better shape than most of the other bikes that were looked at. So i bought it.
I value anyones opinion about my bike, i am a newbie regardless. I just kinda took your comment as an attack. If you say it wasnt. thats good enough for me! :D I'm a very easy to get along with kinda person. :cheers:
i guess the main thing i wanted to make sure, was that the 1990 wasnt some oddball year of a bike to buy. I understand i bought a 20 year old bike and expect there to be some work needed. I'll have all winter for that.
Quote from: Twisted on September 26, 2010, 10:11:57 PM
Is a rattle or a knock? It is a GS thing that when they get warmed up and say you pull up to a stop sign or traffic lights they will knock. Give it a rev and it goes away? If so this probably the cam endfloat. Mine will do this too on occasion. Don't worry to much about this. A lot of GS's do this and it is not terminal. Also did yours come with the stock standard squeally rear break? Kerosene and a rag is a good way to get the engine clean as well.
yup... sounds alot like the noise i got. give it a rev and it goes away.
no squeal that i have noticed yet.
well so far its lookin good then...lol. lil things here and there dont bother me as long as the motor stays strong.
I wouldn't be concerned about the age of the bike (my other daily is a 68 Honda) - it's the abuse in 20 years that will do it in. After you get comfortable with the basic maintainence, wait for a long winter and pull the motor. Once everything's fresh in there, it will be like having a NEW bike!
the miles on the clock dont matter I sold my 04 with 9k on the clock but for a few months i didnt have the gauges installed when I was building the bike so the motor had more like 10k or so. sold it as 9k but i told the guy who purchased it what went down he didnt care he was a new rider and wanted a gs500f and since mine looked nothing like every other gsf he wanted mine.
Quote from: mach1 on September 27, 2010, 10:44:07 PM
the miles on the clock dont matter
Yep gotta agree with that :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:.....It takes minutes to swap the clock on a GS5 and unlike butchering it open and rearranging the numbers its totaly undetectable. Unless there is a paper trail that backs the mileage figure up like past MOTs, or a proper service history or dated receipts for oil, filters and sparkplugs dont take the indicated mileage too seriously. Condition and history are just as important as mileage when determining a bikes value. You also need to ask the owner why he is selling it and try and judge if he is being straight or talking BS.
If I decide a GS5 or any other bike for that matter is worth buying and its overall condition reflects the asking price and that I can turn a decent profit on it there are 6 things I do before handing over the cash.
1) Check and test the battery and charging system.
2) Check the oil pressure.
3) Check both cylinders for compression.
4) Check the drive sprocket hasnt been welded onto the shaft.
5) Flip the dust seals up, bounce on the forks several times and look for evidence of oil leakage.
6) Run the bike up against a wall in 1st gear, let the clutch out to see if it slips.
These are not obvious faults and are all good reasons to get rid of a bike. If the seller wont let me do these checks I walk away on the basis he has something to hide and its happened several times :thumb:
Iincidently, I have a few spare GS5 clocks knocking about including one with just over 12K on the odo. So if anyone out there wants to shave a few miles off their GS and bump its value up prior to selling it, make me an offer :D
5-6 years ago I sold a GS5 to guy in a town about 50 miles away, it was a bit leggy at 44k but it was tidy and had the paperwork to say it had been regularly serviced etc. After I cleaned it up, put right a few minor faults and got it through the MOT. I made about 350 on it.....tidy :thumb: 6 months later I noticed the same bike for sale in the classifieds, only this time it had 22k on the clock and he was asking 750 more than what he had paid me for it!!! :icon_eek:
Yeah..... its not right, but it goes on, swapping clocks is the oldest one in the book, there must be people in here who have fallen for it :embarassed:
Hey Sledge, number 4 on your list - welding the sprocket on - why do people do that? A friend of mine bought a bike that had that done and now we are splitting the cases to fit a new one. Just seems like a terrible idea to me......
Sorry for the thread jack btw
Why do they weld them on?
I will bet you several large beers that if you were to grind that welded sprocket off you will find that the male splines on the shaft have worn clean off :thumb:
I have found spline failure to be quite a common thing on older GS5s, the breakers yards over here are full of them. I can only guess its down to owners not cleaning and greasing the splines on a regular basis but its hardly surprising as none of the manuals actually suggest doing it :dunno_black:
I guess people either... Dont have the ability or confidence to replace the shaft themselves, or that the costs involved to replace the shaft outweigh the value of the bike itself and instead they sell it on to the nearest breaker or part it out. Or they decide that welding it on is a cheap and easy alternative.....and lets be honest it is.......until you need to replace the sprocket or the the seal behind it.
Some people will also choose to weld the sprocket on then try and offload the bike on some poor unsuspecting newbie :D but its the sort of thing you only fall for once.
I would suggest that everyone who owns a GS5 takes regularly the cover off and looks for the "red dust of death" before its too late. :thumb:
Thank you sir!
i guess what it comes down to is if you trusted the seller or not. the GS is an easy bike to slang for a quick buck. they can be had for dirt cheap and clean up quick and easy swap the clock clean the engine and for its age looks great and has next to no mies. so a bike worth maybe $800 got sold for $2500. is that what you got not sure, as long as it rides good and has no major issues than you should be fine. The GS has a great bullit proof engine.