We I just got my motorcycle licence last weekend and I am about to go down and pickup a new gs500 tomorrow morning. The are pretty giving them away at the moment. (AUD$6490) for a new GS500f 2013, this is pretty much the same price as a second hand 2009. I have been researching this bike for ages and this is the bike I really want. But I went to the suzuki international website and noticed the gs500 is not listed at all?
It is on the australian site.
I m aware that this machine is quite outdated (this is actually one of the "features" I like about it) and suzuki is now making serval other models that seem to fit into the same category as this bike, the gladious.
The reason I care is that I made the same mistake when I bought my Hyundai terracan, I bought it for a steal in its final year of production 7 years ago, I love the car and want to keep it for year but can no longer get parts for it,
I am financing this bike so I am really going to have it for 5 years at least, I dont want to be stuck without parts again.
I can't predict the future, however one thing I can say about theses bikes are if you search ebay you can find just about any thing you want for these bikes except the crank shaft.
Its a safe buy, you will be able to get parts forever! The US market is a good example of this they stopped selling the bike in 2009/2010 ish IDK, but 4-5 years latter I'm still buying new parts for my 2004. Now if you had a 74' TX500 I'd say your better off giving up than finding parts, or a 81 GPz.
Buy the bike and ride it like you stole it!
Yup, and just don't worry about parts availability. The GS500 has had a model run of 25 years, which means 2 things: It's a good bike, and there will be loads of parts, new and used, for many years to come. Need a crankshaft? -Well I picked up a near new crashed GS5 for $250 recently, - complete excellent motor, all the spares I'll ever need apart from frame (bent) and front end.
Easy to work on, simplicity, decent enough performance, light and chuckable, good brakes, handling seems good particularly with upgraded fork springs. and pretty!
And we've got a pretty good knowledgebase right here.
Go for it.
The GS500 is EOL in the US (2009 was the last year) and I'm guessing that they're now phasing it out in other markets as well. That shouldn't be an issue in terms of parts since it was made since 1989 with very few design changes (many things unchanged) that many things aren't year specific. On top of that, there are a number of parts hoarders (e.g. adidasguy) who could sell some parts.
Checked with the dealer yesterday and it looks like an end of an era these gs500 is no more :(
We here in the uk stopped getting them in 2009!!
Quote from: Crasm on March 02, 2014, 05:19:00 AM
We here in the uk stopped getting them in 2009!!
In the US they stopped selling the E after the 02 model year; no GS500 in the US for 03 even so elsewhere got one. When the F was introduced on 04, the US only got the F while everyone else got the choice of E or F. In 09 it was discontinued in many markets (including US), but the GS was known to be produced through at least 2012 for certain markets (e.g. Australia).