Hit 18.000 miles coming back from work today.  Needless to say I love this bike.  Been good to me for the last 2 1/2 years and I intend to keep it for a long time.  I ride all year.  Part of the mileage is commuting to work.  Great city bike.  Never did the front forks but you get used to it.  Just pull up on the handle bars as you hit the expansion joints at an indicated 85.  Involved in two mishaps.  Run off the road by an SUV at around 6,000 miles with my 7 year old son on board, no injuries to speak of, bike needed repairs but nothing structural.  Bumped over by a BMW at about 10,000 miles, nothing major it was in slow motion.  Thank goodness it's a naked bike.
To date no problems except for one oil leak, stator gasket went. Going to put on a new chain.  The original is showing some wear.  Going to leave the sprockets until the next chain goes.  Valves done at 5,600 and at 15,400 that went too long.  Should have done them at 12,000.  Currently on 3rd set of plugs, second front tire and third rear tire.
Re-jet at 15,400.  Should have done that earlier.  Brake pads still good.
Battery went at a little over one year.  That was a dissapointment.  All bulbs still good except for one bulb that went out that illuminates the speedometer.  Always used Castrol GTX 10-40 oil.  Broken in hard.  Not afraid to rev it.  Never lug it.  Always shift down in every gear, that's what gives me control in tight situations.  I have a V-Strom 650 which is a great bike, much different than the GS.  If I could have only one I would choose the GS.  Riding the GS hard is the most fun you can have with you clothes on.

congrats

Hey me hit 46K today... Well the speedo did... I believe I have ~3K or so in another meter set... i cant remember if I clocked these meters into the right reading... I might have... vaguely remember some like that... any case 46K... whoo hooo.
Cool.
Srinath.

Do the fork springs. If you don't go the big job of drain the forks and refill, just adjust the level with them compressed, it's very easy, really easy. The difference is like night and day. The suspension is excellent with the progressice springs. If you like your bike as it is, you'll love it with progressive springs. That and the stock jetting are the only bugs in a GS.

my 98 has just hit 40,000 miles.....still starts first prod and runs 100%.....allways at high speeds..only thing is it uses oil..about 1 litre every 2500 miles.....but no leaks

You put that amount of miles on it in half a year? NIIICEEE!! :mrgreen:  From what year is your GS? did you buy it new?

Mine: a little below 30,000 miles for my '93. It's still running good, at prolonged highwayspeeds the thing drinks 1 litre of oil every 600 miles.  Pretty large amount of blow-by, airfilterbox is wet. If you look down onthe pistons the outer ring close to the cylinderwall is oily wet. Performance is still good. 4th chain (previous one snapped prematurely) 4th reartire, 3rd front-tire. Problems: snapped masterlink, leaking forkseals, oil leak at generator gasket, broken tachometer cable, worn rearwheelbearings, rust clogging carbs (rust from the tank), leaking valve cover gasket.
A month ago I discovered a severly worn throttle cable just in time!   It was hanging on 3 threads only  Next problem will be a worn out brake-rotor. It's about time for a replacement.

One tip: replace the sprockets & chain as a set. The new chain will wear much slower with fresh sprockets.