I'm looking to get a GS probably around the beginning of the year.  I'm wondering what I should look out for.
How do I diagnose goats?
Any tell tale signs of abuse?
Thanks.

PS. I'll be paying for this bike with the sale of my current (neglected) motorcycle project ('72 CB350F) and a Miata ('96 M-edition), so if you folks know anyone looking...  

There's probably at least a dozen or so old threads here on the forum asking the same question(s).  Do a search for things like "advice", "used", "buying", or look through previous pages.

No clue what this goats thing is that people are talking about recently.  I guess it hasn't happened to my GS.

Here's a general used bike buyer's guide.........


http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html

OK I'd venture to guess goats syndrome is pretty much impossible wihtout some ungodly noises out of the left case ... atleast at startup or at low rpm... look for left case damage, scratches might be un avoidable, but cracks and epoxy etc ... warning signs ... And sometimes an out of balance feeling is also there and it also usually doesn't charge the battery and blows fuses, sometimes as you shut it off.
Cool.
Srinath.