I'm thankful every time I ride that I bought the GS500.  :mrgreen:

It's got enough go to get a serious speeding ticket on any road, and corners with little effort.  Every time I accidentally let the clutch out too fast or gear down too early I wonder what might have happened had I been riding a GSXR... yikes!  

Plus, every time I see an 18 year old newbie on a GSXR or R6, I wonder what lottery they won to cover the cost of the insurance.

Gotta love the baby GS.

Quote from: daneilah
Plus, every time I see an 18 year old newbie on a GSXR or R6, I wonder what lottery they won to cover the cost of the insurance.
Gotta love the baby GS.

Its called living at home without any bills to pay, like me.  

My buddy wants to get a Katana 750 now.  He's never riden b4, except auto dirt bikes, and i tried to talk him out of it, but what can i do!  Also, after sitting on the Katana 750, I want one!  They are so comfortable!  I've had my Gs for just over a month, and its my first bike.  Now I am deciding whether or not to keep it for the rest of the season.  I love the GS but I love speed too, and I'm not sure if its got enough for me. :dunno:

Speed + Lots of Experience == Fast Rider.

Speed + Not much Experience == Mangled Rider.

Make your friend watch lots of crash videos and read about people that ride big bikes with little experience.

You can ride a bike for most of the rest of your life...  Why would you want to take the chance of making your life REALLY short?  Why would you want to take the chance of crashing and being too freaked out to ride?

I figure find a sweet deal on a fairly new GS.  There's lots out there.  Learn to ride on this forgiving and most excellent machine.  Whether you trade up after two months or two years, you'll lose very little.  

.... and you might even decide to keep it  

I was lurking on the predecessor to this board and quite liking the camaraderie while looking for my first bike in years.
My office bud told me that he had just seen "a great bike for you and well-priced"; coincidence........it happened to be a GS500.
I had it a couple of years and would recommend it to anybody for a starter, a commutor, a workhorse, but not for two people for any real distances.

Hey all, I thought everyone would get a kick outta that little tale. I find it amazing how some newbies always seem to think that they're going to be the excpetion to the rule. somehow all the other people who managed to kill themselves the first day on a motorcycle that they were not capable of handling were nothing like them. they always think that even though they have never so much as twisted a throttle, that they are going to just hop right on and ride off into the sunset. Anyway, thanks for raising the insurance rates for us all you f'in knotheads. I guess I stopped feeling sorry for these a$$hats a long time ago.
peace ya'll

Scuse my ignorance. I'm from the UK.  As a weekend job I get to teach non-riders to ride bikes. Mainly 16 year-olds. Our law is as follows.
At 16+ years of age we may ride a motorised bike providing we have completed a compulsory basic training course (CBT) and been issued with a certificate. This certificate lasts for 2 years. If we wish to continue riding after 2 years, and have not passed a motorcycle test, then we must complete another CBT course. Whilst having a valid CBT certificate we are allowed to ride a 50cc moped/scooter/motorcycle until we are 17 Years of age. At age 17 we can ride up to a 125cc Bike. Until we pass our motorcycle test we have to display Learner Plates. We can't carry passengers and we can't ride on motorways. (Fast (ha ha) roads). At age 17 to 21 we are also eligible to take a motorcycle test on a bike no bigger than 125cc or 14.6bhp. If we pass this test, we are then allowed to ride any bike not exceeding 33bhp for 2 years, we can carry pillion passengers, and ride on any road.  After 2 years we may ride a motorcycle of any size.
If we are 21 Years of age or older, we are eligible to take the motorcycle test on a motorcycle of more than 44bhp. If we pass we can ride whatever sized bike we want.
This may seem restrictive, but hopefully it makes for safer motorcycling for all of us, and less fatalities in inexperienced riders.
What's the law regarding riding a motorcycle in the USA? Would be interested to find out.

Quote from: mwmarcusWhat's the law regarding riding a motorcycle in the USA? Would be interested to find out.

In most states you are allowed to obtain a driving learners permit to learn to driva an automobile at 15 1/2 and take a road test at 16.  There is a written test required to get the learners permit and an actual driving test required to get an operators license.   In most states the motorcycle "endorsement" is obtained by passing another written test to get a learners permit which is followed up by a "road test" (which might consist of a few figure eights and weaving around some pylons in a parking lot) to get an actual license.  The licesne may be restricted to a certain cc size bike - depends on how big a bike you ride for the road test

Quote from: mjm

Quote from: mwmarcusWhat's the law regarding riding a motorcycle in the USA? Would be interested to find out.

In most states you are allowed to obtain a driving learners permit to learn to driva an automobile at 15 1/2 and take a road test at 16.  There is a written test required to get the learners permit and an actual driving test required to get an operators license.   In most states the motorcycle "endorsement" is obtained by passing another written test to get a learners permit which is followed up by a "road test" (which might consist of a few figure eights and weaving around some pylons in a parking lot) to get an actual license.  The licesne may be restricted to a certain cc size bike - depends on how big a bike you ride for the road test

Once you've done the above can you carry passengers?

Yep. Not with the learners permit but with a license, yes.

3 day MSF course = full fledged permit for riding...

Speaking of n00bs

I work at the local Barneys MC shop and some kid had just purchased a Ninja ZX-6RR 600cc race ready supersport

His experience was obvious when he wanted to drive it home and he could not figure out how to turn it on. It took three salesmen to convince him to let us deliver it to his home free of charge...

Quote from: '04gs500f3 day MSF course = full fledged permit for riding...

Assuming you pass... Which isn't hard really.  

In Washington state, there's no size limit.  Anyone can ride ANY size bike with a motorcycle endorcement OR permit.

No insurance requirement either...  

Lucky for me I have friends that ride and I don't have much money...  I may have ended up with a busa to learn on.