I took a leisurely drive this Saturday from my home in Albuquerque towards a small town called Madrid to do a bit of riding and then get a cup of coffee. I parked the bike near another cycle in a parking area on solid flat area. After finishing my drink and walking around a bit, I went back to my 2001 GS500 and started to get ready to ride home. The first thing I noticed was that my tank bag and helmet (under a cargo bungee on the seat) were sitting WAYYY over on the right side of the bike. And that the bike stunk like gasoline. After a little investigation, I noticed that my front brake lever was snapped in half, the bar end was bent and covered in dirt, the right side engine casing was damaged mostly scraped, but also very slightly bent in, and both of the right side foot pegs were loose and the rubber pads torn. Unfortunately no note was left, and none of the stores I was parked in front of noticed the incident. I saw two other Cycles newly parked since I had arrived, but after 15-20 minutes of waiting they did not return for me to ask them if they witnessed anything. Since this is my first Motorcycle (only 8000 miles as I left my house on this morning prior to this incident) I don't have a clue what it might cost to repair these items and troubleshoot/repair the strange noises it now makes when sitting at idle. The noise is a kind of a cyclical droning noise that falls in and out of synch with the hum of the engine and even causes the Tank to vibrate and hum. If there any GS500 owners willing to share a similar experience and how they resolved it I would appreciate hearing about it. I know this sounds a bit childish, but my reaction so far makes me feel like this bike has been spoiled and that I'd be better off trading it in on a new bike. I plan on letting my local Suzuki experts check it out next week, but I was hoping I might get an idea of what to expect. I was hoping it could be a quick and complete fix as I need to go to CA for work in mid June and was hoping to ride it to LA. Thanks in advance for any resulting posts - Adam

dang man... i'm sorry to hear about your bike... i'm not sure about yoru question though.... just wanted to say sorry... that bites

I think you are definately right.  The bike is ruined.  Buy a new GSXR1000, or possibly a ZX-!4, and send your old bike to me. 

And in advance, thanks.

x

Don't pay attention to the nonsense of some of these boneheads...


You're bike isn't runined. Bikes fall over all the time, and they're generally easy to get back together and back in shape, especially the gs as alot of people learn on it. The brake lever and the bar end are cheapy parts. $14 or so for the lever, not sure on the barend but you can get them for like $20 a pair on ebay for aftermarket.

As for the hum, check for loose parts. Its most likely nothing. You're looking for things that are wrong so you might notice things that you never noticed before. If its really really intense let use know but if its just minor and its not effecting the revving, running, performance of the bike, i wouldn't worry too much about it. At least, thats my opinon, some of the gurus might have better suggestions . i notice stuff like that all the time when i switch back and forth between bikes.

Dude, you can fix your bike with brand new parts for less than $200.  That's replacing the pegs and everything.  Take a deep breath now that you've had a day to think about it and go to www.bikebandit.com or www.mrcycles.com and order yourself some new, stock parts.  You might check the local dealer (on Monday or Tuesday depending on when they're open) to see if they have a brake lever in stock so you can ride.  That way you'll have a spare when the online order gets in because that crap does happen.  Then go to the car wash and clean it so that it doesn't smell like gas, and smile. 

yea man things happen theres not much you can do about it . sorry to hear that it had happend though .. the humming the the take look to see what rpm stage it starts to do it . i think its pretty common for most gs's to do it about 5k mine dose it . its like a pulsing .. or like your cellphone is going off .. if thats it . its not a big deal maybe you just did nto notice it before

It may have lost it's virginity, but it's not "spoiled" by any stretch of the imagination!

Pick it up, dust it off, repair or replace the bad parts, and go ride.

You need to replace the brake lever and inspect the throttle carefully when you remove the barend.  You can replace the dome on the right engine case for about $50 as I recall.  Somebody on the board was turning ignition domes out of 2024 which were much thicker than stock, but were about $120.  Might try a search on that.

Thanks to Onlypastrana199, Egaeus, FearedGS500, & GeeP  for the words of wisdom!
Yeah I guess I was a little pissed about the loss of virginity/never been dumped thing, Oh well....
I took most of everyone's advice so far:
The tank was skewed a bit to one side as if it were pushed when it fell, so I removed th ebolts and repositioned it properly. Not Bent
The 2/3 of th efront brake lever remains so it;ll work till I get over to Suzuki-Land.
Inspected the throttle housing, and it is intact no cracks, but the cable adjusters were both loose (probably unrelated, I should keep my eyes on that I guess)
I can live with the bar end now that it's been loosened and then straightened out.
I took her out this am for gas and a spin, the humming vibration is gone now (I think it might have been the crooked tank)
On to more days of riding, just wished I lived further form work in order to have a longer trip each day.
Thanks, A

I'm with you.

My bike has been slightly damaged twice.

Once when my dad dropped it doing a U-turn and the 2nd time when an idiot thought he'd sit on it when I had it parked in a carpark.

The hardest thing, is when the first damage done to a brand new bike wasn't the fault of your own stupidity.

I might have a clue on the humming.

My bike was dropped once (by the wind, of all things) and I noticed a wicked hum at certain rpms afterward.  It was resonating in the tank, and sounded awful.  I was sure the bike would never be the same.  But then I noticed the tank had become cocked off to the side a little bit.  It turns out where the tank is supposed to be somewhat shock mounted on that rubber mount in the front, it was jammed so hard to the side it was transmitting vibration from the frame to the tank.  I bashed it with my leg until it was centered again on its rubber mount, and everything was back to normal.

Well, that may not be your exact problem, but it could be something like that.  Others have suggested that something may be loose, so I suggest that something may be too tight!