QUICK!

Everyone run to www.gstwin.com !

I knew you'd come through John.

  -Anti

Here's a starter.

What would be different about the "new" GS500? What would you improve? We all know about the forks, rear shock, and (yes Pablo) the rear fender.

Water cooler? Wheel width? Leave it alone?

its been done...its called sv650.

I want the performance of the SV with the looks of the GS.

I won't buy an SV because aesthetically it sucks. The new one anyway. The last frame was acceptable. The new one is a cost saver for Suzuki.

I guess I want a tuned Bandit (GS) 1200.

In silver  

With all of the Holeshot goodies that Dale makes  

Turn it into a Bandit 600 that folks don't complain about lack of power.
:mrgreen:

How about fuel injection?

A sport package with the usual (springs, rear hugger instead of fender) and *a full factory fairing that doesn't raise the price of the new model by $800*!  Or at-least a belly-pan and sport-fairing like a Buell.

Or a touring package with an adjustable windscreen like the BMW F650, a comfortable seat, a suspension that will take a little ditch-riding, and some luggage options.

I'll take the essentials of the bike as-is.  If I wanted an SV650, I'd have bought one.  But no matter what you want to use the GS for, it seems like you have add a few little things to get it there, and they all cost hundreds of dollars, have spotty availability, don't match the paint scheme, and don't quite fit anyways.

FASTER!

LIGHTER!

SMALLER!...in all the right places.

And, keep 'er air-cooled.  More likely, the GS500 will be resurrected in '05 as a rebadged EX500.  Pity.

I would keep it air cooled. Yes, suspension issues. I'm happy with everything else.

 -Anti

I'm willing to bet it will have an upgraded suspension and a lighter frame although most likely still steel. May be water cooled, might put in an old motor from another bike, something they'd have to throw away the tooling on otherwise.

If I were Suzuki I'd make it a toned-down Bandit so that all of the common Bandit parts would work. Less re-tooling, don't have to expand the parts catalog, already a large aftermarket, etc . . .

It's possible they may even keep the motor and go with a new cast aluminium frame like the new SVs have which would lose a lot of weight and speed up assembly by eliminating a few steps in frame construction.

Only time will tell.

Remember:  Suzuki won't do anything that's going to canibalize sales of another of their bikes.  If they brought it back to the US, it'd have to be a little different so it wouldn't compete with the SV.  Maybe it'd look more like the GSX 1400 (available in Europe only)...kinda retro-cool with a modern engine.  Suzuki's problem now is, they lose an entry bike into their sport line.  The GS was just that.  The SV is NOT a beginner's bike.  All I can think of now for true beginner's bikes are the 250's, the Buell Blast, and the Monster 620.  There's a real dearth of cool beginner's bikes.