New here, first things first, just wanted to say hi... secondly, im plannin on buyin a bike and i dont want to go too large for 2 reasons, insurance  :x  and inexperience ...  the bike im lookin at buyin is the GS500e obviously... and everything is perfect for a begginer but one thing doesn't suit me, the size of the bike... im 6'5" 180lbs (tall and gangly) and i look like a clown in a clown car when on this bike... i had a friend of mine ask the dealership if you can raise suspension to make the seat height taller and thus making the bike suit me better, but he said it would throw off the balance... can you buy new suspension that would give the bike more height and keep it stable? is there any mods i can make or have done to help me out other than buying a new frame and puttin my gs500 together within that frame (drastic but thats what someone told me to do and hell no)... im too tall for the bike that i really want to buy... need help badly...any ideas would be much appreciated...  :guns:

I'm only 6' foot but with long legs.  when i sat on my gs stock, it just felt too small.  we replaced the stock rear shock with one from an sv650.  this raised the back end by about an inch, and now the bike feels perfect.  mind you this is with the shock at it's lightest preload setting.  give it a bit more preload and you might be getting closer to a bike that would suit someone of your size.  and it doesn't mess up the "balance" of the bike at all, whatever that's supposed to mean.

yeah, see i didn't understand what the hell they were talkin about either but i wasn't there to ask... around how much could you pick up a rear shock from an sv650 for if you found one?
thanks alot btw,  

got ours for 10 bucks plus shipping on ebay.

there may be other shocks out there that will raise it even more if you think you need it.

i'm around 6'3'' myself, and i've done two things that have raised the rear for me.  first off, i have a kat600 rear shock, which maybe gave me an inch, and then i put a 140/80 rear tire on.  the tire (being taller) gave me about another inch.  i'd say my seat is around 2-3 inches taller now, and it feels much better.  balance isn't an issue at all.  it does lean into turns quicker, but once you get used to it, it's fine.  all the same, i feel kind of large on the bike (but i'm around 220-230), and lately have found myself wishing i had a slightly larger bike.  however, if you want a gs (and it is a good bike), then i would advise one or both of these mods to make it more comfortable.  oh yeah, and welcome to the board.  

Pantablo has a couple of instructions pages for the installing the Kat600 shock and the SV650 shock at http://pantablo500.tripod.com/.  Only complication seems to be too much seat height (for those of us under 6'), and you may need to lengthen the sidestand if you really raise the height.

Buck up buddy.  My friend who is atleast 6'3" and a talk lanky bastard rode a Honda 200 Custom for a year, talk about cramped!  He looked fricking monkey on a tricycle on that thing, i will see if i can get a picture if he isnt too embarassed...he has recently switched to a honda shadow 600, suits him better now.    The gs is great though, i have been riding street legal motorcycles for over 3 years and it is a great bike.  Goodluck on your conversions cause you should definitely get the GS.

welcome!

size notwithstanding, the GS is a great first bike for the reasons you listed. To raise the seat height you can do several things:

1) replace rear shock with sv650, Katana 600, gsxr shock (per specifics in my site, or do a search here for lots of posts on the subject). The sv shock is same as gs but longer so you will get more height. The Kat shock is better though and will still give you the height. Kat shock is much better sprung, less soft. Kats can be had for anywhere from $10 to about $40 on ebay and are a direct bolt in. gsxr shocks are a little more complicated to install and cost more too.

2) make new shock "dogbones" (linkages) out of 1/8" or 3/16" steel plate. clamp the two peices together to drill holes exactly same spot. The holes/dogbones need to be closer together/shorter to raise the height (its a bit counter-intuitive).

3) reupholster seat adding some foam. There's a member here that does that for a living and has done some seats for people here but shouldn't be too difficult to have done at a local guy. Another guy on here did it himself and was pretty happy with it, also a tall guy.

Good luck! Hope this helps.

Have you considered a Kawasaki KLR650? It's a great, reasonably priced beginner bike, very easy to ride, offers more fun than you'd think, and it may fit you out of the dealer's door without any mod. I'd suggest that you go to a dealer and try to sit on one.

To be honest those enduro's are much harder to ride than sport standards. The steering is heavy, they are sorta short geared for highway speeds but too tall geared in every other situation and often in traffic they leave you with no appropriate gear to be in...2nd gear is too low, 3rd is too high. Their ratios are too far apart to be good city bikes. They also cant be ridden aggressively on the street...I mean like drag racing from light to light, and ridden hard through curves and canyons. yes they do wheelie at stoppie at will though on the upside and you out street tires on them they do brake and turn better. A GS may be a bit low for a tall guy  but an enduro will be way too tall for a beginer.
Cool.
Srinath.

Srinath, you contradict all conventional wisdom on the matter. I wonder what others think, others that have a dual sport. They;re supposed to be easier to ride and are usually as often recommended as a gs500 for a first bike. They're supposed to be as flickable as anything...but what do I know.

I have to disagree with you Srinath. The steering is light, and they make excellent city bikes thanks to their maneuverability (ask our European friends). The only reason why they may not be good beginners bike is that they are normally too tall, but, at 6'5", he will flat-foot anything. Then they are what they are: a compromise. That won't prevent you from having great fun, as long you don't expect them to be what they are not.
Sure, they're not good track or drag racers, but on the Transalp I had no problem keeping up with my cousin with his SV on the Alps. And there is a guy with whom I ride occasionally who can smoke a lot of sport bikes in the twisties with his KLR.

throw some 17" wheels with road tires and you've got a SuperMotard...woohoo, talk about fun!

I'm 6'5" and an even lankier bastard... (170lbs).  I guess I must look ridiculous on the bike and no one is telling me.  I haven't felt the need to raise the bike and I'm not long torsoed so a lot of my height is in my legs.  I did change to a gel seat recently which has more padding and probably raised the seat slightly.  But, so far, I don't feel like my height is a problem with this bike.