My husband and roommate are taking a Motorcycle Maintance class and they are taking my GS500 Next Tuesday to start working on it..  (different things, like clicking noise and others)  My question is...  what is the best Manual to buy for GS500s??  or is Clymer the only one that does GS500??    I have searched and thats all I am finding...  BUT I don't want to spend money on the wrong thing... PLEASE let me know, if you know!!!!   

I have the Haynes.  Haven't seen the Clymer.  What year is your GS?  I don't think the manuals have caught up with the changes made after 2002.

This is what I found... 1989 -2002  http://www.themotorbookstore.com/suzgstwin19.html   I have a 2001..   I also found this
http://www.themotorbookstore.com/motorcycle-manuals.html  that list Haynes BUT not for gs500...   

Going off the profile pic, it looks like an E. I have the Clymer and love it, it walked me through a carb cleaning and rebuild before I had even ridden a GS.

hello and welcome. the clymer manual i hear is the best one for the GS500. There also is the Haynes manual but i hear the clymer is easier to understand. You can get the clymer manual on the site if you follow the link it'll take you to amazon.com. It's about $20.

Either Clymer or the Haynes will work, it depends on the reader's...existing knowledge.  I believe Kerry has viewed both.
I've liked Haynes in the past and for Yamaha's.  I haven't been too impressed with Clymers published in the '70's, but this is really the first Clymer that I've owned and find it very informative and complete in it's presentation, of course I am a licenced M/C mechanic. 

Are you going to the clinic put on BayAreaRidersForum?

How do I find out if its an E???  whats the differnce??  This is all new to me    Thats another reason I ask... I don't what to get something that doesn't help....  I want to learn EVERYTHING about what I have... I know its a GS500 (maybe E?!) Itas a 2001, I know about the on/res/prim (petcock) I know it over heats.... I know (NOW, after running outta gas) that it doesn't say when its out  and so far thats about it..  SO trust me I will be more then HAPPY to know what what I have and more!!! 

Quote from: scratch on July 06, 2006, 06:32:02 PM
Either Clymer or the Haynes will work, it depends on the reader's...existing knowledge.  I believe Kerry has viewed both.
I've liked Haynes in the past and for Yamaha's.  I haven't been too impressed with Clymers published in the '70's, but this is really the first Clymer that I've owned and find it very informative and complete in it's presentation, of course I am a licenced M/C mechanic. 

Are you going to the clinic put on BayAreaRidersForum?

Clinic??    I will have to look that up!!!

You have an E. The models from before 2003 are all "E"s. Starting in 2004 they added fairings to the bike and started calling them GS500F's.

ahh, so theres no such thing as a GS500??!!  it's GS500E or GS500F???

We abbreviate it to just GS500, but yes, they're all either GS500Es or GS500Fs. Actually the E and the F is always followed with another letter which denotes the year it was produced, but no one in their right mind ever includes that letter.

actually the best one is the Suzuki factory repair manual

check out www.repairmanual.com

Thanks everyone for all the help!!!

Here's a list of the activities: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=bf9207b3cf759161c20e666c3986ce37&threadid=63063

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I just ordered the Clymer off this site as well as "The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance" by Mark Zimmerman. Because I'm a complete maintence newb. Heck I had to look up where the idle screw was. This is what happens when a computer geek buys a bike.

The second book appears to be mostly theory with some actually maintence guides in it. I thought it would be a good companion with the Clymer. Since it seemed most people on here leaned towards the Clymer.

Quote from: Wrecent_Wryder on July 07, 2006, 03:53:50 AM

Quote from: Unnamed on July 06, 2006, 06:54:16 PM
We abbreviate it to just GS500, but yes, they're all either GS500Es or GS500Fs. Actually the E and the F is always followed with another letter which denotes the year it was produced, but no one in their right mind ever includes that letter.

Er, no. The 2001 and 2002 were desginated GS500, neither E nor F.  Suffix K1 and K2.  Never claimed to be in my right mind, mostly the left....

Whoops, my mistake. Stupid, stupid stupid. Suzuki needs to pick a name and stick to it. And stop wrapping GS500s in milk cartons.

I have a Haynes and it's very good.  The only problem is it was published in Great Britain so all the measurements (like torque specs) are in Metric units.  Not that big of a deal really. 

-M

like any of these guys can read
i have both the oem manual and clymer each is different
clymer gives more backyard tips
oem gives more technical info

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