Does anyone have a probem with their choke?  It seems like whenever I use it, it either revs way to high, or not high enough.  I cannot seem to find a middle spot to keep it idling for warmup.

Has anyone here ever had a tire blowout, and if so, how hard was it to control?

How many miles can I expect to get out of the gs500f?  My guess would be near 100,000 if it is maintained properly.  Who has high mileage on their bike and what type of maintenace issues have you had?

Thanks to all who reply!!
Bill

1. the choke should make your bile idle at around 3500 rpm for a couple minutes untill warm.  Then disengage the choke and ride away. 

2. Not exactly sure because it hasn't happened to me.  If in a turn you will probably go for a little slide, always wear gear.  In a straight line it would probably have more to do with which tire goes, my thoughts would be if the rear goes - manageable, use front brake to stop.  If the front goes - possibly manageable use rear brake to stop.  But then again this is my thoughts not experience i could be completly wrong and if one blows you could be screwed 80% of the time.  This is why you check the air pressure at least every week.

3. I am pretty sure that a well maintained GS will last at least 100k miles without major headaches and i am also fairly certain that there are a couple people here on the board with many many miles on thier gs.  Not sure if they have had to replace anything major though.

f3

1. If the choke is fully open and it doesn't rev very high, just crack the throttle to bump it up a little.

1a. If it revs too high, back off the choke a little.

1b. Sometimes it takes a while to warm-up before it even revs properly to warm up.

2. Tubeless tires don't 'blowout' as a tube would, they just lose air over time, depending on the severity of the hole (several seconds to minutes vs. the one-second dramatic "pop" complete loss of air).  I've had one go flat on me while at speed on the freeway, in the fast lane of a four-lane fwy, and I was still able to negotiate traffic and ride it all the way to the shop.  And, this was on a tubeless tire with a tube in it!

I have had a few nails in my tyres(car and bike) but never a blow out. Normally you will just get a slow leak because the nail will stay in the tyre and act as a seal. Just make sure you check your tyres regually.

40K is the average. I squeezed 48K out of one but it was begging for a rebuild, that's for sure. I'll guess - on a no matter what basis - 40K. Newer models may be built tighter, but I've not got a definite answer on that from anyone.
Cool.
Srinath.

there are a few guys over here with around 50-70 k miles,
methods(the 50k bike stil rides and pulls fine he has had issues with the coils and carbs but thats it)
the other guys bike(70k miles) is just tired, rings are stuffed and is burning lots of oil and smoking a bit, saying that he just completed a 3000 mile journey with out any major mishap(one coil died on him and i think that was it)
mine is over 30000 and is fine no issues at all engine wise

Quote from: Bill_46 on August 15, 2006, 10:16:47 AM
Does anyone have a probem with their choke?  It seems like whenever I use it, it either revs way to high, or not high enough.  I cannot seem to find a middle spot to keep it idling for warmup.

Has anyone here ever had a tire blowout, and if so, how hard was it to control?

How many miles can I expect to get out of the gs500f?  My guess would be near 100,000 if it is maintained properly.  Who has high mileage on their bike and what type of maintenace issues have you had?

Thanks to all who reply!!
Bill

I always start in the morning with choke full on and it frequently doesn't pick up revs till I blip the throttle a couple times and then when it speeds up it's doing 2-3k revs.  By the time I walk across the garage to put my helmet on it's above 3k rpm and I come back and push the choke in slowly till it slows down and then a bit further till it picks up revs a tad and mixture is about right.  I pull it out and put on jacket and gloves and close garage door.  In warm weather it is ready to close choke completely as I start down the street, but in the winter it needs the choke for a few blocks more.

I expect an air cooled twin to be good for at least 80k miles before any engine work is required.  My 97 GS500E that I bought new has 80k miles on it and was just running out of shim adjustment on the exhaust valves, was down to a min shim thickness on one valve.  Still ran as good as it always did which is not as good as the 01 and later GS's run stock.

When the 97 was totalled in July 03, I bought a used 02 GS500 with less than 5k on it and it now has over 41k miles and never ran better.   Expect it to also run over 80k miles w/o any further problems.  It had a most rare problem in that a bucket (tappet) stuck one winter day holding a valve open and breaking it.  That was over 20k miles ago when I repaired it from that incident.  Have yet to hear of another such valve bucket sticking on a GS and it must have been too tight a fit from the factory.

I had a 81 CM400A that I put 98k miles on and I was using it as a winter bike and it was so rusty that the steel front fender fell off.  I gave it to a friend who is still riding it with over 100k miles on it.  Also an air cooled twin. 

I put on all my gear before hopping on the bike. I start it with a full choke but immediately lower it till it revs at about 1500. I start riding immediately at slow speeds as I get out of my neighbourhood. I close the choke after about 2 km, but by then I'm onto city traffic (but not stop and go). That's how I've been doing it for 15 years.

My bike has 42k km and it feels as good as the day I bought it back in 1991. No special maintenance, just diligence in changing the oil, cleaning and oiling the chain, and proper winterizing. I'm pretty easy on the bike and I don't see why it should not run for another 42k without any problems.
At this rate it could be the last bike I own