Just to start let me say you guys have a great forum here
On to the business part - my question is how many miles is too many miles?
I'm just about to upgrade my current bike [Kwaka EL250] on a beautiful 1994 GS500E.  The only problem I can see with it is that it has 55,000 kms on the clock [yeah we are metric so it makes it a bit hard - this works out to about 34,000 miles in your talk].
Any tips or recomendations on a GS that's gone so many miles.  Should I just wait for a better one?  Tell me what you think
Thanks everyone

It depends on how well it was maintained in it's life and how much they are asking for it.  If I remember correctly, GSJack has put double that on his.  If nothing else, ride it till it won't go anymore, and buy an engine from someone parting their bike out after a crash.  

If they are not screwing you on the price, it doesn't sound too bad.  If it's in good condition.

I have an 89' w/41,000 miles on it when I got it.  I had a bend valve from a PO who I think messed up while adjusting valve shims, by removing the cams.  They must have gotten the timing out of wack and turned over the engine.  My bottom end is still running great but, I think in the near future I will pull it apart and rebuild it.  It's cheaper to rebuild a engine that's not blow up.

From what I've read here and owning 3 gs's.  It all boils down to how the bike has been maintained.  

Oil is the first and formost concern.  How often it was changed.  The problem is: There is no way to verifi this without taking it apart and checking wear on parts.  You can remove the oil cap and with a very bright light, look inside the clutch cover and see if it's got gunk collected in there.  Or, you can remove the valve cover and see how the cam lobes look and there you can see the condition of the inside of the valve cover.

While in there, you can see the oil pools that are around the shim buckets and see if they are free of gunk and grud. Stick your finger in the oil and feel against the head for built up stuff.

Just seeing good oil on the dip stick could mean it just had an oil change.

The other thing is How the bike was rode. Look at the tires, see if they are worn flat  on the crown (not round anymore)  This is usually and indicator that the last owner did a lot of straight up riding.  If the tires are worn at the edges, it could mean the bike was ridden harder by a more experienced and agressive rider.  Check the tires for cracks and if they have become hard.

Check the chain tension.  I should move up and down (on the side stand) about 1 - 1 1/2 inches.  This is OK.  If it is too tight or too loose - I means no one has maintained the chain.

Pop the seat and look at the battery terminals and the battery box.  See if the box is rusted or coroded.

Look in the tank with a bright light or the sun, and see the bottom of the tank and look for rust.  A little rust is normal but if you can see the entire bottom covered, it's not too good.  Fixable but at a cost of about 20 - 30 dollars and a week or so of your time.
 
Check the fork tubes for leaking oil.  Compress the forks several times while holding the front brake to see if oil starts to build up on the tubes.

A great sorce of information can be found in the maunual.  Seveal pictures that show what normal wear is and what abnomal wear is.

My $0.02  Good luck and don't be afraid to haggle with the seller and walk away if you don't feel good about the sale.

Paul

Thanks guys for your insightful help.  I've still got two more days [well one and a half but who's counting  :mrgreen:  ] until I ride down and have a look at it so if there's any more useful tips and tricks anyone knows of I'd love to hear from you.
It's comforting to think that GSJack can put double that on the clock becuase because this bike will have to last me for about five years nomatter what [my wife is pregnant with our first baby so in three months I will hardly have enough money to fill it up    ].
You're right glenn9171 when you say that maintenance is important but I don't think the dealer will be able to tell me that much.  When I rang them yesterday morning to ask if they still had the bike in stock, the response was "is that the little black one?".  This is not the most comforting thing to hear from a motorcycle dealer now is it?
Thanks Pkaaso for your tips regarding how to check out the bike.  It might be a simple detail however I would never have thought to check the style of tyre wear to show what sort of a rider used to own it - thanks very much.  I'll also take my little maglite torch with me and give the sump etc a good look over like you said.  I don't think they'll let me strip it down however I can take the oil cap approach as  you explained.
I can't wait to get my hands on one of these stunning bikes.  Thanks again guys - your input is much appreciated - as is any further advice that you GSers think might help me.

regarding what pkaaso said about tire wear, also look at where the bike was owned at. cause some places, about all you can do is ride up-right, ive seen people do that and ride extremely  aggressively to boot. also check clutch etc. test ride, and after (or before, or both), listen to the engine running, and listen for abnormal noises, or smoke, flames get ahold of its former owner if at all possible, and ask him/her about it, and how they rode.  

Good point Yamaha!  

One more thing, to check the clutch:  During a test ride, stop in say 4th or 5th gear.  Try to let out the clutch all the way with a little gas while holding the rear brake.  The bike should die.  It should feel directly related to the spot the clutch lever normaly feels completly engaged.

I wouldn't worry about what they reffer to the bike as, I'm sure they have a lot of bikes sitting around.

Good luck.

HEY DUDE!  Congrats on the new addition to the family.  What kind of bike are you planning to get for him/her???

Thanks Pkaaso... I'm half tempted to keep the little EL250 that I'm trading for him to ride [it's almost small enough] but my wife has a problem with that  
I've been looking at those battery operated bikes though I can't seem to find any that are a scale model of a GS  

Quote from: belkJust to start let me say you guys have a great forum here
On to the business part - my question is how many miles is too many miles?
I'm just about to upgrade my current bike [Kwaka EL250] on a beautiful 1994 GS500E.  The only problem I can see with it is that it has 55,000 kms on the clock [yeah we are metric so it makes it a bit hard - this works out to about 34,000 miles in your talk].
Any tips or recomendations on a GS that's gone so many miles.  Should I just wait for a better one?  Tell me what you think
Thanks everyone

I've just turned 77,000 miles on my 97 GS500 that I purchased new in 3-99.  I've had no serious problems at all with it so far.  It didn't use oil between changes till about 50k miles, now uses about 2-3 pints of oil between 2k changes depending how hard I ride it.

Bike still sounds and feels good as new, but one problem is developing now.  Valves were to spec for 40k miles and since then I've been shimming one exhaust valve each time I inspect it.  On recent valve check I put the minimum standard size shim in and will have to grind down some shims for further adjustment or pull the head and fix it.  Anyway, it will have gone about 85k miles by then w/o any engine work.

When buying used, you never know how it was treated by previous owner.  I bought a 81 CM400A used about 1990 with 2 k on it and it now has 98k miles on it and I still use it some.  I bought a 85 CB650SC used with about 11k on it and it started smoking about 35k.  It had about 58k on it and was smoking like a chimney when I traded it on the GS500.  My other 2 previously owned bikes were bought new also.  Always a bit of a gamble buying used, but sometimes it works out OK.  And sometimes it doesn't.  If you don't ride high milage as I do, it will probably be OK.

I have heard that the valve lifters on a nitehawk 650 need replacing at 75K... :x I have also heard that on the GS valves, seats, guides, seals, cams etc are to be serviced  :guns: (WTF is serviced...replaced ) at 40K. While doing that might as well do head and base gaskets and rings...but wait...I aint doing nothing till the thing makes no compression and wont make highway speeds...so Its cool...Anyway that's whay suzuki recomends...one of their ex mechanics    told me...
Want to know what else...V-rod, to do a full service on it...the motor needs to come out of the frame...at 10K the owners get a 1500 bill from the dealers easy...
Cool.
Srinath.