I sent an email to my local dealer after seeing that the naked gs500 is in Canada this year (probably to give the Hyosung some competition) and the owner replied saying that he had a full faired demo with 276 kms on it and he would sell it to me for less than the naked goes for.  So I think I may just pick it up.

How do you guys find the bike when riding one up?  Most of the time my 7 yr old son will be on it with me but once in a while I may tote the ole lady somewhere.

Thx

PS
Great site

its by far better with just 1 person on the bike as it has very soft suspension, but 2 up is fine its not a terribly powerful bike but its comfy and reliable and will ride at 80 or 90 all day.
i would look into getting new fork springs and mabee a new rear shock if you are going to carry passengers alot
you'll love the gs, a great work horse

Congratulations and welcome!  Have fun and ride safely!

Chilly

YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

great bike indeed.

Try the stock suspension out two up & tell us what you think.

in general most find it very soft for hard twisty riding or two up, however upgrading the suspension is a VERY easy fix that most of the members here have done themselves and will hold your hand through the whole (easy!) process

actually, with the support of this site you can perform virtually ALL of the maintenance and upgrades yourself and save a pretty penny.

welcome

Sweet, I have noticed that this site is very friendly and informative.  My son wont add much weight to the bike as he only weights 42 lbs or so but two adults would be another matter.

I dont plan on driving with two adults on the bike for a while anyway till I get use to the bike and a little more experienced as a rider.

I do love the look of the bike and if I can get a good deal I guess I should make the plunge,hehe.

Quote from: l3uddha on November 11, 2006, 12:11:30 PM
with the support of this site you can perform virtually ALL of the maintenance and upgrades yourself and save a pretty penny.

+1

Welcome!! 

i own a 2005 and dont have any problems with it .. the soft  nice of the front and rear is somthing you get use to . you eather upgrade or deal with what you got ( and thats what i do ) i'v riden 2 up with my lady and shes 130  and i'm 205 and it dose just fine

Welcome!

The soft suspension will teach you to be smoother with the brakes!   

Edit: Addendum: www.peterverdonedesigns.com/introduction.htm

exactly what scratch said.

softer is good for learning and much more foregiving.

I rode on the stock suspension for a year with no problems and I loved every minute of it. I'm about 150lbs so it never really bottomed out on me, and not until I really started leaning the bike over far did I want to experiment with the suspension, not because I thought it "needed" it, but because I was learning a lot about different suspension settings through this site and it was a huge suggestion. I rode 2-up with my 110lb girlfriend a few times before I upgraded and didnt really have any issues w/ her on the back either, probably because I ride at a pretty relaxed pace with someone on the back.

I like to lean the bike over pretty far, so I went with Race-Tech straight rate springs in the front and a (I forget the year) GSX-R 750 monoshock in the back for track riding.

Okay, Im off to check out the GS in an hour.

Ooh baby, I have the itch bad!

welcome ....... you will love it

Man, I did love it.  The bike may be a tad out of my price range though with all the family stuff in the house so I may test drive a LS 650.  Seems to be a solid bike.  Not a sporty toy but still seems to be a solid machine.

look for used lots out there if you can't afford new .......