Hi,

I'm in the market for my first bike and a used GS500 seems like a good bet for me (light weight, not too fast, and they seem a lot easier to find used than ninjas). I've got a budget of $2k and I've found several in the area for sale right now. I'm new to bikes, so I'm wondering if anyone has any tips when looking at a used GS. The one's I'm planning to take a look at are all mid to late 90's models priced in the $2,000 range. Any special things I should look out for? Also one of the bikes in the area has a rebuilt title and the seller says it was due to a low speed crash that damaged the front forks. They say the front forks were replaced with katana 600 forks. This one is also the cheapest at $1400 and only has 7000 miles (it's a 92). Given the crash damage I'm assuming I could knock some more off the price which would make this a really economical pick. But, does this sound too iffy? The owner is up front about the damage which is good, but I don't know whether a bike with such damage would be safe. Being able to pick it up cheap makes me want to risk it though...

I -always- go by the rule of rebuilt title, walk away... I wont trust my life to a machine thats been wrecked that I dont know the EXACT extent of the damage, and know who did the repairs (pesonally). I suggest you leave it, spend a few bucks more and get a better bike... but if you *must* have this one, I would go over the ENTIRE bike (especially the frame) with a microsocope... just because they say its "fixed" doesn't always mean its safe!

as him if you can take it for s spin if it goes straight and feels sturdy i say go for it.

The rebuilt title bike is also about 1.5 hours away so it'd be a haul to look at. I like the price but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that.

The other two I've found so far are a 92 with 7800 miles, supposedly in perfect condition never dropped for $2,000 and a 96 with unknown miles (haven't called me back yet) for $1,750. The first one looks great from the pictures and is low miles, but the owner seems, well, let's just say from the emails he doesn't seem terribly literate and he says $2,000 firm. That's a lot for a 15 year old bike, and he didn't answer my questions about tire and battery age and maintanence. I might look at it, but my gut instinct is to tell him I'll give him $1,600 if he doesn't get any better offers... Or does that seem to low. And will a 15 year old gs be fairly trouble free?

I figure the amount you'd save off the rebuilt one isn't worth the possibility that it was a shawdy repair job. Saving a few bucks and running the risk of something going wrong at 70mph doesn't bode well with me.

Quote from: mach1 on March 29, 2007, 04:22:47 PM
as him if you can take it for s spin if it goes straight and feels sturdy i say go for it.

Hehe, my MSF course isn't until May 15 so I'm not going to be able to ride it... I know it's not the best idea, but this time of year seems to have the most bikes up for sale and I don't want to miss out on the right bike at the right price.

Holy crap who gets that kind of money for an early 90's GS       Mine was a 94 clean title 12,000 miles dropped once with minor cosmetic damge,  the guy even took it to a suzuki dealer and had them check it over and I only paid $800..........of course since then I've dropped about 700 more into it but only about 100 of that was actually necessary ( oil change, air filter, new plugs, carb rebuild kit, new battery).

Personally I would ask the rebuild guy if he'll drop it by  a suzuki dealer pre-purchase to have the front end checked out.  If all is good you pay the dealer for the services ( usually less than 1 hours rate )if not he goes and pays them and gets his bike back to pawn off on someone else.  Also I'd probably try to talk him down to about 1200

Just my $.02   

I dunno, all of the 90's gs around here seem to be asking around $2,000. I'm going to look at a 96 tomorrow, with only 3600 miles on it and asking $1750. He said he's had about 10 calls on it so far and several other people will be coming to look tomorrow as well, so who knows. I don't plan on getting in a bidding war. It's old but only 3600 miles. I don't know... For a 92, nada says $855 retail value, kelly blue book says $1500 retail. Pretty wide range. I'd love to score on for under $1,000 but that doesn't seem to likely.

Quote from: debtman7 on March 29, 2007, 06:22:00 PM

I dunno, all of the 90's gs around here

Where is around here? I will sell you my 95 with less than 4K in SUPER clean shape w/ mods and all the OEM parts that I took off for $1700 

Just because a bike has a rebuilt title does not mean it was wrecked bad and just beacuse a bike has a clean title does not mean it has not been wrecked.

Personally I am not affraid of salvage titles, better bargaining power. Especially since resale will be less.

Always look at the welds for cracks and any areas that have been repainted. Review any bike as it has been wrecked.

Gotta agree with dgyver. it gives you leverage to bargain it down and then you have the added bonus of a better front suspension and dual discs upfront   I'd just get it checked by someone who knows what to check for as far as front end damage but if its got the katana front end likely theres no problem you've got to wreck pretty hard to screw the frame up...........

Yeah, the forks are weak enough that they should bend before the frame. eyeball it and look for any tweaks in the frame and like mentioned above, look for welds and touch up paint arround the steering head. Otherwise the katana front end is a nice upgrade and can be expensive to do on your own.

Get a friend to test ride it and if all is well, go for it. 

my gs has a rebuilt title and it's absolutely good. Did repairs myself.

keep in mind the GS is CHEAP. Thus, non-essential damage will easily 'total' it.  i.e., dinged muffler, tank, and some plastic. Which is exactly how it went with mine.

Not sure how low it will force resale value but I'm not planning to sell it either.

Ah well, the rebuilt title one is sold. Tonight I'm going to look at a 96 with 3800 miles, I plan on taking $1600 in cash and seeing if he bites. That's really low miles, which I guess is good and bad. Engine should have a lot of life in it, but on the other hand with 3800 miles in 10 years, it's been sitting around neglected a lot.

I'm in columbus ohio btw, I'm open to anyone here selling a bike but the only catch is that I haven't taken MSF yet so whoever I buy from is going to have to drive it to my house, so that probably limits anyone far away.

Anyway, assuming I eventually find one, presumably mid to late 90's model, what should I plan on doing to it once I get it? Just scheduled maintanence that should have been done or is there anything else I might want to do?

My rule of thumb for a new vehicle is fresh oil change, spark plugs and air filter.........fotunately this is all pretty cheap on the GS
3 quarts Castrol GTX 10W40:  $8
Oil Filter: $4
2 NGK Spark Plugs : $4
Dunno on the stock Air filter I went with a K&N that was only $45 so I can't Imagina stock is more than 15-20

Well, I looked at the 96 tonight and told the guy I'd buy it. He only went down to $1700 on it, but I'm ok with that based on the fact that all the others I've seen are older and have more miles and are asking $2,000 - $2,500. This bike was pristine and with only 3,598 miles on it I'm comfortable paying over blue book value. You could see a few spots where it was dropped but it was very minor, a slight scratching on the muffler and a little bit on the brake lever. Other than that it was super clean, I looked at all the bolts and all over and saw no signs of any slides or other damage. No rust anywhere, fuel tank was clean inside. Overall a great looking bike.

The only thing I'm not sure about are the tires. The number started with DOT and ended in 05, so presumably it's a 2 year old tire unless I misread that. But I did see some pretty visible cracking along the sidewall and the bike hasn't been ridden much, so I'm thinking I might put new tires on it just to be safe. The owner said they were fine and that new tires every 3 years was a stupid myth, but when I figure a tire blowout at 70 mph is a great way to get yourself killed and I'd rather not risk it...

Better safe than sorry when it comes to maintenance and upkeep on a bike..........  congrats on the new GS     I love mine, it's a great bike!!!!!!!!     Get us some pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The date stamp on tires has 4 numbers. The first 2 are the week and the second 2 are the year.

Visible cracks on the sidewall?  I would suggest replacing the tires, they're the only thing between you and total loss of control.  Put a set of BT-45's on to start and work from there.   

Sounds like you found a good bike.  The price is high, but you know that.

Red 96's are the FASTEST.   

I'll post pics of the tires when I get it (he's going to drive it over on tuesday) and see what everyone thinks, but I'm thinking I'll probably need to replace them to be safe.

The price is a bit high I know, but it's just under kbb retail value. I realize that private party sales should probably be at least a few hundred less than kbb retail, but then I also figured that the kbb value is based on average mileage which for a 96 would be, what, around 30,000 miles? With only 3,600 miles and excellent condition, I'm willing to pay a premium.

The other selling factor is that the guy who owned it works at a dealer and bought it for his wife to ride, but she never got into it. I figure if he works for at a dealer and bought it for his wife, he probably knows a lot more about bikes than I do and gave it a good inspection before buying it. I would think he was just feeding me this info to make me think he's an expert and he can assure me it's a great bike, but he never even brought up his job until I'd told him I'd take it and he gave me his card.