Greetings everyone. New to the site and would like to introduce myself. Joel Alexander from Maryville, Tennessee. I signed up on your site because I have many questions about the GS500 and figured you guys were the experts to ask. Living here in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains is a bikers paradise. Lots of back roads, mountain roads , country highways and not to forget the infamous US129 "Tail Of The Dragon" is about 15 minutes from my house. I am a member of another board that is centered around US129. We all have our own preferences of bikes and riding styles but here as of late I have become more and more interested in smaller cc. bikes that are lightweight an manuverable. I actually prefer the lighter weight and handling as opposed to the big honkin motors. On the twisties the big liter bikes are just too much. What I want to know is.........what are all of the mods available out there for the GS500? Aftermarket products? Tuning tips? How can I squeeze more power out of say a 2001 GS500? Who makes racing bodywork for them? Etc. I thank you guys and look forward to hearing back from you.

holy crap the GS would be at HOME on the dragon.

suspension overhaul + sticky tires + dragon = wet dreams

hey my name's Joel too. high five!

lighter weight??

gs500 370# and 40 HP
GSXR1000 365# and 160+ HP


mods..what ever you dream up...cause you are gunna have to make it fit

there's a krazy bastid in your back yard installing a 500cc 2 stroke engine in one

You'll find a lot of information on upgrades either in FAQ section, Pablo's site, or the wiki.

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?board=7.0

http://pantablo500.tripod.com

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~sanjayd/gs500/

Yeah, what sanjay said! 

+ Welcome! 

Pretending I started with a bone stock GS500e from 2000, I'd ditch the factory air box and install Uni pod airfilters.  Then rejet the carbs to match, this kind of thing has been discussed at length so what jetting would match is surely on here somewhere.  I don't know that I'd bother with an exhaust system swap unless you really want to spend some cash on it and are hunting another easy ten pounds to drop (this would require slightly different carb jetting again, of course).

After that, improved tires in the stock size would be a nice change, I picked Pirelli Sport Demons but there's a few different options out there.  After that, the suspension could use some help, rebuild the front forks with aftermarket springs like those from Race Tech or Progressive (may also want to run a little thicker oil in the forks) and a rear shock upgrade as well, there's a couple bolt on options from other Suzuki's.

I'm a bit biased on the above, as that is what I've done with my GS for the most part.  Make sure all the real maintenance has been done first, chain and sprockets are in good shape, brakes are healthy, etc.  There's probably 15 pounds of weight that can be dropped without cubic yards of money, after that you'd probably be looking at a shortened rear subframe and a solo seat, that sort of thing.  Don't remember hearing about a weight-reduction scheme on a GS around here, kind of curious what could be done there.

Quote from: werase643 on April 17, 2007, 06:39:11 PM
lighter weight??

gs500 370# and 40 HP
GSXR1000 365# and 160+ HP


mods..what ever you dream up...cause you are gunna have to make it fit

there's a krazy bastid in your back yard installing a 500cc 2 stroke engine in one

Yeap that would be Me. I'm Up the road from you a Bit.

I am Installing a what I hope to be a Highly Modified Suzuki T500 with a Yamahaha Banshee Reed Set up.I'd like to start on it but so far Work has Put it behind and the weather Just isn't Cooperating enough to work in the Shop Yet.
There are some Guys from the Two Stroke Boards that are going to be at the Gap May 14-20.You may want to stop buy and Check out all of the Exciting stuff there.Tell them Jughead Sent you.There will be all Kinds of Concoctions anywhere from Restored Original Kawasakis and Suzuki's to Fire Breathing 120+HP Kawasaki H2's.I'm sure there will even be some Yamaha RD's and Possibly even some Bridgestones.

A rider in that area named Mike (though he goes by PJ of PJsParts.com) recently picked up a GS solely for attacking the twisties of The Dragon. I am pretty sure all he has done is change the suspension (front springs and rear shock) and swap out the rear wheel for the Katana rear wheel (my old one) and some Pilot Powers. That's all you'd really need to do for twisties duty though. You might want to gear it down a little with a 15T or a 14T front sprocket, rather than the stock 16T.

Check my sig for a link to the Wiki, where you will find all the mods you need.

A filter and jetting will give you a tiny bit more power but it mostly just makes the bike pull much smoother. As far as a pipe, full exhausts are expensive and do little. I think welding a free flowing can onto the stock system is almost as good, and really cheap (depending on what you get

New springs for the forks, or swap on a new front end from a better bike (pain in the ass and potentially expensive)

Rear shock from a katana, SV, or GSXR

Good tires

lower gearing (I'd only do this if you won't be spending much time on the freeway)

Quote from: AlphaFire X5 on April 17, 2007, 11:10:01 PM
A rider in that area named Mike (though he goes by PJ of PJsParts.com) recently picked up a GS solely for attacking the twisties of The Dragon. I am pretty sure all he has done is change the suspension (front springs and rear shock) and swap out the rear wheel for the Katana rear wheel (my old one) and some Pilot Powers. That's all you'd really need to do for twisties duty though. You might want to gear it down a little with a 15T or a 14T front sprocket, rather than the stock 16T.

Check my sig for a link to the Wiki, where you will find all the mods you need.

Yes I know both P.J and Paige. We are all members of Easttennesseeriders.com and I did see their yellow GS500 at the "Beginning Of The Season Bash" at the Deals Gap Resort. That in fact is what prompted me to join this site and find out all I could about the bike.

Quote from: Xanderj13 on April 18, 2007, 12:42:21 PM
Yes I know both P.J and Paige. We are all members of Easttennesseeriders.com and I did see their yellow GS500 at the "Beginning Of The Season Bash" at the Deals Gap Resort. That in fact is what prompted me to join this site and find out all I could about the bike.

Some important things to know:
1. Parts are cheap and readily availible.
2. It crashes fairly well.
3. Case guards save a lot of damage.
4. It weighs about 400 lbs wet and makes about 40HP.
5. They are relatively unchanged since 1989.
6. Tons of online support (from us!)

plus about a zillion on the case guards!

My only fear is dragging them, since I'm not proficient at hanging off yet (Unless you count hanging off while upside down when wrecking! I'm a pro at that). I don't know what kind of clearance I have with them, since I haven't had my bike in a condition to get any serious lean on until very recently.