Does anyone know if there are any years of GS that came with black bars? like maybe the yellow faired ones from o4?

My 97 GS500E came with black bars, I thought all GSs thru 2000 came with black bars.  My 02 GS500 came with chrome bars and I thought all GS and GS-F from 2001 on came with chrome ones in this country.  Not sure about the naked GS500 still sold abroad.  If I'm mistaken someone should be along to correct me shortly.   

you can get superbike bars in black or chrome for around 15 plus shipping from motorcycle superstore or chaparrall racing.

See, my issue is that I'm an idiot.

I parked on a slope and hopped off. Bike tipped left when I was about 15 feet away. So, the left side of the bars are bent.

Its an 01. The bars on it now are the chrome, but I like the black.

I see SOME of the 04's come with black, and some with chrome. Some of the older ones, etc. but there is a little notch in the 01 bars for the electrical controls, so they don't rotate. But the older ones dont seem to have that. But the newer ones do. However, I don't know if the newer ones will be a problem for fitment--like, are they too high, are they too wide, etc.

See, because I'm an idiot.

The parts fiche shows only one handlebar for all K4/K5/K6 US models.  There is another bar listed that says not for US market, maybe that's the black one.

I have a bent 97 bar in the garage, I'll look at it later and see if it has the holes for locating the grips/switch gear.

Aftermarket bars are much cheaper if you can figure which ones you want.

unless they are aftermarket bars all GS bars have those little holes for the controlls  My 95 and 90 both have black bars w/ the notches 

There are sloted holes on both sides of the 97 bars to locate the switchgear.  The narrow brackets that hold the levers, mirrors, brake cyl can be loosened and turned to rotate the levers to suit the rider as they should be.  Another difference besides black/chrome bars are the plugs welded into the ends of the bars to screw the bar end weights into on the 97.  No plugs in the later bars, the screw compresses a rubber plug to hold in place.

+1 on the plugs.. the 95 and 90 both have em in the ends  cant do most barend mirrors w/ them suckers in there