Greetings from Oregon!!  I'll use my first post to try to find out what this strange sound coming from my engine is.
My '07 GS500F has 1200 miles on it and ever since I got it new it has made a faint  tunka-tunka-tunka sound which presents itself when the throttle is cracked just off idle.
Intelligent mechanics are few and far between in this neck of the woods (Cottage Grove). The latest theory from the Suzuki shop is that I'm hearing the counter balancer doing it's thing. 
If all of your bikes make the same sound I would feel comforted and forget about it. The bike runs fine and has no other issues.
Thank you in advance for any helpful ideas.

Top part of the engine like right ~ the valve cover ... that can be cam shaft side play - Harmless and unavoidable unless you want to yank the head and weld and machine sheite.
Or valves being loose, which will get worse with mileage and needs to be adjusted (maintenance item). If its bottom 1/2, you can have a 100 htings, including a bad rod bearing or main bearing as well as the aforementioned counterbalancer bearing.
Cool.
Buddha.

Thanks Budda,
The sound I'm hearing kinda sounds like it's coming from the lower end. The valves were found to be in spec after the 600 mi service and I had the carbs sync'd because I thought the sound was much like the sound a CV carb makes when it's innards throb when outa sync.
The bike is still under warranty for another month or so. The bike was broken in gently and I have yet to red-line the thing.
I have zero confidence in the abilities of the mechanics at the local Suzuki shop. These guys actually charged me $250 for the initial service on my '07 DR650 single!!  And it ran like crap when finished!!
Maybe I should contact consumer relations at Suzuki to register my concern before warranty expires. ?

It's hard to trace sounds by ear on a running engine but that most likely is camshaft sideplay. Mine make that same noise in the 1800-2000 rpm range.

Quote from: RevvinKevin on May 06, 2008, 07:41:13 AM
Thanks Budda,
The sound I'm hearing kinda sounds like it's coming from the lower end. The valves were found to be in spec after the 600 mi service and I had the carbs sync'd because I thought the sound was much like the sound a CV carb makes when it's innards throb when outa sync.
The bike is still under warranty for another month or so. The bike was broken in gently and I have yet to red-line the thing.
I have zero confidence in the abilities of the mechanics at the local Suzuki shop. These guys actually charged me $250 for the initial service on my '07 DR650 single!!  And it ran like crap when finished!!
Maybe I should contact consumer relations at Suzuki to register my concern before warranty expires. ?

use a rubber hose to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. most likely it's just typical gs500 rattles/hums.

she'll make a few more noises as she gets older. most of them are harmless. remember, this is 20 year old tech.

yes, contact suzuki about your concerns. i would. if i ever had a bike that had a warrantee

I like the rubber hose idea.  I can use the same hose to flog the Suzuki dealer!!

Dude ... "the sound was much like the sound a CV carb makes when it's innards throb when outa sync" ... like I'm sorry, WTF is this throbbing ... never heard of it so far, Go ahead search for it ... this site, any other bike site, anywhere ... google it ... it does not exist, cos there aint no such thang.
The cam shaft side play is easily spotted, take off the valve cover catch the cam sproket and move it side to side. If it moves by over 1/4 mm, its going to make a thunking noise. 1/2 mm and it will make a racket. The suzuki morons do not make one for under 1mm, but if you have a shim already, you can get to the next one up ...
Anyway, dealers employ the old "your bike has trouble eh, why dont you trade up to this nice and shiny POS here, a whole 3-4 months of peace" before its going to fall to pieces ... instead of competent mechanics ... it actually works well for their bottom line.
BTW I saw a virago 535 with a leaky head gasket, and the dealers sprayed it with carb cleaner and got it nice and clean and shiny and palmed it off on someone. I'm like ... you evdn try to torque the head nuts ... some of them are outside, and 1-2 are on top of the cylinder head cover ... just taking off tank and bug eyes and hunting in there, you can see if they need to be torqued and it will do 90% more good instead of carb cleaner. but see, they are just using it as a way to get someone on it, then work them into a trade in situation and then make them pay up for a new one. It also serves the "has to be new and shiny and purty" customer right, they can get ripped off, I'll just wait it out till your shiny POS sits for years cos you have a head gasket leak and I'll buy it for pennies on the dollar. Anyway, no clue what you have to do, find a competent dealer mechanic (freaking oxymoron if there ever was one ) find a Gstwinner who can help you diagnose and then bash the dealer into the ditch with that diagnosis etc etc etc ...
Cool.
Buddha.

on a roll today eh ? buddah

Welcome from OR! I get warm and fuzzy whenever someone mentions my home state. Def. wish I was back there to ride on the roads (hmm ... actually, might go back soon). Have fun in Cottage Grove, and hope you get to hit some sweet routes soon. I hope to see heaps of pictures with the Cascades as backdrop and the GS front n center 

Thanks again buddha for the  all-so-true rant and info.
I used to have a '77 XS400D that made this Carb sound I referred to.  There were slides or something inside which fluttered and made this throaty sound. If they made THAT sound at 1500 RPM's, that's what my Suzuki knock sounds like.  Perhaps I've been exposed to too many exhaust fumes and I've gone dilirious in my old age.
I contacted Suzuki Customer Service and was told that my options were to either believe the Dealer's BS about the sound being the NORMAL sound made by the counter balancer or allow them to tear down the motor to search for a manufacturing defect. If they found a defect, they would fix it. If not, I get to pay for the teardown and walk away with a motor which had been ransacked by unqualified idiots.
The camshaft clearance theory seems to be the most popular out there. I'm going to use the rubber hose stethescope method to isolate the area where the noise is coming from. Thanks again for the help.

Ohh ... OK my KZ440 also did, it was a butterfly choke on the airbox side ... it would do it as the idle was picking up when the thing was on choke. Take it off and it will go away ...
That noise on the KZ was very metallic and tinny ... if you're getting anythign like it on the GS ... forget it, it shot, it has to be rod bearings. The KZ used sound very very much like rod bearings ... ggggdddddddunnnngggg .... ggggggddddddduuuuuunnnnggggg is rapid succession ... OK you do this ... Ride it, get up to speed, nice and good, atleast 75 clicks, make sure you wear all your gear, and rev up hard going through the driveway of your dealer and as it gets near their front door, jump off ... Its frocked ... and they better fix it under waranty before it runs out and dies on ya ...
BTW you check the oil ever ?? run low ?
Cool.
Buddha.

Oil level has been maintained. $300 initial service performed at 600 miles and I changed the oil again about 200 miles ago. It has 1200 miles on it now.
My engine's knock isn't the metallic sort of doom note that you described. I don't think that it's quite that bad. More of a tung-tung-tung thing which is only audible coming off of low idle when the slightest amount of throttle is applied. Many people say they can't even hear it.  I notice it at idle sometimes at the stop light.
Anyhowz, I'm going find which part of the motor it's coming from and go from there.

I tried listening to the engine with a hose to my ear, checking upper and lower ends, I didn't hear squat.
Maybe it's all in my head, or I'm hearing something which actually is normal GS intake/exhaust/whatever sound.
I'm going to pretend it ain't there and ride the wheels off of it!
Thanks to everybody who chimed in.

Quote from: RevvinKevin on May 06, 2008, 02:59:16 PM
<snip>
$300 initial service
<snip>

Glad you've started to "hear" things, most of us get to that stage before we decide ... aaah screw it and ride it like a madman.

Now to your post and a generalisation ... Why do people correlate the cost they paid to some tangible service or product ... I paid so much, there for they must have done this ... well ... not unless they say they have done it in a itemised printout and even then I'd like to double check it ...
In a lot of cases paying a premium just tells the receiver of the premium, you have no clue and plenty of money. Dealers will charge you for breathing, if not for customers who they think will protest (AKA the cheapskates or the trouble makers) ... IMHO, $300 should include a valve check + adjustment, oil change, and carb tune with a set of 40/125's. Which it does need after a few 100 miles. Chain oil and gentle clean up too. So OK itemised bill is a must and a trusted and competent mechanic is even better.
Cool.
Buddha.

I hear ya Buddha !
For my $300, I received the valve adj. , oil change and a hastily checked off " inspection report" which concluded that among other things that my spokes were tight and the coolant level was correct.
Also a complimentary garnishment of greasy fingerprints all over my bike was included.  Yes, I raised hell !!
My best guess is that chances are that the valves were not actually checked/adjusted and the fingerprints were intentionally applied to encourage the idea that a mechanic actually touched the machine!
This is the same Dealership where I purchased 2 new bikes in 1 year.
When I took my new DR650 in to have an oil leak at the valve cover corrected under warranty, I told them to change the oil while they were at it.
The oil change cost $68.
The next closest Suzuki dealer is 50 miles in the other direction and I haven't much confidence in them either.
I'm going to order the approved gstwin.com service manual and take matters into my own hands from now on. I'm not mechanically challenged, I just lack the time and facilities to do much serious wrenching.  I'll have to MAKE time from now on!!
Peace,
RK

If you're not too far from NC, you should join one of our "mad weekend trashes" ... usually someone brings some crazy ass project ... AKA me, and then werase spews some BS about it, we drink beer and werase doesn't and we watch werase fix all the screwup's we did, and someone will take pics of the stuff and post it. Usually ...
Cool.
Buddha.

Sounds like fun Buddha, but I'm about as far from NC as you can get without swimming!!  (Oregon)

Yea easy, just 3K miles ... it'll be easy ... 
Cool.
Buddha.