okay, i'm going to ask this question here, although some of you may tell me it's place isn't in O&E. everyone i know of that has owned or ridden the gs500(old or new, f or e) complains about the stock suspension being "soft", "crap", "shitty", "horrible" etc....now, i don't see suzuki complaining about loss of sales on this bike. so, people are still buying them, still bitching bout stock suspension. okay, maybe i have two questions. first: if the stock suspension is really that crappy, why the f%$k are people still buying the bike, just to do tons of work to it to get it "right"?.  second: i'm sure suzuki knows that everyone who buys this bike complains about the stock suspension, so why hasn't suzuki fixed this "problem"?   

simple: 

First, people buy the GS because they love the simple, forgiving, but reasonably powerful engine.  Most GS-ophiles are wrenchers at heart.  They Buddha Loves You about the shortcomings but secretly love that there is so much to 'fix' about the bike.

Second, the GS500 is a budget bike, which has to hit a price-point so that it doesn't compete with other suzuki models already out there.

thats about it. 

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for any thing other then sporty riding the suspension is nice.  but some of us like that so we mod it i would say there is alot of people who have GS who got it cause of the milage and use it as a comuter and don't really mind the soft ride

Its like this. For years and years GS had only 1 competetion, the EX and its suspension was even worse. The EX torunced the GS in power, never any chance of competing there, so suzuki just carved a niche with looks and ease of maintenance and extrordinary reliability. In 04 they took it one step further and made it even better looking with fairing.
Now, by the time people realise the suspension is bad, it certainly isn't a warrantable issue, and the sport bike upgrades are readily available and the return trips to the dealer to fix the suspension usually result in you riding out with a new bike.
Its really called planned obsolescence. No one plans on keeping a beginner bike forever, the factories just like to hasten that process. How ever many trips you make to your dealer, they believe it increases the odds that you will cave.
Factories do not make bikes for us to snap up on the used market for pennies on the dollar, so everything we say even if suzuki were listening will result in them doing the exact opposite.
The GS suspension - If you are very light (under 125lb) its good. The target is young people and girls really. 125-150lb if you live in a fairly smooth environment (track only or streets that dont have potholes) the suspension is tolerable. Weigh past 150 or toss in bad roads, and immediately the rear stands out as a total POS. Go past 175 or toss in very bad roads and front is also going to show up short.
Beginners dont even realise their suspension is what is causing some of their issues.
Manufacturers like to make their product more saleable, not neccesarily better, and pretty plastic is cheaper than actually fixing the problems.
BTW they could have also cleaned the frame better after welding it, done better paint/powdercoat on the frame etc etc instead of covering it up with pretty plastic.
People are complaining about carbs and this and that too just as much, but suspensions are the new thing to complain about, it looks like.
Last year this time we had a rash of rusty tanks - BTW why didn't they put zinc in it like they did in the early 80's.
The year before it was goats (05 spring) ... like 5-6 bikes go down with one thing and its all that. Better magnets etc etc were all debated.
Few weeks ago it was blown motors. Why the F*(k did suzuki not make a motor that dont use oil.
Cool.
Buddha.