Hello all.

I just registered here because I have been talking to a guy about purchasing his 92 GS500 for 1500. It has good tires, a full vance and hines system, K&N air filter, New Fuel Lines and freshly rebuilt carbs.

I am going to look at it on monday probably and I just dont know what to look for. I am going to be using it pretty much as a daily commuter so I just dont want to get into something that is going to be hard to maintain or be problematic.

thanks for any info you can give me

I got my '94 in perfect working order for $1000... It had 82,000 miles on it, but it runs well and had good tires and all that. If the '92 is super clean, has really nice paint, low mileage and runs well I guess $1500 is a decent price. I have not found the GS to be hard to maintain and I've had very few problems with mine. If the carbs were just rebuilt and are all dialed in correctly, it seems like you will have avoided a problem that many people seem to have.

Go over it really nitpicky, find a bunch of stuff not 100%, and then offer him 1100 cash.

Here's a nitpicky list for ya.

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html

Good luck.

Ok so I just got an email from him saying that after the carb rebuild he is having some mixture issues and that he would not recommend riding it like it is. He said his mechanic said that it needed new jets and about two hours worth of work to be perfect. He did say that he would trailer it down to me but I dont see what good that is going to do if he doesnt think it should be ridden in its current state. It is ashame too cause it looks to be in great shape body wise

He will trailer it to you?

Offer him 900 - 1K delivered  Carb work is EASY! Do you have pics? post em here

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/mcy/797614422.html

There is the craigslist ad.

If he would take 1000 for it I would do it in a heartbeat, but he has already said that 1500 was lower than he wanted to go    I am just trying to decide if it is a good deal at 1500 or if I should just hold out and see if I can find something better. I really am not in a huge hurry for a bike, but I have really kind of fallen for these GS500's

$1500 for a 16 year old bike that isn't running well due to carb issues? I know it is easy to fix, but if he wants that much for the bike, he should fix it, then sell. You should offer him less money, and if he doesn't accept, just wait a while and call him back. I doubt anyone else is going to buy it from him either, so you might be able to wait him out...

1500 IF IT RAN PERFECT  less if not

ok thanks everyone I guess I am going to hold off a bit and see if he will come down I had already offered him 1250 but he said that was too low.. now I think that might have been the most I was willing to pay. The bike has 21,xxx miles on it

"Like I said before, I cannot get the air fuel ratio correct. It was off originally because the carb gaskets were so worn out. Now I just need it tuned again. Just like when you need to correct the air fuel ratio with a kit called a dynojet kit after adding high performance exhaust, etc, the same needs to be done if they have been rebuilt. Like I said it's about 2 hours labor at any decent shop at around 8o bucks an hour. I got a lot done the summer, but I bought a new bike so it's just taking up space. The mileage is 21,3xx and I'm positive it's correct."

This was his last email to me so I let him know that for 1250 delivered I might still be interested but for now at 1500 im going to have to keep looking.

Thanks for all your help I am going to keep looking around for a GS500 though cause I really have become very interested in them. I would love an SV650 but they are just out of my price range for now so I figured I could start with the baby brother

Kyle dude - That DJ crap isn't gonna fix nothing, least of all bad gaskets. He's a Moron. And if they been rebuilt, they need what not if you fit the carb back together the same way it was originally ... WTF atr these people smoking.
Cool.
Buddha.

Yeah definitely wait it out. I was a little anxious when I bought my GS and I think I could have gotten a better deal on a nice one. I paid 1500 for my '90. Ended up selling it a few months later for 1400. Keep looking. These GS's are good starter bikes!

yeah I am back to searching for good now... the guy told me that he had another bike now and that there was no room for this one, but after telling him that 1500 was too high he all of the sudden bought the jet kit himself and is now keeping it 

oh well ill keep on the look out and keep an eye on the for sale section on this site too..

I have nearly 10,000 miles under my belt from my Vespa GT200 that I recently got rid of, but it just seems like most of the decent condition larger bikes are out of my price range and these GS's seem like fun

I'm sure you'll find a poorly running GS500 after DJ kit was installed for 2 grand soon on CL, it will eventially sell for $500 in a year or so.
Cool.
Buddha.

Being in Dallas I suppose you don't really have winter, so the pre-winter bike sales my not happen the way they do in snow country, but the secret to all good craigslisting is to look when you don't really need it, or just look all the time, so that when something good comes along you can snap it up, and when something bad comes along you can ignore it, make fun of it, or whatever.

Somebody's selling a running XJ650LJ a little ways from me - but I don't really need two.

yeah thats the good thing I dont really need anything until the spring and while we dont have winter we still get a shift in sales durring the "cold" months so I will just keep on checking and hope to find something good.