Hello,

I am seriously considering a buying a GS500F.  The dealer is a friend of mine and says the bike can be underpowered (he thinks I need a 650) but I suspect it has plenty of power and is probably faster than my Volusia 800cc bike.  I like overall economy of this bike like gas mileage, lightweight, easy to handle, etc etc.

Is it true that you have to adjust the valves every 4000 miles?  That seems to be a bit excessive.  Is it difficult to do?

Thanks!

That's BS, unless you spend lots and lots of time in the red zone you could go 40 to 60,000 miles before you need to actually adjust them.

You actually DO need to check valve adjustment.  You don't actually have to change shims every time, but it needs to be checked like the manual says.  Mine needed adjustment when I checked them at about 17K miles (I bought it at 12K and they had been checked shortly before that).  You risk burning valves if you don't check the clearances.

Read this thread to see why it's necessary and to get lots of other information.

Check valve adjustment is what I mean.  Hopefully, it not that difficult to do because I am 99% sold on getting a GS500F.

Thanks!

You definitely need to check the valves on a regular basis.  When I bought my '01 it was only running on one cylinder.  The previous owner admitted the only maintenance he ever did was change the oil.  The bike had a burnt exhaust valve at 10k miles.  A little more maintenance and that could have been avoided.  Then again, I wouldn't have gotten the bike so cheap if it ran correctly 

-Jessie