Coming form dual sport bikes (KLR 650 and V-Strom) I like the ability to take a bike off the beaten path once in a while.  I know the GS500 will never be a real dual sport but has anyone modded one with off road tires and maybe a longer suspension?  Already going to buy the handguards might as well make it a big project.

It is already dual sport - commute riding and twistie riding. Both sports it does very very well ... if you add dodging your efforts to fix the problems to that list of sports, its extremely good at 3 sports. Its a Triple sport ... and you fix it right, you will have a dual sport. Yea ... you just  want  to fix all its problems dont'ya.
Cool.
Buddha.

Hah!  It bottoms out already on the street.  Nowhere near enough suspension travel for bumpy dirt roads IMO.

Haha, I was already wondering about your intentions with that GS when you posted about putting handguards to keep rocks from hitting your hands. I don't think in my years of riding I've ever had a rock hit my hand, so I was already picturing you riding the GS off road. I think for it to be worth while you'd have to put completely new forks on it. I've upgraded the springs and put a heavier fork oil in mine, and the forks are still softer than I care for on the road. I think you should just put a motard on your list as the next bike to buy.

It's a lot easier to turn a dual-sport into a street bike than the GS into a dual sport. It probably will be difficult and not very cost efficient, but in the end you will have a unique GS500 and I'll be jealous so give it a try please!

Slap a DR650 front end on it, a 2 ft long rear shock off a DR maybe and call it a dual sport man ...
I did it with savage, you can do GS ... go speedsix go ...

Speedsix, Speedsix he's our man ...
If he cant do it no one can.

Goooooooooooooo speedsix.

Cool.
Buddha.

I take my gs off road all the time with its brigdestone street tires, you just gotta be extra carefull and take it slow, its kinda nice cause its a light bike, just be carefull of the headers and ive had a few sticks get caught between the right side drivers peg and exhuast other than that ts been good. I often hit gravels and level bs when im ridding around. I live in iowa....so its often i am required to take these kinds of roads. Im a little interested in what she will be like in the snow. I ride all year. My old amf ironhead did great other than the drum rear brake

does it snow in iowa? cause i dont think those facotry bridgestones are going to provide much grip on the snow...

why?

that would be like converting a GEO Metro into a sports car.....

easier/cheaper to buy a DS

a GS ain't light.....370#

I am giving up on the idea I think.  If I own the bike long enough to need new tires, I will put some with decent tread but that is about as far as I am going to go with it.  I have already dumped enough money into it for what it is.  I am just going to run it as is for a while.

It's good at what it does, but waay too heaaavy to be a good DS. I use mine on a maintained, town dirt road (through need, not choice) and it's nerve-wracking, especially when the grader has been through recently and made the surface all ball-bearing like. Went 3 miles out of the way to avoid a long hilly stretch of that (took a more level stretch that the grade hadn't hit recently over to the tarred road).

When the road surface is packed down, it's not bad, and better than the car/truck at avoiding the potholes. But that's about as far as I'd care to take it.

dual sport.... Why Yes! 

My GS500 Adventure project

Just add one of these mods........

Quote from: Manaenrc on April 19, 2012, 10:45:41 AM
dual sport.... Why Yes! 

My GS500 Adventure project

I was typing "Why in the hell would you do this???"  And then I saw this.  Awesome!  Although personally if I wanted a dual sport, I'd buy a DRZ.  Just sayin...but your ride is wicked.

Quote from: jestercinti on April 19, 2012, 08:25:07 PM


I was typing "Why in the hell would you do this???"  And then I saw this.  Awesome!  Although personally if I wanted a dual sport, I'd buy a DRZ.  Just sayin...but your ride is wicked.

Well I have had both a drz and an xr650l they were both great bikes but not something that I would ride on long adventure rides. I put 20k miles on the Xr but the gs wins for my purpose. maybe I'm just getting old but there is a certain practicality to the Gs. I don't need a bike that can do big air. The only thing I kinda miss is the potential for endless wheel stands on the XR .
My reasons are probably too long to list. Bottom line I knew I had to build the bike I wanted because Americans are very impractical when it comes to motorcycles which means there are few options. Its all gotta be big power, big frames, big engines, big fairings. I just want reliable, simple, enough power to highway ride, good mpg, comfort for long hauls, moderate off road ability, lightweight. When I am done the gs will be all of that.


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"Haha, I was already wondering about your intentions with that GS when you posted about putting handguards to keep rocks from hitting your hands."
The hand guards are to stop wing mirrors hitting your hands, essential commuting mod!   

Did anyone else notice that this thread was nearly 3 years old?

Quote from: bryan88 on April 20, 2012, 09:22:32 AM
"Haha, I was already wondering about your intentions with that GS when you posted about putting handguards to keep rocks from hitting your hands."
The hand guards are to stop wing mirrors hitting your hands, essential commuting mod!   

Uh. How about braking a lever when you're in the middle of nowhere. Ever have to ride without a clutch. Also, I've been hit with a tire cap off a truck on the highway. It deflected off my hand guards of my xr. Call it what you like, I'll call it essential.

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Quote from: k.rollin on April 20, 2012, 12:28:55 PM
Did anyone else notice that this thread was nearly 3 years old?

Yup, but I just wanted to add a link to my thread. Didn't realize it would turn into this.  Didn't mean to raise the dead.

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I just thought it was funny. I have been following your build for a while, and I like it a lot. BTW, the local hardware store in my neck of the woods sells tubular aluminum spacers that you could cut to size to use to gain fender clearance. I use them for pillar bedding my rifles.