(Forgive me if a lot of this information seems like 'old hat' or 'common knowledge' to GS owners, but this is a direct copy and paste of my Craigslist ad.)

For sale is a 2004 Suzuki GS500. It is a great bike for a beginner. It's very friendly to ride with a comfortable seating position. It is not incredibly powerful, but it has more than enough power to handle any highway speeds. My fiance bought this bike to learn on and upgraded to a bigger bike last June. I'm listing and selling it for her since I've been doing all the work to it.  Asking $1750.

Being as how this is a beginner bike, all the modifications that I did to it were to improve the control and responsiveness of the bike. The upgrades that I did have really helped make it even easier to ride. From the factory the bike can best be described as 'soft' which is good for a beginner, but some modifications can be made to improve the amount of feedback the rider gets, which helps improve learning to ride.

It has upgraded front fork springs from Progressive Springs that made an amazing amount of difference in how well the bike handles and the front end feel. The GS500 is notorious for having under-sprung front forks that are typically noticed under hard braking. The upgraded springs prevent the bottoming out of the forks that is common on these bikes. I replaced the fork oil at the same time with 15W oil. This increased the suspension damping and it rides much more smoothly over bumps now. The forks were rebuilt in March of this year.

The front brakes were upgraded with EBC Sintered Brake pads. They provide much better initial bite than the stock brake pads. They were also just replaced in March. The brake fluid, front and rear, was replaced in December '09.

The carburetors were cleaned and rebuilt this past winter and it was re-jetted at the same time. The carburetor jets that are installed from the factory are a bit small for this bike and they cause it to run lean at high rpm. They also cause the throttle response to be somewhat less than ideal. I replaced them with slightly larger jets and the engine is much more responsive and slightly more powerful.

Lastly it also has a relatively new rear tire with only about 400 miles on it, and the battery was just serviced a month ago.

It has a new 15 tooth front sprocket, up from a 16 tooth stock sprocket. I still have the stock 16 tooth one if you'd like to put it back on.

It needs a new chain. The one that is on it has reached the end of its useful life, so you'll want to replace it. Since she's already purchased a new bike, we're not interested in putting any more money into this bike but if buy the parts for a chain replacement, I will help you install it if you'd like.

The bike was purchased as a GS500F but, as expected with beginner bikes, it has been laid down. She low-sided the bike in a corner due to hitting some gravel in the road. The bike slid about ten feet along the road and rashed up the plastics and the exhaust can pretty bad. Mechanically, the bike is in great shape. The forks and frame are straight and the engine runs strong. (Well, as strong as a 500cc engine can.) Cosmetically, I took off all of the rashed up plastics and converted the bike to a 'naked' version or a GS500E. (This bike came in two versions, GS500F with fairings, and GS500E, without.) The exhaust is scratched up pretty bad and there are a few chips in the gas tank (but no dents). The right side engine cover is also scratched up but not broken.

This is an excellent bike for a new rider to learn on and still has plenty of useful life in it. It has a little over 13,500 miles on it and with all the rebuilds runs really well, aside from the aforementioned old chain. Please send me an email if you have any more questions or if you'd like to see some additional pictures of it. I can help with delivery within 100 miles.

you should post where you are located.

Whoops...You're right.  The bike is in Hampton, Virginia.

Sold!