Hey everyone. A couple weeks ago I bought my first bike, a 2004 GS500F with 15k miles. This is my first bike and unfortunately I have not really had a chance to ride it yet becuase of this crazy weather. The chain was stretched pretty bad so I'm in the process of replacing that along with the sprockets. I'm thinking about replacing the rear shock with a Kat 600 but I've read that if you do you should upgrade the front end too and I just don't wanna put that much money into it.

Hey, I'm actually right across the river from you over in Edwardsville, Il. Looking to sell my formula and get a gs this summer  good to know there's others in the area, looked pretty barren on the forum map

Congrats on the "new to you" bike and welcome to the forum. I'm just a couple hours south of you, around the Cape Girardeau, MO area.
Tony