What are common problems of the GS500F if any?
I have a vtr1000F Superhawk and they have problems with the automatic cam chain tentioners.
any knowledge is appreciated, Thanks. 

-sometimes trouble starting in cold weather
-rusty exhaust that needs painting every few years

2 petcocks- and they can choke the motor at higher rpm's.
soft-ish suspension

Most design issues have been fixed in the F model, a few major flaws with all GS's are Goats (magnet separation) and the carbs are very delicate to tuning. Other than that most feel the GS500F is a very rock solid bike and has very few major problems in design.

Petcocks are fixed on Fs.
Carbs start better on Fs.

Exhaust is still a rust factory but there are several treatments out there for such issues. And suspension is a easy and cheapish fix depending on how extreme you go.

Quote from: crzydood17 on July 04, 2011, 11:32:11 PM
Most design issues have been fixed in the F model, a few major flaws with all GS's are Goats (magnet separation) and the carbs are very delicate to tuning. Other than that most feel the GS500F is a very rock solid bike and has very few major problems in design.

Petcocks are fixed on Fs.
Carbs start better on Fs.

Exhaust is still a rust factory but there are several treatments out there for such issues. And suspension is a easy and cheapish fix depending on how extreme you go.

ive used f carbs on my e wiht teh gixxer pipes i put on. pulled out of my parts stash. wstill alot of crap there lol. also riding in formation hte gs doesn tlike it. even with an oil cooler it wouldnt fare well. ( my patriotguard escorts) the harleys were hte only things running well that day. lol. the hondas werent.

Quote from: justinity on July 04, 2011, 09:15:27 PM
What are common problems of the GS500F if any?

GS500s are known for...

- Slighlty harder to start in cold weather
- Needing the choke to start when the engine is cold, regardless of the season
- coming lean from the factory
- squeaky rear brake
- soft suspension (USA bikes only this seems)
- getting owners hooked on the bike / and encouraging Modding in many

Michael

Quote
- getting owners hooked on the bike / and encouraging Modding in many

Michael

its just such a fun peppy good looking bike... thats cheap on gas and insurance and can be made to run like a bat out of hell if ya really go crazy...
my only desire would be more from 2-4k and no need to drop 2-3 to pass

The first GS5s would....

Strip the splines out of their sprockets.
Leak from their base gaskets.
Suffer from: Unreliable ignition pickups, regs/rects and petcocks and cam-float.

Suzuki have dealt with these issues over the years by design changes and alternative parts and its very rare now to hear of a GSF with one of these faults.

Shame they never did anything positive with the header-bolts 

Personally I wouldnt classify alot of these as "problems" but more as complaints  In actuality the GS is a pretty damn solid bike and has been dubbed 'bullet proof' in alot of mag articles...My buddy has an 02E with 35+ K on it and short of oil changes, brakes and tires, he's been literally problem free.  My 09 is too new to list anything, I just crested 10k and its been excellent.  The best part about this bike is, the "beefs" are very easily correctable and given the bikes low cost (new and used) you can correct almost everything such as the mushy suspension, hard seat, add a jet kit etc for relatively cheap.  The warming up is my main gripe...alot of times I just wanna start and go, but the damn warming up gets to me sometimes  

Some 06's have had head gasket problems. Mine leaked at only 100 miles or so. 20k miles later and no other issues  

seized engine from lack of oil awareness by owner

Very few design flaws, nearly none, most of the rest of the problems are actually similar to maintenance issues or limitations imposed by EPA or other crap.
That is one of the benifits of being a very dated design. Started as the 400 or the 300, and well improved over decades. It tries to not do too much and as a result does its main purpose well.
I would singularly put the GS in a class by itself with possibly 1 or 2 other bikes in the same category. Maxim 700 and a lot of 2 valve yamaha aircooled post 85 bikes like radian, FJ600 etc comes to mind, maybe the GS 4 cyls, maybe the cb/cm 2 cyl hondas that could be it. I have not owned all the bikes out there - maybe a few of them - cbr 600 f1-f2's maybe, dunno.
Cool.
Buddha.

Seats are REALLY STICKY...  Sometimes I have a problem getting off the damned thing. 

the biggest problem is probably cheap a$$ed owners who hack repairs and modifications

I've seen crap twisted and broke that you can't break without a 3 sided football bat

instead of buying the shim tool, hacks loosen the cam caps to change shims, then they over tighten the bolts and either break a bolt or break a cam cap

1/2 air impact...keep away from your bike 99.999% of the time   

and all problems are because of the previous owner........

10-4, PO's are assholes.

after taking off the plastics, replacing tires, fixing idles, cleaning and tightening chains, straightening out the forks, replacing handlebars, fitting new shocks, cleaning (how exactly do you get half a cm of dirt under the seat in Florida, anyway?), and trying to buff out a billion tank scratches, shes starting to look like a bike.