Hello everyone, I recently bought a 2000 GS500e for $1300. Not sure if I payed too much, but the guy was a bike mechanic and did some recent maintenance (fork seals, fuel petcock, carb cleaning/rejet) and it runs perfectly. Paint isn't perfect, but it looks good enough for me. I'm a new rider, but looking to learn to ride hard.

That being said, on to the questions...

The bike came with a pair of kenda Cruiser ST tires, but the rear is worn to the wear bar in the center.: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/401/6098/ITEM/Kenda-K671-Cruiser-ST-Front-Tire.aspx

The front has plenty of tread, and honestly I haven't had the rear move around on me unless I get into some gravel, but I know I need to replace it before it gets me into trouble. I'm looking at getting a 140/70 Pirelli Sport Demon rear tire, but I want to make sure its not going to give me trouble having a less sporty front tire. I'm not sure if this means any thing, but it seems I'm already using all the of the front tire (no "chicken strips") but the rear still has about a .5 - .75 inch. Not really sure if that is normal.

BTW - can anyone with a sport demon comment on tire life? (aprox miles?)

My second question is a chain. He had a non o-ring chain on it and i'm almost out of adjustment on the swing arm. When I bought it, he told me he'd give me a one time deal on parts at his cost. He told me he could get a bike master for $58, or an RK for $75. Any opinions here?

Thanks for the help! I'll try to put up some pics soon...

Highly unlikely you are riding in such a way YOU have removed the chicken strips on the front while the rear still has strips. The rear strips will go before the front. So something is definitely wrong if it's the other way around.

The 140 Pirelli Sport Demon is a good tire. I've just put my second on the rear. I put the first Sport Demon on at 23,000km and the 2nd Sport Demon on at 40,130km. However, between this distance I turned the bike from an everything bike to a commuting bike so had much more center wear than I otherwise would have. I'f I'd kept it for weekend riding as well I would have gotten a few more thousand kms out of it. Not enough to take it to it's 48k service so would have changed it at 42k service anyways. I am pleased with this tire's life and road holding.

He has obviously put those other tires on cause they are cheaper.

Are you sure it is a non oring chain? hang on, if he chooses those other tires for cheapness, yeah he'd do the same with the chain. Anyway. get rid of it and put a proper oring chain on it. And Oh... how are the sprockets looking?

Michael

Thanks for the reply!

Maybe I'm just crazy or maybe the wear on the front is from the previous owner (looks like he took the rear tire nearly to the edge too, but i can tell on the back where the "fresh" wear is).

I figured he bought them for the cheapness, just wasn't sure if it was safe to ride hard with that front tire and a sport demon rear. I'm on a tight budget too or i'd just replace both.

I'm new to bikes in general, so i'm not 100% on it being a non-oring chain, but he said it was, and its only been on there for around 2-3k miles. I'm def going with an o-ring chain, just wasn't sure if the cheaper "bike master" chain will be good enough.

never usd hose tires but I lovd the metzeler M3 for the front and rear Ia  150/30 in the rear of my GS and since the tire was a little pinched it would fall into tight turns or maybe it was the lowered front and raised rear. but they held really well at high speed. and chains not sure as my gs has been sold and my honda has the motor siting on my bench waiting for some new rings.