I am looking at a 1990 GS500.. apparently it either runs rough or will not start right now. The owner had it a few years and said last year it started acting up due to dirty carbs and he doesnt have time anymore.

he also suggested the fork seals be replaced. I have yet to see the bike, and am researching this year, for known issues etc to be better prepared.

I have made mistakes in the past by not researching a specific year of an item and getting into a complete problem vehicle...

So for a 1990 in decent condition with either dirty carbs (prob ably rusty tank) and fork seals, possibly new rubber needed... is $500-$600 fair? I am ok with cars and bikes. I have rebuilt 2 carbs in my life and they turned out ok after. On cars I have pulled motors, replacedbrakes, pumps, rebuilt drive shafts, etc but internal motor work I am not as profecient/experienced.

Prior to this I have Dual Sport enduros or quads and have worked on them for various things.


Any insight here would be great.. I guess if I am going to dump hours of work and another $500+ into it to get it back on the street, I may be better off getting a running one for the $1100+ they go for in this year range, possibly?



The two I am looking at 1990:





1993-94:

Sounds like a good deal to me.

It does sound like a pretty good deal especially if you enjoy and are are good at repairs.  And if you think about the running $1100 bike, it will still probably need some up keep.  Chances are it will be due for a good carb cleaning, plugs, oil change, valve check/adjustments.  Most of that will take time and dollars.

I had zero experience and was able to get mine up and running.  Unfortunately I paid too much for it because I didn't know all the work that it really needed.  For $500, I say go for it.

It sounds EXACTLY like the deal I made. I bought 1990 for $500. I replaced the manifold boots, airbox boots, and rejetted. Total for all the parts, including a spare set of carbs for a broken internal plastic slides, just over 800. Heck of a deal there! Sounds like you don't need as much work, but I suggest checking the rubber on both sides of the carbs. Also, only because mine had it, check for air leaks around the throttle linkage bar, (the rod going through each carb). Other than that, maybe do a valve check, oild change...general maintenance.

Forgot: Parts were relatively easy to find. My local shop had most of the parts I needed, but those they didn't stock, I could order and get it in 3 days.

Soloratov,

Question for you. Was it $500 + 800 in parts or total is $800 including the $500 bike? I was not sure how to interpret your info.


Everyone else thanks for the response this gives me hope. I asked this as I initially thought if the carbs are dirty the tank is probably rusty as I have read about.. then when looking at a price range for tanks found otu that the tanks for this particular bike were only interchangable across a few years.. That got me worried I was looking at a bike with limited available parts.

Keep the info coming. I tried to upload a picture but for some reason the picture I have is not uploading from this PC. I will try to update the post with the picture from the ad to give an idea.

With some modification, it's possible to use the 01+ tanks with 89-00 bikes.  You might be able to clean out and line the existing tank with a POR-15 kit.  That's what I did.  I had the horrible step of stripping out the old flaking liner first though.  See my project thread in my sig.

Sorry, should have been more clear. $800 total, bike + parts.

As far as the tank, I had rust issues. But, I did a lot of reading here, did some youtube-university learning and I did the kerosene/steel bb cleanout.

It's not perfect, and not as effective as the POR liner...however, unlike the liners, you can't screw this up.

BB Method:

Remove gas cap, and internal petcock. Cover the petcock hole with something, I used a piece of plastic and duct tape. Poor approx. 1 gallon of kerosene into tank along with a cup of BB,s. Put the gas cap back on and shake-shake-shake! After a while, pour out the kerosene, refill and repeat. I did it 3 times and it was clearing up really well. After the last cleanout comes the tedious part, get one of those magnetic grabbers, the little wand type and start fishing BB's. You can pour a lot of them out, but the lips around the petcock and gas cap prevent this easily. The wand works, but it takes some patience. After that rinse the tank with some gasoline and you are good to go.

Some will say thats not effective enough. I haven't had a problem. I cleaned the internal petcock, reattached it, and placed an inline fuel filter between the tank and the carbs. fuel from that line is clean as it is going in. The key is to get all the "chunks".

That's my, "I-will-do-it-myself-without-breaking-the bank-or-going-beyond-my-skill-set", advice.

I will admit that next year I will be investing in an 01+ tank, but purely for the larger capacity.

Thanks for the tips on the gas I will probably use that method with teh bb's. Also good to know that you got out of the bike for 800 total, including bike purchase!

I have now found 2 potentials.. the 1990 doesnt run or well due to the carbs. Guy claims it acted up last fall and he was planning on getting to it, but now is in the national guard and will not get to it as he is out on weekends training, etc. I can go look at it next week during the week and will probably do so.




The other is a 93-94 and apparently this one runs well. The guy selling is getting into other hobbies and he has had a lot of bikes growing up, apparently very particular about maintenance.. This bike however has a non stock headlight, and is missing hte ignition (he has the clean clear title). He has hidden switch under the seat for the headlight and ignition, and the seat is locked with the key..

Did thse bikes come in this black combo? this is literally the 3-4th one I have seen with that flat black looking tank.. the first few times I was thinking its a rattle can job, now I am questioning that as I have come across so many like this, and its not the same bike (obviously).

No, it was painted that way after he bought it. They were not blacked out that way. I'm in the process of doing it to mine, but in a much more um...industrial fashion. Spray on bed liner. Stuff is great! And cheap!



Next winter I will be painting the swing arm and the front forks. I may leave the frame though to break it up a bit.

Blue: looks all original. Very beautiful. Everything looks good. Should be easy to clean the carbs, change the oil and have a well running original bike.

Black: what a fugley POS. Someone went crazy with a rattle can of black paint. Doesn't have original headlight. Missing the ignition? WTF! Who knows what else was messed up. I would not touch it.

I would agree with Adidas. Go for the blue one. Only reason is it really sounds like exactly what I went through, and yes, it takes some patience, but it is very worth it. I learned A LOT about the bike, and now if something is wrong, or needs tweaking, it's easy! Well worth the learning experience for a little extra work. As Adidas mentioned, that headlight has to go! Also, the exhaust is obviously not stock, so if anything is wrong with those carbs then it's harder to find a starting point for setup, plus I would be wary of anything electrically altered that I did not do myself. Stock is as simple as "reset to factory setup".

Thanks guys glad I am getting a response with reasoning.. its easy to say well the black one runs so I can drive it day 1.

The blue one does look original to me as well, and I thought that same thing. I don't want to get someone elses beat on and hacked up bike, regardless if it runs good now or not.

I will get in touch with the 1990 blue one  for sure.

I would go blue also. eventho i have painted mine black (twice now) most people just dont paint a bike for the fun of it, so i would guess that something was damaged, would also explain the different headlight. but a bike that doesnt run is always a gamble. and the plus side i have found parts pretty decently priced on here of ebay. is the $500 the starting price? could maybe talk him down. good luck.

Yeah hes at $600 and negotiable a little. That to me means I can get it for $500 or possibly less.

I would ask him how long since anything has been serviced on the bike by him or someone else. i would also point out things that need to be fixed in a nice way if you can. i got over $400 off of mine when i bought it.

A non-running bike is potentially scrap. Don't pay a dime more than you could part it out for, and maybe not even that since you also have to account for the time it will take to advertise, sell, disassemble, pack and ship parts.

The only non-running bike I ever bought wound up costing me twice what I paid for it to get it running, which unfortunately also twice what it was worth. But it would have been worthless as a non-runner, and potentially taken years to part out. Fixed it and said good riddance and lesson learned.

Go for the blue one.
You can jump it to see if the engine turns and the starter works. If it does - anything wrong can be fixed.
If carbs dirty as the owner says, then it is a steal.
If can't jump it, take a 19mm wrench and an 8 or 10mm. Remove the right side round cover. Manually crank the engine CLOCKWISE with the 19mm wrench. You should here a little hissing from air getting compressed in the cylinders. If you remove the plugs, you can feel the pressure with your finger over the spark plug hole.

Everything on that bike looks good. If there is a carb or engine problem, you can get it fixed. Plenty of us have spare pistons, jugs, heads and carbs.

Remember: a stock bike is easy to fix. Just make it look like the pictures in the book!

If it was near me, I'd snatch it up for $500 as fast as I can.

The black one is still a POS. You have no idea what it is. You'd have unknown problems waiting for you.

what he said^