A sad day... I managed to inflict more damage on my gs500 than I want to pay to get fixed.

So... I guess I have a "parts bike"
I havnt officially sent it to the scrapyard yet... I hear people can maybe do something with the "title"?

If so, please fill me in on what is needed, and who might be interested in buying it.

Or suggestions on what I should do now, otherwise.
Please note that I'd like a "All parts out of my garage" solution.


Details:
I"m in long beach, california.

I dropped it going around a freeway onramp, around 20-30-ish.
Happily, I dont have a scratch on me. yay track suit!
but the bike does
Tank dented, sadly by the HANDLEBARS. but not leaking. I rode it home. Engine sounds fine.
The "frame slider" thingie did its work protecting the engine. But annoyingly, the external bit of the BOLT of it, got bent! (see pic)

wierdness: the front fork "tubes" seem straight... but they broke loose a bit from the clamp i guess.
Exhaust now has annoying scratches on it. Sighhh..

sad pics:

Replace the bolt and frame slider and check for cracks on the frame where it attached. Is there any other frame damage?

Loosen the upper and lower clamps that hold the forks and give the tire a kick, check the tube distance from the top triple spacer and see if it looks rights. Someone can probably explain this better than me.

And ride, it doesn't look bad at all

Huh. I guess the pics of the right footpeg being bent didnt show up properly :-/

and the right side mirror is snapped off. And the front .. erm. thingie. (plastic) is a mess.

The bent engine/frame bolt freaks me out .  I think the plastic slider, plus the bolt, plus the HANDLEBAR ends, plus the gastank (sob) took that kind of damage. The frame itself was protected enough. It just has the prior small dent in it that I acquired, I think :-/

That doesn't look so bad. The slider looks to have saved the bike from a lot of damage.
Replace the slider bolt (contact an R&G dealer or R&G directly) - heck, only about $80 for a new set. Bent bolt is OK. Remember the slider knob is way out there and took a lot of abuse. Replace it and you're good to go. I doubt any real damage to frame or engine.
R&G muffler guards can hide the scratches there or put on a nice, new muffler.
Replace the tank later and get another mirror.
Glad you're OK. Bike looks easy to fix up.

Dont scrap the bike,
Very little $$$ to fix by the look of the damage?
Great guys on forum to help get you on your way again

you'd be crazy to give up with that little damage!!!

Sell it for cheap and move on...

Been there done that, twice with my bike. Fix it and ride on. Maybe won't look as pretty but should ride just fine. As others have said, you would be silly not to fix it.

Quote from: codajastal on June 01, 2012, 04:04:39 PM
Dont scrap the bike,
Very little $$$ to fix by the look of the damage?
Great guys on forum to help get you on your way again

Well, you didnt see the front. and the handlebars

I  now have to ditch the .. umm.. "cowl" completely I think. and the bar ends on both sides look wierd and were half torn out. sigh.
I dunno..

What with gs500s being relatively cheap, it would make more sense to buy a "new" one at $1800, than to spend any serious money fixing this thing. but I dont have $1800 to spare. blah.


Hmm. well, they'ave gone up a bit. $2800 for a 2008.
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/mcy/3044488402.html

Huh. Is this a summer thing?
Some bozos are attempting to sell a NOT RUNNING bike used for "stunting", for $1200?? Sheeesh..
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/mcy/3016609827.html

This is the wrong time to be shopping for a motorcycle, prices are at a premium at the beginning of the riding season.  Do you have better pictures, I'm only seeing a few hundred dollars of damage.

-Jessie

We are having the same thing up here ~ as gas gets close to $6 per gallon motorcycle registrations have climbed 40% ~ good if you're selling, not so much if you're buying. I've seen the same first bike I had 25yrs ago (Nighthawk 'S') go for $1000 more than I paid for mine...25yrs ago LOL

On the plus side, bike ownership has essentially been Free except for the cost of gas since you can sell yours for what you paid for it years later. Newer Harleys on the other hand are depreciating quickly

Damage looks minimal but better pics would tell more. The muffler is no big deal. if  you're keeping the muffler just get a replacement "bra" that suzuki sells. The chrome piece actually bolts on to the muffler from behind. If i remember it was like 30 bucks about 6 years ago.

New Emgo handle bars: $25
New bolts for bar ends: $2
New aftermarket headlight and ears: $70
Turn signals: $50
Then Replace the R&G engine bolt with the original you took out.

Sell any undamaged fairings for $100+

Then you have a naked GS for very little money and you can ride again instead of pretending you totaled your bike.

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on June 02, 2012, 09:13:00 AM
This is the wrong time to be shopping for a motorcycle, prices are at a premium at the beginning of the riding season.  Do you have better pictures, I'm only seeing a few hundred dollars of damage.

Thanks, thats what I thought reguarding prices.

Yeha, during winter, I saw TWO gs500f's, for under $2000.

So, even "A few hundred dollars", is a quarter the price of a new bike.
To make my bike fully pretty again, would cost a few hundred dollars of base repairs.. plus repair the fairings.. plus I'd STILL have the old (cosmetic) dent in the frame, and dings on the engine cooling fins.
$1000 for "still not great", or $1800 for a like-new replacement.
Blaaahhh.

Then again, if I'm still going to ride stupid  , seems like doing base repairs on what I've got, may be the best long term choice anyway 

sigh...
There's the other whole thing about how Im' wondering if this screwup is God telling me to quit riding before I do some permenant damage. tough choices all around



PS to Bluesmudge:  pretty good guesses, not quite:

the handlebars seem clean, but the end things are ugly. could probably live with it. also turn signals are fine I think.
It's more like,
new mirror $100
possibly new right peg holder $100
new R&G $100 (I dont think Ii'd want to ride with original bolt. Then again, if I crashed again, I probably
   woudnt want to repair it again, so.. Hmm...)

I'm a LITTLE worried about the dents in the tank. They seem a little extreme.

Iunno

+1. I see a lot of 500F's converted to 500E's for exactly this reason. Ditch the plastics, get a round headlight and call it a day.

Quote from: Bluesmudge on June 02, 2012, 06:28:43 PM
New Emgo handle bars: $25
New bolts for bar ends: $2
New aftermarket headlight and ears: $70
Turn signals: $50
Then Replace the R&G engine bolt with the original you took out.

Sell any undamaged fairings for $100+

Then you have a naked GS for very little money and you can ride again instead of pretending you totaled your bike.

+1 as well

Phil B, what happened to your bike was not Ka-Blooie. 



That was Ka-Blooie.

That is all.

Phil, glad you're okay and the bike isn't (too) mangled. It'd be really easy just to swap out handlebars, find a new/used cowl, and then go on from there. If you love riding, keep the bike.

Quote from: bombsquad83 on June 02, 2012, 07:46:51 PM

That was Ka-Blooie.

What's the story here?

Quote from: Phil B on June 02, 2012, 06:35:57 PM
the handlebars seem clean, but the end things are ugly. could probably live with it. also turn signals are fine I think.

A pair of bar ends range from $15 to $40   https://www.denniskirk.com/search/bar+ends.q
There's an OEM pair on ebay right now for $20 Buy It Now.

Quote
It's more like,
new mirror $100

Generic EMGO replacements range from $15 to $50 each.  Looking at the page, I dunno which one is similar to the 500F model's but I'd bet it's around $25.   https://www.denniskirk.com/search/emgo+mirror.q
eBay's another option.

Quote
possibly new right peg holder $100

Bent the actual rearset?  I'm curious to see a pic.

The rearset is $55 at www.ronayers.com
eBay $15 - $30 + shipping.

Quote
new R&G $100 (I dont think Ii'd want to ride with original bolt. Then again, if I crashed again, I probably
   woudnt want to repair it again, so.. Hmm...)

Sand the thing smoothish and put a new bolt in for a couple bucks.

Quote
I'm a LITTLE worried about the dents in the tank. They seem a little extreme.

In what way?  Is there a hole in the tank?  If not, then no big deal.  Yeah, it doesn't look great, but having a dented motorcycle is better than no motorcycle.


The plastics are a bit more of an issue, but there are options.  The Sale forum here.  eBay.  Converting to an unfaired E look.  (which could be done with parts bought cheaply from someone here, undoubtedly.)



Many new(ish) riders go through the soul-searching period after their first get-off of any consequence.  This is when you decide if you're a motorcyclist or not.  If you decide that it's not for you, fair enough.  But don't let the cost of minor repairs play into it.