New user, just found this site.  Wanted to say hello to everyone.  I found this site while looking for more info about these wonderful machines.

I took delivery of my 2004 GS500F last weekend and just love the darn thing.  It's my second bike, after a year of puttering around on a 2002 Virago 250.  The GS *much* better!    Can't wait to get past break-in so I can really open it up!  

A pic of my baby :
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Lucky Bastard, hehe. Nice ride man and welcome to the site.

HELLO!! WELCOME TO THE GS TWIN!!!

Welcome  & I love the new GS  

all the best matt your friend

Hi,

How was the change coming to a 500cc from the 250cc ?
I was going to get a rebel 250 as my starter bike but having found a GS near me for a good price I decided to start on the 500cc. So far everything is going great.

Quote from: hehehemannHi,

How was the change coming to a 500cc from the 250cc ?
I was going to get a rebel 250 as my starter bike but having found a GS near me for a good price I decided to start on the 500cc. So far everything is going great.

I really liked my Virago.  It had plenty of power for around town and is just about the perfect "starter" bike.  It's biggest weakness was that it simply ran out of power at around 65-70mph, making interstate cruising almost impossible.  But it was easy to ride, fairly comfortable, and cheap to purchase and insure.

The GS is much more comfortable, has ample power to cruise at 75+mph, certainly looks sportier, and is simply a bigger bike.

Quote from: PAC

Quote from: hehehemannHi,

How was the change coming to a 500cc from the 250cc ?
I was going to get a rebel 250 as my starter bike but having found a GS near me for a good price I decided to start on the 500cc. So far everything is going great.

I really liked my Virago.  It had plenty of power for around town and is just about the perfect "starter" bike.  It's biggest weakness was that it simply ran out of power at around 65-70mph, making interstate cruising almost impossible.  But it was easy to ride, fairly comfortable, and cheap to purchase and insure.

The GS is much more comfortable, has ample power to cruise at 75+mph, certainly looks sportier, and is simply a bigger bike.

The virago 250 or the route 66 has been often pimped by dealers as a good starter bike especially to women... Wrong... Well maybe not wrong... but the better starter bike IMHO is the 535 virago. The older ones have tanks that aren't really tanks, they come off and the side cover and chrome crap can all be left at home when learning. The 535 made better power and torque than the 250 obviously, weighed just a touch more and was as low to ground as the 250.
Cool.
Srinath.

Welcome!

Nice.

check this article out:

http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

It's a controversy around here.

don't be too easy on it during break in.