Hey Everyone,

My name is Alex, I just just picked up a 1989 GS500 and I am loving it. Here's my experience so far.

It's my first bike, first time riding and I'm doing it all in Hollywood. I find it interesting, because I am originally from Wisconsin...probably should of learned there haha. I moved out here back in October, so It's almost been a year now and finally have gotten sick of the traffic enough to get a bike. Plus, I've always wanted one. 

So, I bought this bike off Craigslist and it was in good shape. Just a couple small barely noticeable dings on the tank, but the engine had a loud ticking. When the engine seized a week later (previous owner ran it without oil) I took it out and found someone to rebuild it for $500 flat. What a deal! Mak's bikes in Huntington Park really helped me out.

I decided to paint my frame black while it was in the shop, clean up the harness a little and throw in a new battery. All I need now is a new or slightly used front tire, some new foot pegs, grips, fuel lines, brake and clutch handles....ok I'll be doing many things I guess.

This is what the bike looked like.



This is it so far. (sorry fuzzy)



I've learned a lot about this bike so far from all of you. Thank you for all the advice and troubleshooting information you have in the site.

A couple problems:
-Throttle cable I think sticks and misplaced. When I drive sometimes it will stay up at 4 or 5000rpm. It also revs when I turn the wheel right, (needs re-routing)
-Bike starts well but seems that it doesn't get fuel unless I give it some gas to keep it on for a about 20-30 seconds.

I'm a really hands on guy when it comes to working on anything. If anyone lives in the area and needs a hand working on their bike or car I can always lend a helping hand. I also love to learn more about working on any kind of vehicle.

Anyway that's me, Hi.

Welcome in!  Good job on first post with pics!  Plenty of good info here for you to do whatever you want to your ride.  Looking forward to more of your posts on your experiences and new bike!
Get in on the picture game! 

Welcome Alex.

friendly tip:

replace (img) with (img width=somethingsensible), and you get this:

Quote from: Thyperson on September 23, 2012, 11:58:35 PM

Another tip:
If you're curious what someone did, tagwise, in a post.. pretend to reply to it, and use the "Quote" button. then you'll see the raw code.

That works a lot better, thanks Phil. Yeah, I am totally getting in on that picture game too!

 I'm looking for other local gs riders. You still have your bike and interested in starting a meetup? PM me if you are.