Here's the long and short of it - my GS500F had been running the starter motor just fine but the real motor never kicked over; no clicking, no thudding, no whining.  This forum helped me realize that the jets in my carbs were gunked up, lift the various parts out, clean out the jets and carbs, drop the various parts in, reconnect the cables without error, and have it running again.  Even with zero experience on my end, the detailed explanations from your users had my bike repaired in under 72 hours.  The kicker is that removing the parts had to be done three times - this is kind of embarrassing for me but why not share it with the people that saved my bike?

The carbs were removed and the jets cleaned a first time but my neglecting to replace the fuel ended with the jets gunked up in no time and the bike running on water.  The carbs were removed and the jets cleaned a second time; this time the fuel was replaced but it had the 'hanging idle' thing and the floats were swapped - it was near impossible to drain the floats.  Thus, the carbs were removed a third time to check for leaks and swap the floats - it was up and running after that, though.  Even though fixing it up was enough for me, this forum also helped with tweaking the idle, throttle cables, choke cables, and a number of other things to have it running like new even though it's the middle of winter in Wisconsin.

This weekend of diagnosing and repairing my bike on my own has been one of the best experiences of my life.  This had been impossible until stumbling across this forum and this incredible group of people.  My registration was just for this, sharing this experience so you know your work continues to help others.  Keep up the great work, GSTwin - you have my eternal thanks!

- Wheeler32

Well I'll be damned. That the kind of stories we like to hear.
Welcome to the forum

Stick around for a while! This post makes this place worth it.