Hey GSTwin community! After a long period of lurking on this forum, I picked up my first bike today: a 1992 GS500E with 14k miles. I've been interested in learning to ride for a long time, and I spent the last year exhaustively researching potential canditates. This bike seemed to be the best "bang for the buck", and I'm excited to start cleaning and fixing it up.

I'm going to post a few pictures so that you get a sense of what the bike looks like. The previous owner fixed a lot of mechanical issues, and the bike seems to be running pretty well. However, the "looks" could use some improvement. As I bought it, the bike was stripped to give it sort of a "streetfighter" attitude. I'm not digging it to much, and I'll be looking to reinstall the rear fairings (graciously provided to me by the PO). I also need to fix/replace the turn signals which were never completely installed and do not function correctly.

Basically what I am looking for is some advice for cleaning/painting/protecting the frame, tank, and other metal parts. I'll update this thread with more details as I learn more about the bike.

Hi and welcome to the forum
I could be wrong but is that frame twisted?

 Good luck getting the stock plastics back on.  Looks like someone cut up the sub frame and it look pretty twisted.

Otherwise grads on your first ride and I hope you enjoy it.


Edit:  I think you might be local to me.  I'd be happy to meet with you sometime and take a look at it.   Or just go for a ride.   Don't know if this ok but ill do it anyways; search for band of riders forum.  It's a local riding forum with lots of people near you to ride with and chat with.

Thanks for the welcome. The PO indeed cut the subframe, but it is straight. It just looks twisted because the brake light is hanging loose.

I agree, its just the jerry rigged taillight job that makes the frame look twisted. I'm sure you could still mount the plastics on it.


Welcome to the forum though, thats a really nice looking green on the tank. Are the plastics the same color? I would advise you to just put the rear plastics back on, fix the blinkers, and enjoy riding for a while. It's your first bike, explore a little before deciding to strip it down to the frame and paint it.

Good pick up on the bike though!

He can't mount the plastics properly because the subframe is cut short.  The part that fits I between the 2 side panels bolts to that part of the frame.  He might find a way to make it work but it won't be easy.

Cool thing is I have that part of the sub frame because I cut it off my bike.  We could weld it on maybe.  Yes I have a welder too.

I have a junk frame. I'll be cutting it up to take to recycling.
I could cut of the tail at about the area of the seat latch You could  then accurately cut it and join it to your frame with some square tubing to your frame.

Thanks for all the comments. I'm still not sure if I'm going to be trying to repair the subframe and return it to quasi-stock appearance, or try to make the shortened subframe work for me. The biggest goal right now is to create a permanent and stable anchor for the rear light, rear blinkers, and license plate. In order to do that, I had to remove the old light and assembly. Goodbye crappy LED fixture!

I'm going to be using this thread as a reference point throughout my ownership of the bike, so please don't be alarmed if I dump a lot of pictures here (and I hope that doesn't break any rules!).

Work Done Today
Cleaned the chain.
Lubed the chain.
Tightened the clutch lever so there wasn't so much free play.
Removed the LED rear light.
Removed the jerry-rigged light bracket.
Cleaned corrosion off of the battery terminals.
Cleaned all battery fixtures.
Topped off the fluid levels in all 6 battery cells.
Removed the speedometer and tachometer (both meters had no illumination, but are functioning properly).
Closely inspected the front and rear brakes.
Closely inspected the front and rear tires.


Work For Next Time
Replace the stock brake light fixture, bulbs, and sockets.
Create a mounting bracket for the rear lights and license plate.
Clean up/organize the rat's nest of wires.
Replace rear tire.
Replace rear brake pads.
Use emory cloth to remove minor surface pitting on fork tubes.
Mount/install regular incandescent blinkers (provided by PO).
Refashion the rear fairing to fit the shortened sub frame.

Here's some pics:

The rear of the bike as I bought it:


After removing unstable and unsecured brackets from the rear of the bike, it looks much cleaner:


Dry-fitting the stock light with the seat attached, it fits closer to the seat than it would stock, which I kind of prefer (from a stylistic standpoint):


But what to do with these fairings...


Space-age lighting behind the meters. Where can I find some replacements?


The rubber piping around the edge of the tank is loose and was attached with electrical tape by the PO.


Missing the right bolt and rubber spacer for attaching the tank. This is leading to some vibration and noise, and needs to be attended to ASAP.

You give us pictures we love you long time. 

I am very glad you began this thread and posted pictures. I have been using this site as a tool to research and get answers for my questions, but this particular problem you have here is something I have personal experience with.

When I bought my first bike ('07 GS), the PO did the exact same thing to the tail and shaved all of the parts off that "stuck out"... It made re-attaching a rear fairing a very interesting, frustrating, and time consuming task. You will need a welder and some smaller pieces of metal to fabricate the attachments needed to get the job done. I will post before and after pictures and try and remember all the details that may help you..

I think you're easier to add the missing piece to the rear frame than try to retro-fit all the plastics and everything else.
Your call.
Recycling next week.

FYI: You lift up the tank by removing the two side bolts on the frame. You leave the bracket attached to the tank. The bracket bolts to the tank. Or were there no bolts holding the bracket to the tank?

Put back the stock rear under fender and you have mounting for turn signals, reflectors  and license plate. Even new that piece is only $42. You can get used ones with reflectors and some with turn signals on ebay.

Replacement LEDs available fro superbrightleds.com

Superglue the rubber trim to the tank.

Congratulations on the new bike. Please ride safe and with gear all the time

^Thanks! Safety is my number one priority. I am currently comparison shopping jackets, pants, and gloves. My helmet is a Shoei Qwest, which I got a great deal on.

Quote from: adidasguy on February 24, 2013, 05:15:09 PM
I think you're easier to add the missing piece to the rear frame than try to retro-fit all the plastics and everything else.
Your call.

I have to agree with Adidas on this one. Even if you dont have the equipment to weld it yourself, local shops shouldnt charge much to do it for you.

@adidasguy: I am missing the bolt and rubber spacer that is the sister to the one outlined in the picture below. Because of this, the tank vibrates at speed.



Unfortunately I will not be able to work on this bike very regularly. It is stored at my parents house because I do not have a garage at my apartment. This means I will only be able to work on the bike on weekends. Thanks for all of the replies and advice! I will weigh what everyone said in regards to restoring the sub-frame. I have not decided if I want to go back to the stock look or embrace the cut and try to fit the lights onto the end. In the meantime, I am getting a duplicate key made. Small progress, but progress nonetheless...

The tail only holds on the decorations. It is not structural except if you want to lift the bike with the passenger handle.
You can fasten it on with a smaller piece of square tubing slipped inside the tubes then add holes & bolts.

This is the complete bracket and bumpers. It bolts to the tank and you don't take it off of the tank - ever - unless you're changing tanks and need the bracket. Bracket bolts to the frame, too. You unbolt from the frame.

The bolts for the bracket to tank are nothing special - just metric bolts. Not too long or they will punch through the tank. I have tons of them. as for the missing bumper: I will have to see if I have an extra. Not that expensive if you have to buy one. Until then, at least bolt that one side to the tank. Get a bolt of right threads about 1/4" longer than the aluminum spacer in that rubber bumper. And a washer for the bolt about same diameter as the rubber bumper.

Bumper is 3 parts: a mushroom shape bumper. Aluminum tube in the middle and another rubber washer 1/4" thick on the other side.

Your air filter looks funky. Probably not the right one.

Drain tube from under side of tank is not connected or missing. any old tubing - runs down between carbs to the ground. Its just a drain for spilled gas and water around the gas cap.

I don't see the battery in the picture. Was it removed for the picture? I should see it unless it is a Shorai LiFe one (they are very small). If the battery is there, it must be the wrong type.

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Yes, the PO removed the tank from the bracket instead of removing the tank and bracket together. I don't think I should have much trouble jerry-rigging a rubber spacer and bolt to fix the tank to the bracket.

The battery was removed in that picture.

In regards to the air filter, the PO informed me that it was a new OEM filter. Preliminary inspection shows no problems, but I will take a more detailed picture of the filter as soon as I can.

You can fab up something for now. I think we all suggest that you use the right parts - always - for things to work right and last. Because the PO did a hack job all over the place, you should strive to return everything to original where ever possible. Don't hack a fix for a hack the PO did. Fix it right. Put things back the right way.

Air filter looks like after-market but probably OK. Just looked funky compared to an OEM. (not my photo - mine are all much cleaner)


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I do not have the time or money to exhaustively return this bike to stock spec. I'm simply trying to remedy the problems of function which are keeping it off of the road.