Thank you to PhilB for pointing out the worst fallacy in motorcycling ~ that is, that motorcycle 'accidents' are usually caused by someone other than the motorcyclist.

I remember the editor of Cycle Canada commenting on this oft-repeated piece of BS, and that if his likelihood of being harmed while riding was truly in the hands of others, he would give up motorcycling.

Also, please take a MSF course, stat. You are clearly in over your head at the moment.

I already have the MSF setup and it's not the road safety that I am having trouble with atm, it's the idle of the bike.

Quote from: CCmatters on April 21, 2013, 08:53:36 AM
I am trying to put it in the highest gear possible to save fuel and to just cruise when I am cruising around where I live.

Thats good keep doing that

The gs500's strongest pulling is 10-50mph, yes.
If you want lots of acceleration at 60mph, you're gonna need a 600cc or something.
The bike itself goes to 100 just fine though.
If you want "strong(er)" acceleration at 60, you'll just have to drop into 5th.
6th is basically like "overdrive" on an old AT car transmission.

Meh I don't care about how strong the pull is.  The bike is plenty fast enough to get me out of sticky situations but I just wanted to know if it was strong enough to maintain 70mph on the highway. 

Odd question. You've seen the 250cc bikes out there,and you know they've been rated for freeway riding, which is 70. logically, a 500cc should have no problem then.

I've been with rides of liter bikes. Going 70+ and having to pass a car - they are a little faster at acceleration. I go WOT and just keep going up to 90 with no problems.
Sustained 70mph not a problem for the GS. That's barely above half the max speed of 120.
I find  the 500 ideal for highway and city.

If you want to go 90mph all the time and ride like a squid, then get a 1000cc bike and have at it wrapping yourself around a tree!  (Around a tree, sideways under a truck, or off a cliff - they do all around here.)

You'll enjoy your GS500. I am amazed at how many people want one after they see mine.

I figured I'd just throw in my opinion on the accidents.

Obviously they're called accidents for a reason. Someone messes up. If you ride safely and have a good brain between your ears, your biggest danger will be others on the road (in my opinion at least). That doesn't mean you can't avoid them though.

An old quote comes to mind: Think of how stupid the average person is -- then realize half of them are stupider than that.

Ok ~ you just seem to have a lot of pretty basic questions for someone that took a motorcycle course, plus you specifically mentioned being intimidated by the bike.

I rode the GS on roads where traffic pace was 60-80mph and although it felt like it was working to keep up it never felt like that was all it had. You could still roll-on some throttle to pick up speed or downshift a gear to pass. Mind you, there wasn't a lot left so it was never like flipping the supercharger switch in Mad Max, but it still had some.

We rode 400 miles down I-77 at 70-80 mph indicated to get to the Smoky Mtns a number of times, no problem.  Our only concern in not going faster was the law not the bikes.  Piece of cake for a couple of GSs, my GS500 following JP's GS1100E.   

Most memorable trip was from NE Ohio to Lake George NY, a 530 mile day with most of it across I-90.  We were on 2 Valkeries, 2 Gold Wings, and my 97 GS.  We had a couple kids in their late 40's leading the way in moderate to heavy rain, high winds, and they maintained a 80-85 mph pace.  A memorable trip and the last one I took with a big Plexi 2 shield on my GS.

I use to ride with a bunch of big twin riders I hung out with uptown evenings.  When running the local freeways with them I just left the GS in 5th gear to match their roll-ons.  A small twin like the GS is made to rev and max performance is found between 7-9k rpm on a stock one, just don't understand all the longer gearing on the GSs around here.  Being thrifty with the gas budget is laudable but you save enough money buying a GS to afford all the gas you need to have fun with it.   

Better gas mileage was never really the issue ~ it just happened to get better gas mileage as a bonus.

Keep in mind that with stock gearing you are never going to be able to put the bike in 7th for lower rpms on the open road, but with longer gearing you can always choose 4th gear if you need to keep pace with others in a group.

Wow thanks a lot guys, I am very happy about how many helpful ACTIVE members on this site.  One of the other forums I get on is of a dying car and the active members are scarcer than they have ever been. 

SAFE-T - I didn't say I took it, I meant I am signed up TO take it.  Haha.  But your input is very helpful.  I have road around where I live(I live in the middle of no where on top of the mountains in PA, USA.) and caught on really quickly and am far far more comfortable now.  It is a real advantage to live where I live.  I live in a beautiful state park with long good roads with nice long sloping twistys(but not even close to too sharp) to cruise around. 

I won't to a surplus motorcycle store today and picked up some good vented leather gauntlets for only 20 bucks.  Score.

Quote from: adidasguy on April 19, 2013, 06:08:10 PM
Welcome.
This is a fum place. Many of us have an odd sense of humor. If you like cats, that helps a lot (you'll soon understand why).
If you don't have a place to post pictures, you can use gs500.net.
General rule: Pictures or it didn't happen.
Anxious to see pictures of your new ride.

..... FUM ?? ....  .... Is that like .... Preparing for ... Or halfway to FAP?? ...

And to CCmatters .... WELCOME!! .. 

This is an example of odd sense of humour! 

Sorry for the double post but:

Adidas - I will have to look for a thread or something of your bike! I love looking at nice bikes to give me inspiration!

Janx - Hahaha I it's good to be able to have a good time with a bunch of other guys that share the same interests!

Quote from: CCmatters on April 21, 2013, 03:11:59 PM
Sorry for the double post but:

Adidas - I will have to look for a thread or something of your bike! I love looking at nice bikes to give me inspiration!

Janx - Hahaha I it's good to be able to have a good time with a bunch of other guys that share the same interests!

addy looks at nice Bikes to fap!! .... Oh and cods does too.... Hmmm... Mister looks at himself .... Yama looks at big goped pipes .... Bahahahhahaha

Hahaha whatever does it for you I guess.

SOOOO I just took the bike out for an awesome 15 miles run and back since it's a little warmer out now (51F) and when I came back and was pulling it into the parking spot the idle went way down to like .5-.75k RPMs.  And I watched it and it died a few seconds later.  I turned the bike back on and it turned right back off.  Turned it on again and gave it a little gas and it stayed on but as soon as I let it go back to idle it would shut off again.  I tried to choke it, and it died before it even had time to work.  There is a stop sign right up the road from me and I stopped at it for at least 6 seconds and it seemed to idle fine, but I may have been giving it a little gas I didn't really have a reason to pay attention.  Any ideas?

Quote from: CCmatters on April 21, 2013, 04:07:26 PM
Hahaha whatever does it for you I guess.

SOOOO I just took the bike out for an awesome 15 miles run and back since it's a little warmer out now (51F) and when I came back and was pulling it into the parking spot the idle went way down to like .5-.75k RPMs.  And I watched it and it died a few seconds later.  I turned the bike back on and it turned right back off.  Turned it on again and gave it a little gas and it stayed on but as soon as I let it go back to idle it would shut off again.  I tried to choke it, and it died before it even had time to work.  There is a stop sign right up the road from me and I stopped at it for at least 6 seconds and it seemed to idle fine, but I may have been giving it a little gas I didn't really have a reason to pay attention.  Any ideas?

Are your handlebars turned all the way? It may be a cable routing issue.

Fuel?
I ask because it is a common noob thing, with similar symptoms. And we were all noobs once!

Play with the idle adjustment knob under the carbs. Its white and plastic. You can adjust it when your stopped with the bike running if you have gloves on so you dont burn your hand.

My bike was very picky with how it idled at different temps and I frequently had to adjust it.