Hello all. (Another) newbie here. I took my motorcycle safety course late last summer because my brother was getting his motorcycle endorsement, and that was as good an excuse as any. He bought a bike the next day, and I've been talking my other half into it ever since! The time has finally come! I've been shopping for a quality used bike for about a month, with the original plan to buy a GS. I've looked at a Ninja 500, tried to look at an SV650 (I was stood up), and now I'm back to where I started. I found a 2009 GS500F with 11,000 miles in my price range that appears to be essentially everything I want. I am going to see it in person next Saturday, and I'm pretty confident that I'll be making the purchase.

I've got a friend that has been riding street bikes for close to 10 years, but is a huge gearhead and has been riding quads and tinkering with engines since we were kids. He's going with me to check it out, and hopefully I'll be bringing it home. I can't wait to get back on a bike, and finally get out on the road!

Try not to fall in love with a bike before you go see it in person. If you do buy it, welcome to the best motorcycle forum and make sure to post pictures!

Yeah, I've come to learn that the hard way. The Ninja looked great in the pictures, but had extensive damage and wouldn't start. The SV was a salvage title, but looked good for the price, but the guy didn't show up. I also inquired on an '83 GS750ES, but the guy wouldn't send me pictures of the actual bike, and was too far of a drive. This one looks promising though. It has a lot of good pictures highlighting damage where it has been down. Hopefully that's all that's wrong with it. The damage looks minimal. If it doesn't work out, I'm sure another will pop up on Craigslist soon.

An 83 GS750ES? Unless it was really babied, that could have needed a lot of work.

That's good that the seller is showing the damage. Was it a tip over kinda drop, or at speed?

Welcome! Be thorough when looking at a "project bike", and walk away if it seems more than you can handle with the help of a friend. . . trust me, your budget will thank you. 

Good advice!!

Yes welcome to the forum and I hope all goes well with the GS. I couldn't agree more with Bluesmudge... we love pics 

a gs, one of a few bikes you can actually sell at a profit at some point. things are addictive. ive had 5. ( one of them twice lol) btw welcome to ze nuthaus!
Aaron

Quote from: Big Rich on February 18, 2016, 05:57:13 PM
An 83 GS750ES? Unless it was really babied, that could have needed a lot of work.

That's good that the seller is showing the damage. Was it a tip over kinda drop, or at speed?

Yeah, the 750 was going to be a stretch. I wasn't going to make the drive to go see it, without seeing pictures first. He said he would send some, but then never did. So either it truly was in exceptional shape and he sold it, or it was beat up and didn't want to admit it to me.

The GS500F looks like it was dropped at speed, but I don't know for sure. The clutch cover is a little beat up, and there are some relatively minor scratches on the fairings. He's replaced the pegs and turn signals, so I'm assuming that's because they were damaged. It's also smoking at start up, but he says he had it looked at by a local shop and it's the valve stem seals. My friend said that the parts should be dirt cheap, but it's a lot of labor. He has already offered to help me fix it though.

Your friend is right - valve stem seals are cheap, but taking the head & valves off is not. Smoking on startup after a crash though? Could just be pooled oil in the top end burning off. Not likely unless the crash was very recent.

Sounds like you're in good hands though! But as was said earlier, ddon't be afraid to walk away if you aren't comfortable with the deal. There are plenty of GS500's out there.

Quote from: Big Rich on February 19, 2016, 07:35:44 AM
Your friend is right - valve stem seals are cheap, but taking the head & valves off is not. Smoking on startup after a crash though? Could just be pooled oil in the top end burning off. Not likely unless the crash was very recent.

Sounds like you're in good hands though! But as was said earlier, ddon't be afraid to walk away if you aren't comfortable with the deal. There are plenty of GS500's out there.

Yeah, the photos are definitely from warmer days, so undoubtedly at least 6 months old. I assume he has ridden since then. I'll know more once I see it in person, and I'll definitely trust my friend's judgement. He has enough experience working on these things that if he says it's not worth the money, I'll take his word on it. I hope it's not too bad, though...I'm ready to have one that I can call my own...even if it'll be sitting in the garage for another month before it's nice enough out to ride!

Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on February 18, 2016, 10:55:10 PM
a gs, one of a few bikes you can actually sell at a profit at some point. things are addictive. ive had 5. ( one of them twice lol) btw welcome to ze nuthaus!
Aaron

Yeah, I hope to be able to turn around in a couple years and sell it for at least close to what I'm paying (if I end up buying it). I'm sure after a couple of seasons under my belt, I'll be ready to want to keep up with my friends on bigger bikes. I feel like this is a good starting point, though.

In a couple seasons you are going to go through tires, brakes, filters, and engine oil.

Depending on the condition of this bike you may need to replace the clutch, brake fluid, bulbs, battery, tires, chain, and sprockets.

You might decide to improve the handling of the motorcycle by replacing the rear shock and the front springs and fork oil.  Or improve the horsepower with a filter, exhaust, and jet kit.

You'll spend plenty of time setting the valve clearances, changing oil, lubing the chain, checking tire pressure, changing tires, and cleaning/tuning the carburetors.

You can definitely sell it close to what you paid after a couple years if you don't crash it and if you keep it running well.  But don't be fooled that this is a cheap hobby or that you will somehow turn a profit because even if you don't put a dollar amount on the hours you spend on maintenance you will very likely find yourself putting several hundred dollars in parts into your motorcycle over the course of a few years.

Not that the GS500 is more expensive to maintain than other bikes, it is probably one of the cheapest to get parts for.  Just don't get deluded about the actual costs of motorcycle ownership.

Quote from: lucas on February 19, 2016, 09:14:48 AM
Just don't get deluded about the actual costs of motorcycle ownership.

Oh, I don't expect to make any money. I fully anticipate this to be an expensive hobby. Heck, I've already spent close to $500 on gear, and I don't even have a bike. I just mean to say that when I'm ready to upgrade, I'll be able to do so at a lower cost if I can sell the bike for anywhere near what I pay for it.

Sounds like your head is in the right place. Let us know how it goes.

And the GS can keep up with most bikes just fine if you ride within the speed limits, unless you are trying to quickly pass at 70+ mph uphill, loaded with camping gear and a passenger on a steep mountain road. I have a vstrom 1000 in my garage that Iam thinking about selling because I just prefer to ride the GS most of the time. Yeah, the vstrom can cruise at 90 mph the way the GS cruises at 60, but I don't really like having to go 90 to feel like I'm going fast. You hit 90 - 100 mph on the GS and you come off it like it was a big adrenalin pumping event and a huge smile. Hit 100 mph on the vstrom and its just like, ooops a little bit too much throttle there.

Quote from: Bluesmudge on February 19, 2016, 01:16:51 PM
Sounds like your head is in the right place. Let us know how it goes.

And the GS can keep up with most bikes just fine if you ride within the speed limits, unless you are trying to quickly pass at 70+ mph uphill, loaded with camping gear and a passenger on a steep mountain road. I have a vstrom 1000 in my garage that Iam thinking about selling because I just prefer to ride the GS most of the time. Yeah, the vstrom can cruise at 90 mph the way the GS cruises at 60, but I don't really like having to go 90 to feel like I'm going fast. You hit 90 - 100 mph on the GS and you come off it like it was a big adrenalin pumping event and a huge smile. Hit 100 mph on the vstrom and its just like, ooops a little bit too much throttle there.

Cool, I'm glad to hear that, because I've second guessed myself a lot, when it comes to buying a "smaller" bike.

Alright, so Saturday is fast approaching. Now the real question...price. Where should I be at on price to feel like I'm getting an okay deal, so long that the bike is running well (aside from the aforementioned valve stem seals), and there is no more damage other than the scraped clutch cover and a couple scrapes on the right side fairings? I've not seen any for sale around here that are this new, so I'm not sure what to compare it to.

Quote from: rscottlow on February 25, 2016, 05:34:32 AM
Alright, so Saturday is fast approaching. Now the real question...price. Where should I be at on price to feel like I'm getting an okay deal, so long that the bike is running well (aside from the aforementioned valve stem seals), and there is no more damage other than the scraped clutch cover and a couple scrapes on the right side fairings? I've not seen any for sale around here that are this new, so I'm not sure what to compare it to.

So I bought an 07 gs500f last season with 1000 original miles yes I know very low miles ..... for 2200$ the guy that owned it lived in Florida and work on oil rigs so he never road it . Word to the wise look in the gas tank make sure it doesn't look rusted I've had to replace mine due to pinholes from rust

Thanks. We are going to give it a thorough look before I buy. Based on my motorcycle shopping experiences thus far, I want to make sure I'm not getting the short end of the stick. He's asking $1,900. I think I'd be comfortable in the $1,600-1,700 range, so long as it's in the same condition described. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Good luck!

Thank you!