My first ever non-Suzuki, and surprise surprise it's Honda's version of a modern GS500!



It's also the nicest vehicle I've ever owned.  Yes, including cars/trucks!

Weather was looking spotty so I opted to trailer it back home.  Worked out for me since I didn't need a second trip for the box of parts/accessories.  This thing is literally dressed up about as much as you can dress one of these up!

I'm a little spotty on brands since I haven't really written all of the stuff down or taken pictures of every little detail, but here's the basic list.

custom paint
custom powder-coating
wind deflector
Corbin seat (an actual Corbin seat!)
rear-seat cowl
Leo-Vince carbon fiber exhaust
adjustable rear-sets (with spare enough pieces to practically make a second set!)
some really beefy frame sliders
heated grips
RAM mount
12V adapter on handlebars
battery tender
USB charger under seat (for luggage, presumably)
Kriega adapter straps for a tail-pack (but no tail pack)
LED license plate brake-light thingy (modulates with brake light and flashes with indicators)
swing arm spools
maintenance stand
pretty snazzy looking aftermarket mirrors
and adjustable levers
Also the stock mirrors, exhaust, pillion, saddle, foot controls, levers, and the passenger grab handles...
And also it has ABS.
And also it still has 2 YEARS left on the extended warranty from the dealer, and it will transfer to me.


All for $4000.  Which is right at KBB for this bike, but with all the stuff I got and with the bike having less than 7000 miles on it, I think it was a fantastic deal!  It's in wonderful shape, and rides like a dream!
Pipe sounds awesome, too.  Almost has a sort of Subaru kind of grunt to it, if you ask me.

Ended up dodging the rain, of course since it was loaded up on a trailer, so after we unloaded it we took a spin to the local burger shack and had some late dinner.



And when I got it home of course I couldn't leave well enough alone.  The seller is about 4 inches shorter than me so those rear-sets had to get moved around, and that took a bit of tinkering to get the controls angled right.  Also I hit a snag with the brake-light switch, but some adjusting and modifying the spring got it working just fine.
For some reason he said he had trouble with the aftermarket levers so he left the stock ones on.  Not sure what the issue was, they seemed to drop in just fine, only I couldn't tighten the clutch lever pivot screw all the way down or the lever would bind.  No big deal, that's why it had a lock nut on the back.
I also switched back to the stock mirrors.  Aftermarkets looked cool but the view was atrocious.



And yes, that's a Phillipino flag on the gas tank, and I am by no means the least bit Phillipino!
Of course it's under the clear-coat.  But a big enough sticker of Old Glory will cover that up and make it more appropriate for me!

Also, it seems my current magnetic tank bag doesn't like the shape of this gas-tank, unfortunately, so I'll have to see about replacing it.  The bag, not the gas tank...  Any suggestions?

not a huge fan of the kaws, but WOW that is nice. ( plus there are things you can do to give it even more grunt but many will void a warranty so will save that for another time. again that is pretty. i am mainly an HD person but id ride that, and with the charcot foot on left making its shape more like a ( would be comfy. btw youtube it when conditions permit. PLEASE
Aaron

ooh so pretty

Pretty sharp! I like the green 

They took a Honda and painted it kawi green and sold it to a Suzuki fan ?
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on April 01, 2016, 02:13:26 PM
They took a Honda and painted it kawi green and sold it to a Suzuki fan ?
Cool.
Buddha.

Haha, yeah, I guess so.  Kawi green is a lot more limey, though, but even so I agree that green is generally a Kawi exclusive thing.
When I first met this guy he was riding this bike, and I commented that it wasn't a Kawasaki and his response was he just likes green.  Fair enough.

As usual, it doesn't photograph well.  Especially not with a cell-phone camera.  It's got a lot of metallic quality to it, it looks fantastic in person, especially in the sun.

Works for me, I have a little Yoshi figurine I usually attach to my bikes for fun, maybe I'll just name the whole bike "Yoshi" this time around!

At least they didn't paint it primer black.

Quote from: Kijona on April 07, 2016, 03:32:34 PM
At least they didn't paint it primer black.

Oh god, THOSE paintjobs...  This was actually professionally done, don't know how much it cost him and I never bothered to ask.  However I don't think they used the best quality paint.  For a bike that's only 3 years old with a younger than 3 year old paintjob, it has quite a bit of sun fading.  Yeah, it's going to happen anyway, but when you lift the seat cowl it's like WOAH!  Used to be quite a few shades darker.  Probably Duplicolor or something.

It'll need repainting in another couple of years, probably.  I'll go through my guy who uses House of Kolor stuff.  It'll be a shame since I'll have to replace the rear-sets and brake levers and all that as well.  I'd prefer something like gunmetal and dark red or burnt orange.  Like my first GS500.



Dark green might be cool, and would require less prepwork maybe, but I'd still have to get new controls...