I'm about to go look at a 1991 GS500E on Saturday, it's the only thing in my price range and it has 12k miles and looks well kept. I'm paying $1200 for it and it's coming with some other stuff (jackets, gloves, trickle charger, etc).

I've looked up everything I can about inspecting used motorcycles, but I figured it would be best to come here for advice and for y'all to let me know if this was a good deal and things to look for.




What do you guys think? Thanks in advance.

Hi Koronakesh, welcome to the forum!

I paid $1000 for my GS when I bought it and (from what I can see in the pictures) it was in roughly the same shape. If you do a search or two on here, you'll find many threads talking about what all to look for when purchasing a used GS... but off the top of my head it's good to check the condition of the chain, tires, evidence of oil leaks on the engine, leaky fork seals especially on these bikes), brakes, and of course scratches and rash, etc.

I'm curious about this one, I see one side of the tank has the original decals but the other side doesn't... plain tail plastics... mirrors don't match... aftermarket signals in the front... I'd try to maybe talk down a little bit lower    Oh but hang on, I just remembered about you getting extra goodies with the bike...!!

Have you talked to the current owner and asked anything about it yet?

Good luck and keep us posted 

Yeah, he let me know that it has had an oil change in the last 100 miles and that there is plenty of tread left on the tires. I read that the rust I can see on the exhaust is more than likely purely cosmetic and nothing to worry about, but I wasn't sure about the rust on the front wheel (is that the rotor?).

It has been dropped by a previous owner, as you can tell by the dent on the gas tank on the left hand side of the bike. I also noticed that the decals were different than original, just looking at pictures of the stock bike on Google. Apparently a mirror was also broken off. It also comes with an extra set of brake pads (and helmets, but I know used helmets shouldn't contribute to value), but he said the brakes were good as is anyways. The owner advised me that I would probably need to grease the chain soon and might want a new battery in the future.

Yeah the rust on the exhaust shouldn't be anything to worry about unless it's SO bad that there's a hole in the pipe. My exhaust looked very similar and I just scrapped the whole system and bought all stainless. There are other (much less expensive) ways to make it look better though!!

I'm squinting when looking at the front wheel to find some rust... if you're seeing some on the rotor, that certainly is possible. My bike had rusty rotor buttons that looked super gross... but didn't make the brakes feel strange at all amazingly enough.

He gonna let you test-ride it?

I have to admit, I'm in love with that color 

With cash in hand, yeah I'm gonna get to test ride it.

It's actually my least favorite color from what I've seen was available with the '91 but at this point I'm happy with just about any bike. I'm concerned about the decals you're talking about because that would make me think that it has been laid down on the side opposite of the gas tank dent. I read that the GS500 is kinda built to be dropped, but if it has been repainted or has new plastics then it might be covering any potential damage. I'll have to check the footpegs I guess and see if they're been scraped.

I'm mostly concerned about expensive repairs - he claims it runs great right now. If it's replaceable stuff that's fine, I have to take it in for an inspection before I can transfer the title over to my name anyways, but seeing as I've never owned a motorcycle and can't repair it myself I'm pretty nervous.

Is working on a bike something you'd be interested in learning? I've been hangin' around this forum for a few years now and I've seen a fair amount of people start turning wrenches because the GS is so easy to work on... also because this forum has so much help and information!

I'd love to learn how to do things like routine maintenance, but I don't want to buy something that's going to turn into a money pit and a project which is why I'm concerned. I mean, the bike is REALLY old, but on the other hand the owner seems like a nice guy who takes care of it and it only has 12k miles. I'm just very skeptical.

Also, what should I ask the mechanic to look at or do when I have the bike inspected, if I do buy it? I want to make sure things like consumables are okay, if not I'll replace them right there.

First off, do you already know how to ride a motorcycle?  If not, no worries.  The GS500 is a great one to start with.
But if you are familiar with how a bike is supposed to run and handle, you can tell a lot just by hopping on.

Here are some big ticket items off the top of my head:
- it's unlikely that any rubber part on the bike would last 26 years.  Check things like fork seals, all the gas/brake/vacuum lines, all the bits that go to the carbs
- engine oil is a fair indicator of how neglected the bike has been. If it's thick as mud or has shiny metal flakes in it, beware.
- get a flash light and look inside the gas tank for rust.  is the gas clear?
- ride the bike around to get some idea if it powers up and runs smoothly.  There are about a thousand posts here about broken or badly tuned carburetors.  This can be a total time and money sink.
- on the front steering tube, look for the "steering stops".  They are the little metal tabs that limit how far you can turn the handlebar.  If the bike has had a hard crash, those stops may be tweaked.  If so, walk away

Good luck!

Quote from: Endopotential on March 02, 2017, 09:59:42 PM

- on the front steering tube, look for the "steering stops".  They are the little metal tabs that limit how far you can turn the handlebar.  If the bike has had a hard crash, those stops may be tweaked.  If so, walk away

Good luck!

SOME of us have taken to cutting the steering stops when we upgraded to taller handlebars, not cutting off all the way, just "thinning out" the GS has horrible steering lock tbh.


the bike has been down on its right side, you can tell by the rashed up engine plate. [easy enough to replace those btw, only cosmetic]

try to haggle the bike for 1,000. too much cosmetics and its a 26 year old motorcycle, that's borderline scooter status. and is in no shape or form, collectible.

Look on the sidewall of the tires for a born on date.  Usually it's a 2 digit week followed by a 2 digit year.  So "3606" would mean September 2006.
A tire that is 5 years old, even with good tread and mold flashings, should be treated as a tire that needs replacing.


When inspecting the chain also inspect the sprocket.  If the teeth are hooked or pointed it's a bad sign.  Typically a chain and sprocket should be changed together.  If the chain looks old but the sprocket looks OK you can probably do just the chain, but even if the chain looks new and the sprocket looks old I'd expect to change both right away.


The rust on the front brake rotor I wouldn't worry about.  It's bare metal and is constantly being ground away through use, so it IS going to develop surface rust just from sitting.  It will naturally remove itself by just using the brakes.  If you're worried about it you could always lightly score the rotor with some sandpaper, but you'll have to bed the pads again afterward.

Borderline scooter status? Wow, yikes. I obviously expect significant power loss due to the age, but scooter?

My only alternative is an older used Ninja 250 or a Buell Blast(no thanks). It's still going to have comparable power to a newer Ninja right...?

Quote from: Koronakesh on March 02, 2017, 10:49:24 PM
Borderline scooter status? Wow, yikes. I obviously expect significant power loss due to the age, but scooter?

My only alternative is an older used Ninja 250 or a Buell Blast(no thanks). It's still going to have comparable power to a newer Ninja right...?

I suppose it has comparable power... the GS500 can do highway speeds... but don't expect it to easily get around a 16wheeler.. its happy speed is around 55mph. I've had mine maxed out at 113mph indicated. only took like 2 miles in a half to get there... lol

Cruising at 80mph, while its not gonna get there SUPER fast, it can hang there for hours without issue.

The GS500 takes a certain personal personality to ride them. I just want you to know what you're getting into. point blanky, a new honda civic has more get-up an go then our beloved GS's.

It's going to be an around town bike, no highway. There's a wreck weekly and huge semis constantly, I'll end up getting myself killed if I try it. 55 is about the fastest I plan on taking it.

And I really hope it has better acceleration than a new Civic..

It's an exaggeration (mostly).  Point being it's not a GSXR.  J_Walker is a known detractor to the otherwise typical GS fanboy, so he doesn't pull any punches in saying the GS has shortcomings, which it does.

Still, I would be hard pressed to call it a borderline scooter.  It's a 500cc, for crying out loud.  250cc would still be a step up, only like a Honda Grom or one of those European 175cc motorcycles are "borderline scooters" IMHO.

The new Yamaha R3 makes almost the same power the GS500 can make, but it's still short a few numbers, and it represents the most powerful machine currently in the 300cc class.  The KTM RC390 seems to be on par for the GS, but the RC390 is sort of an odd-ball in that it's an almost 400cc single cylinder and nothing else on the market is really comparable.  They toss it in with the R3 and Ninja 300 but it really does outclass those machines...
An older Ninja 250 would definitely be much weaker than the GS, and I'd recommend the GS over any 250 if highway/interstate miles are a concern.

Had mine to about an indicated 100mph before running out of road, but you're sitting there watching the needle take it's time from the 80s on up.  Anything short of an airplane runway and you aren't getting anywhere near that kind of speed.  Mine were geared up and were comfortable around 65-70 on the highway, but if you want more than that the performance is going to 100% depend on which direction the wind is blowing and how much the rider weighs, lol.

Around town the GS will be a solid little bike.


Re: The Buell Blast.  User "qcbaker" has one, and I think he likes it.  I don't know a ton about them, but I have heard good in terms of the reliability.  They are under-powered, especially compared to the GS's 500 twin, and Eric Buell himself is known to despise them, but other then the aesthetics being a little love/hate I don't think it's a bad bike in the least.
I do ride a Buell, but I'm not particularly biased about the Blast.  Most Buells are interesting machines that combine 'Murican engines with European design influences, the Blast just happened to be a ground up "beginner" motorcycle that Buell was sort of forced to make because HD didn't want to make a small engine cruiser.  Look at them now, Street 500/750...

Didn't read the whole tread, no time right now, will come back later.
One thing to note:
If you show up cash in hand, and leave it there while you test ride, TAKE A FRIEND WITH YOU.
You know, so someone looks after your money while you're riding, so you don't end up with no money and a stolen bike at the end of the day. It's a known trick, not saying your guy is dishonest, but you have to be careful.

Man, that would be a fantastic starter bike. Tell him you want to start it from cold. Make sure the engine is cold before you try to start it. If it starts and runs, buy it. Offer $800. Let him talk you up to a grand.

RE: The Blast: I spent the day on a Blast once. it affected me so profoundly I wrote a poem about it. I'll share it with you to help you with your buying decision.

"The Blast" by Jim Moore

"The Blast,
Sucks ass."

Quote from: Jim Moore on March 03, 2017, 04:42:56 AM
"The Blast" by Jim Moore

"The Blast,
Sucks ass."

HAHA!

The one MC mag called it "B Last" ... which is funny. It's a dopey name for a bike that Buell obviously had no real interest in selling.

Back on topic, a '91 bike is not "REALLY OLD" like the OP said... but it is aging and it's going to need some rather routine but maybe daunting regular maintenance and repairs that are not due to intentional damage. Rubber parts all age, and there are about a dozen o-rings that probably need immediate attention if they have not just recently been replaced along with a good solid carb cleaning. And these carbs don't like today's fuels so they are going to take extra attention all the time. For that reason alone, if you don't like to tinker and if you don't appreciate the challenge that is carburetors (and believe me, it's a special kind of challenge), then you are much MUCH better off finding a fuel-injected bike that's less than 10 years old. If you don't want to learn the time-tested gearhead art of carburetor maintenance, run away from the GS and instead save another $1K and find yourself a fuel injected SV650 or an ER-6N that's been laid down a time or two. Or a freakin' GROM. A GROM will at least start up every day without question and get you around town just fine but it won't be any good at all for 2-up and don't try to take it on the highway, but seriously you have to be ready for the carbs if you are going to get an old twin. Without that tinkering spirit, the carbs will own you and you will hate life.

As for what to check when test-riding, all the guys here told you the right stuff, and I did all that stuff and still wound up having to get the top end rebuilt on mine because the true problem didn't show up until I rode it for >20 minutes. You're not likely to take a half-hour test ride, and if you did and had the problem I had, then you'd get stranded anyway.

Point of all of this is: no matter what, you should EXPECT to have to tear down the carbs and replace o-rings, clean thoroughly, and maybe replace the jets. Parts are not expensive at all (whole job is like $20) and it's not hard or even time consuming but it is a job that you have a 95% probability of having to do. While you are in there replace the intake boot o-rings (again, cheap and easy to do). You also will likely have to at the very least check the valve clearances and be prepared to fix that problem if you find one. At the mileage and age, I can almost guarantee you these things will need to be done. It will feel like a money pit if you try and hire a shop to fix one little fiddly thing at a time, but it really is cheap and easy to do yourself if you approach it from a standpoint of refurbishing rather than repair... that is, don't worry about what specific thing is wrong, just assume the carbs need cleaning and o-rings and the valves need adjusting and the fork oil needs changing etc. Your life will be happier if you just deal with it that way. $100 in parts fixes everything that commonly goes wrong as long as you do the repairs/renewals yourself. Barring any catastrophic problems, you'll be fine.

And don't believe these detractors who talk about how underpowered or whatever the GS500 is. Whoever said a Honda Civic can outrun it is flat wrong. My GS will easily go 0-60 in under 5 seconds if I have the nerve to try it and it is perfectly responsive at 70-75 mph. It's not the power that's the problem when you get going 70mph, it's the wind. The GS is lightweight enough that it is quite floaty on the highway at 70+ but you're already into the meat of the torque curve there and it'll make passes all day long. If you are getting a motorcycle to go 100mph then be sure and fill out your organ donor card. By the way my GS smokes my dad's cruiser, every car that has a 5-digit or smaller price tag, and every other Harley on the road. You don't hear Harley guys saying their bikes are just above scooters, do you? Well don't listen to the guys on here who rag on the GS500 either. But it will outrun an R3 or a KTM 390 or a Ninja 300 and it'll smoke a Ninja 250 at least until you throw in a bunch of corners and it'll absolutely drop a TU250X or Rebel 250 or even most 750-class cruisers like they were standing still. Truthfully unless you are actually racing, a GS500 is more than adequate for legal speeds on roadways. In a thousand miles of riding mine I haven't found a single situation where I thought I needed more power. Not one.

Thanks for all the information! On the bring someone topic, I'm taking two Air Force buddies and my concealed carry gun so we'll be okay. My friend has a Harley so I'm hoping I'll be able to get him on the bike too and let me know what he thinks.

Really not looking to take off with the bike or race or anything like that, so I'm glad to hear the reassurance.

I'll have to ask him about the right side lay down and what consumables like the o-rings have been recently replaced. I'm really hoping to take it into the shop and have them replace anything like that at one time, I won't mind dumping $200-300 to make sure it's up to date on maintenance it needs - I'm planning on keeping it at least 3 years.

Quote from: mr72 on March 03, 2017, 06:44:47 AM
In a thousand miles of riding mine I haven't found a single situation where I thought I needed more power. Not one.

I wouldn't quite go this far, but an experienced rider on a GS can easily keep up with more powerful bikes though the twisties. I have found myself in situations where more get up and go wouldn't hurt, but I compensate by keeping it at higher RPM's and focusing on my technique. Friends on bigger bikes can leave you in the dust on straightaways, but going fast in a straight line isn't much fun to me anyway.