Since I got my GS in 2010, I've acquired 5 additional bikes...so the GS doesn't get ridden all that much anymore....It has sat in the garage in single digit temperatures for the last couple months...pulled it out yesterday, and it needed to be put  on "prime" but then it started right up!!  Love this bike!


Cookie

Quote from: GSChesler on January 26, 2018, 12:54:56 PM
I've heard that the GS500 can be particularly hard to start in the cold, but mine is very quick to start and doesn't complain about it one bit

Definitely the most reliable bike I've ever owned.

(It's the only bike ive ever owned, meaning its also the least reliable. And the most expensive. And the least expensive. And the fastest. And the slowest. Gotta cover all the bases, or Mr72 will get me  )

+1 to the prime trick... it has helped me many times when wanting to ride home from work in the bitter cold!

I was in a BMW / Ducati / Harley dealership picking up some bits for a family project R1100RT I'm working on.
A salesman saw my 2007 GS500 and asked when I was going to upgrade.
I asked  him to line up the contenders - I buy anything that had the following -
Fuel economy - over 65000 ks I've an average of 3.6 litres/100 ks (that's 78 miles per gallon in Imperial numbers)
A 20 litre tank - I don't like stopping more than once  week to buy fuel.
Upright sitting position - or something that can take bar-backs.

Surprisingly the only thing he offered was a Honda CB500X - my wife already has one 

Most reliable bike I has personally witnessed is the Honda Spada Vtwin 250 ( different name in the US. Interceptor maybe?) 89-98 I think.
Seen two over 200,000km that have never had anything other than standard maitenence. Less power than a GS but substantially enough the tour on. Amazing underrated motor. Raced it's later sibling and the effective ( rather than spec ) torque is as good as the GS because it is so light. Better frame as well. Let down by a small tank but the fuel economy is way better than the GS. I suspect the VTR version to last even longer as it is lower RPM limited and has more torque.

Quote from: MichaelM3 on February 02, 2018, 04:11:04 AM
Surprisingly the only thing he offered was a Honda CB500X - my wife already has one 

Yea Suzuki dropped the ball ... Honda took it and ran away with it. Times X 2.

Kawasaki EX500 cant hold a candle to a GS IMHO, but the Kawi ER650 trounces the bike the GS twinners were supposed to upgrade to - The Gheydius.
And Honda has promptly kicked the GS500's tombstone over before the body of the GS500 was even cold with that CB500.

Cool.
Buddha.

My worry with the CB500 motor is a litle complex and a thought experiment more than anything. Don't get me wrong because I am a fan of the engine bigtime. Smoothest motor I have ever heard.
BUT that is a smallish motor pulling a very overweight motorcycle. Honda's engineering has made it FEEL light but physics doesn't care about physics. The power/torque to weight is not good, and the power to capacity is on the edge of overloaded. As I said more thought experiment than anything else but I have reservations.
When they get old enough the CB500, in one or other form, will be my next project bike for a severe lightening ( currently the GS500). I am not as hopeful I can achieve what I have done with the GS500 which was lighter to start with.

Oh a CB500 is heavier or makes less power than a GS unthinkable. But I guess Fuel efficiency is their goal huh.
Cool.
Buddha.