I just bought a 2001 GS500 with 9500 or so miles on it.  I have just replaced the stock tires (rear was bald) , spark plugs, and oil and oil filter.  What other maintenance should i do?  The bike runs well to my knowledge as I have very limited about motorcycles.   I don't know if the valves have ever been checked.  I'm the 3rd owner of the bike and the 2nd owner was female and can not remember if she checked them or not.  Is this something I should worry about?  The bike was idling around 3500-4500 rpms when it got hot.  I adjusted the idle screw and seems to run fun now.  Again this is just to get an idea if I should do maintenance on any other components of this bike.

Air filter, Chain are two things that pop out to me.  It probley wouldnt hurt to check the valves, though I doubt you will need to adjust them.  I checked mine with 12,500 mi. on it and they were all fine, though no two bikes are the same, which is why it might not hurt.  I guess also if you have to change your air filter your going to have the bike halfway apart already, so that might be a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

can I clean the air filter by blowing it out or should i replace it?  Chain question.  Where can I get chain lube?  Any links to chain lubing?  Did you happen to mean that I should replace my chain?  What is the lifespan of a chain.  Mine looks pretty good and I think it just needs a relubing, but I could be wrong.

Quote from: xaeniaccan I clean the air filter by blowing it out or should i replace it?

See the cleaning air filter thread.

Quote from: xaeniacWhere can I get chain lube?

ANY motorcycle dealership.

Quote from: xaeniacAny links to chain lubing?

Click on the "Search" link at the top of this page.  Type in "chain lube".  Select the "Search for all terms" option.  Click the Search button.  You'll get about 3 pages of topic links; read the ones that sound interesting!

Quote from: xaeniacWhat is the lifespan of a chain.  Mine looks pretty good and I think it just needs a relubing, but I could be wrong.

Check out the following threads, and search for others if you need more info:
chain life
what size chains are on the gs stock

Kerry, I truly appreciate your commitment and dedication to helping folks on this board out.  Thanks again.  Do you have a document with all these links or do you a search everytime.  I can not always specifically find what I'm looking for when I do a search.   If you do have a document with all these useful links would you email them to me @ jbm879@hotmail.com?

Unfortunately, I do a search just about every time.  I try to base my searches on unique-as-possible word sets, but getting the right combos can be tricky.  It has come as a result of spending way too many hours on this board.    (Practice makes perfect?)  I am most familiar with my OWN posts of course, but there are quite a few posts by others that I keep in my mental file cabinet.

The links that I place in my posts are usually constructed by hand in an on-screen "Post-It" note (by copying the URL for the thread once I find it, and then the thread title, and surrounding them with the appropriate square-bracketed URL markup).  I copy the links from the Post-It note to the GStwin reply window, then use Preview to test them.  I really SHOULD start gathering up some of this info, eh?  It would save a lot of time!

I have been hatching a scheme for a "master GS500 reference" web site, but the task is so big that it's hard to get started.  (It's much easier to fire out one-off answers, and then link back to them later.  :mrgreen: )

I'd definately be interested in helping if you end up making a web site like that.