Hey guys,

I'm interested in buying a GS500 from someone fairly locally but have been shown a video of it running which has made me doubt whether to even bother going to see it or not.

The bike is advertised as needing valve clearances adjusted but has a noticeable constant knock at idle (i'll include a link to the video they sent me).

My question is, does anyone know if this seems likely to be the starter clutch being loose? I've read in various posts on here that many people have had similar issues

Here's the link to the video: https://youtu.be/qGuzhM22F84

Thanks a lot,
A

Starter clutch will make a noise when you hit the start buttin, usually when cold and it will be a thud metal on metal sound and likely just a 1 time deal.
You may be having a cam shaft end float, which is idle and just off idle issue. Usually harmless, but if it gets bad, you may have to concoct a solution. At ~40K I got annoyed enough to weld to the side of the cam tower and polish to 0.1mm clearance etc.
Cool.
Buddha.

You also could have a loose cam chain, or a valve at the high end of clearance - make sure the noise is from the head. If its bottom end, usually happens on trailing throttle then its not fixable.
Cool.
Buddha.