First 70km trip today outside the city. It might just be me but after about 40minutes the bike felt like it was vibrating more? The bike overall performed fine and the vibrations weren't overly excessive (no numbness to my hands) but I just couldn't help but notice something felt different? Anyone else noticed this. Tires were inflated properly, gas, oil all is good.

I'm also keeping in mind that this was my first time driving faster than 50km/h for an extended period of time on this bike so I might just not be used to the vibrations. This happened twice once on my way out I noticed a change/increase in vibrations and also on my return trip as well.

I think you should get used to your bike for a few hundred kilometers. Every time I ride my GS500 I notice some new noise or absence of some other noise, I've decided to live in peace with it
Except once it was really horrible and out of place, which turned out a carb synchronization problem.

Also some noise might come from instrument panel. In my case I had dampers around the 'clocks' very worn, also my aftermarket wind shield was vibrating and hitting the cables.

Thanks for the advice! Yah I think i'll try to ignore it unless it's really obvious. Bought the bike used for a good price, i'm still paranoid it's a lemon and will just spontaneously combust lol.

I always feel like my bike is smoother during the second trip of the day. It makes so sense but I've noticed it many times.

The GS500 is an air cooled bike with laughably large engine tolerances. It's behavior is going to change as it warms up. Just make sure you have a fresh oil at the correct level. Whenever I start noticing the vibration more its usually because I'm due for an oil change or the oil level has dropped a little. Topping it up or changing the oil usually improves the vibrations.

Oil was topped up 2 days ago and I lubed the chain again today. What should the vibrations at 5-6k in first or second gear feel like? I just took it for a ride. Bike was fine up until 4k (which is where I usually shift. This time I tried 5k and 6k in first and second gear and the entire bike felt like it was buzzing and it didn't sound great. Makes me feel any higher would not be good for the bike. I'll try to get a video of it tomororow

The GS's motor is bolted directly to the frame. So you will always notice a good bit of vibration. And there are harmonic or resonant frequencies at certain RPMs that are more noticeable than others. On both my GS500 and GS1000 I find a "sweet spot" in the RPM range where the motor seems smoothest.

That said, if it's really bad then something may be loose. The service manuals have torque specs for all the motor mount bolts, give them all a tighten up with a torque wrench to make sure they haven't come a little loose. Suzuki also recommends re-tightening the head stud nuts every 4,000 miles. Basically every time you do an oil change and valve clearance check. I think this is to prevent the head gaskets from leaking but it could also help with vibrations if they have come loose. When you get around to doing that/next time you check your valve clearances, also make sure that your cam chain seems nice and tight.

Quote from: Bluesmudge on June 21, 2023, 10:27:42 AMThe GS's motor is bolted directly to the frame. So you will always notice a good bit of vibration. And there are harmonic or resonant frequencies at certain RPMs that are more noticeable than others. On both my GS500 and GS1000 I find a "sweet spot" in the RPM range where the motor seems smoothest.

That said, if it's really bad then something may be loose. The service manuals have torque specs for all the motor mount bolts, give them all a tighten up with a torque wrench to make sure they haven't come a little loose. Suzuki also recommends re-tightening the head stud nuts every 4,000 miles. Basically every time you do an oil change and valve clearance check. I think this is to prevent the head gaskets from leaking but it could also help with vibrations if they have come loose. When you get around to doing that/next time you check your valve clearances, also make sure that your cam chain seems nice and tight.

Do you recall what that sweet spot is on your 500? I'll check the motor mount bolts today. Can I just check them without supporting the engine with jack? Thanks!

You shouldn't need to jack the engine up. Just slack off each bolt a bit and then re-torque to the spec. You will need a wrench on the other side of the engine to hold the nut in place while you torque the bolt.

I don't remember the sweet spot for my GS500. My bike has been out of commission for the last 6 months for major engine work that I haven't had time to make much progress on. If I had to guess, it was like 5,900 rpm but I could be totally wrong on that.

Quote from: chopsuixx on June 20, 2023, 06:25:37 PMOil was topped up 2 days ago and I lubed the chain again today. What should the vibrations at 5-6k in first or second gear feel like? I just took it for a ride. Bike was fine up until 4k (which is where I usually shift. This time I tried 5k and 6k in first and second gear and the entire bike felt like it was buzzing and it didn't sound great. Makes me feel any higher would not be good for the bike. I'll try to get a video of it tomororow

My GS (2003/40k miles) seems to do more vibrating than accelerating from about 6k rpm so  I generally try to change gears lower than that. I have also noted that there might be a bit of lag when I roll off the power when I get to about 7k rpm which causes my gear changes to be less smooth than I would like - although I think that this at least partly due to operator error...