So i've been surfing this board for awhile, let me first say its a great forum, no bs and trash talk or whatever it is some forums agitate me with.  So i've been tossing around between the Ninja 500r and the Suzuki GS500f, both new.  I got a price of $4699 plus freight and prep which comes out to $5180, good deal? I just took and passed the MSF course a week ago.  Now heres the big decision, do i splurge now on a gs or ninja and put about $1300 down with a interest rate of 9.9% or do i save up more, rent a buell blast from a local HD dealer a few times for practice and control my urge for a bike. I already have boots and gloves, just need a nice helmet and jacket to match my new bike if i get one, i'm just unsure if now is the time between it being the middle of the season and the amount i'm putting down on my FIRST bike.  Whats your guys opinion.  BTW sorry for the long post and keep up the good threads!!!

Hey buy used...  now having said that... most of the country has had bikes sell so quick these days... there isn't any left. But 13-15-18-22-2500 will get you trsahed - crashed - Medium - Good - great, 15-5 year old GS with 5-25K miles usually in most of US... vague enough for you... good  :mrgreen:
Cool.
Srinath.

used would def save me some cash, but it scares me not knowin much about the bike's history, riders, and mechanical condition.  I want peace of mind, i take it though i'd have to keep either bike for atleast 2yrs to avoid gettin crushed too badly on resale of a new bike.  :dunno:

go down there and get the gs. tell them that you will pay 5 even. if they throw in a helmet, jacket, and the 600 mile service for free.  you should be able to walk out of there with the bike jacket and helmet for 5 if they want to sell it, but being as it is still early in the season they might say no.  then you tell them that (insert closeset competior) gave you a offer of 4850 out the door with a helmet and the 600 service, and the jacket that you were looking at was on newenough.com for 69.95 +shipping. but you didn't want to wait the 2 weeks for it to come in before you bought the bike as you know that you will probably ride without it if you bought the bike today.  and let them know that you whould be willing to pay the extra 70 bucks for the jacket today as the service is so much better here than at the other dealer, and you are shure that you are going to be bringing it back for years to come.  the inflating the stealer's ego is the most important part of the sale, because he is going to try to screw every cent he can out of you.  if you can fool him to think he is screwing his competor over worse than he whould be screwing you than you have won the battle and he will really try to sell the bike to you even if he is not receiving his commision just to take a customer away from the other guy.  if your really good with words you can really make this work for you  with the enemy of your enemy is your friend theory.  they don't normally expect a customer to be very knolagable about the product they are trying to buy so it pays to have as much background as you possibably can.  I hope this helps.

Both are great bikes I personally have a 2004 gs500f and just talked my buddy into getting one yesterday he put 200 miles on it the first day and he seems to really like his.    Really you need to go and sit on both the gs and the ninja and find which is more comfortable to you and which do you like the looks of better.  Personally the Ninja  has a very out dated look compared to the new gs, but the Ninja is more powerful and is a little quicker but not all that noticable.  I with you on the used bike thing I would hate to buy into problems.         Good luck with whatever bike you get and always wear gear I dropped mine in the first 30 miles and got a nasty ass case of road rash up my arm.

ohhhhhh please don't buy the blast...it's not a blast to ride.....i thought about buying on of those when i was looking for a bike but i didn't ride a blast before.....at the end i bought a gs500 and when i was taking my msf course i picked a blast over a rebel 250.....the blast shakes like crazy, the throttle speed is very very slow, sounds like crap, is slow and thw worst thing is it's very uncomfortable

Where are you located?  I'll sell you mine, its been very well taken care of, has most of the 'required' upgrades, and will cost much less than new.

dont buy new....there are plenty of used deals

oh yeah...dont finance either....if  you cant pay cash, you cant afford it in the first place

ok ok ok, so many differeing opinions, all good ones though  
I live right outside Philly, PA, and insurance quotes to top it off have been all over the place. Anywhere from 700-2300 bux a year.  So whats the average price you guys generally pay? And if i waited to say January with more to put down how much would the price change do you think being it isn't in season anymore?  I'd buy used possibly from someone on this board being as alot of people on here seem to know whats up with these bikes.  Speed is fun but i respect the fact i'm a new rider and all so i'm puttin my ego aside for a "slower" bike.  I also like the looks of the Gs500f alot better but i'm just hoping i don't "outgrow" this bike.  I'm 6'1 190lbs. i'm not sure if that would make a difference on which is more comfortable. I've yet to sit on a ninja, the place i'm lookin at carries both.  So i assume the ninja is about the same price w/ both of them being 04s.  And about the whole buell blast thing, i have no intention of buying one, just renting, there like 80 bux for the day and most ppl rent them to take their licenses or whatever, i'd just rent one to try and bring down my urge to buy one right away all the while gettin some riding experience on the way.  Ah decisions decisions............. :dunno:

i know this is going to sound ridiculous to you, but if you wait a few more months, the prices should drop

it seems that people only wanna buy bikes when there's nice weather outside.  if you buy one in the middle of winter, it's going to be much cheaper - new or used

yeah that seems like the sensible thing to do.  Any how idea how much a new 500f would drop in the winter? Also, do you reccomend a certain insurance company for a cheap first time rider coverage?