If your talking a new one I know I like it (from on paper/seeing at dealer, never ridden one). Just a regular old commuter bike with a real handlebar & a fairing. Cheap, fuel efficient, modern looks (beats a Rebel, Nighthawk, or a Savage hands down), big enough to take on the road & avoid the cagers but not big enough to be my only bike. Been trying to get my beginner brother to buy one. I would think a great beginner bike that you don't necessarly have to ever grow out of if you don't want to.
The perfect bike to throw a leg over just before sundown on a hot, humid summer evening & take down the backroads to see whats happening at the local fishing hole before turning in for the night & going to work the next day.
I like the updates to it with fairing and all. It's so much like the venerable KLR650 in concept and execution. Face it, the thing is old, reliable simple technology that get's you from a to b. You can go anywhere the pavement leads you on it. It sounds good with an exhaust upgrade, and if I'm not mistaken has been used extensively to get going trackwise. Suzuki, like Kawasaki figured if it wasn't broke, don't fix it. They were right. I wouldn't kick the newer one out of my garage if I was going minimalistic.
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I seen a GS500F going for $4300 new, that's less than what I paid for one in 2006.
Great starter bikes, plenty of power for most riding. For commuting and occasional long rides, this bike is great. Very fun to ride and handles really well.
My wife got one for her starter bike. She was way to tall for the 250's and I knew she'd want better ride very quickly. The GS500F is light enough for most and an average size female can handle one.
The downside is that they do have goofy carbs. The issues with ours never stopped me from riding it, but slight backfires and hard starting when cold were common.
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I put 10k miles on a 93 500e that I had done a ton of mods on, wish I still had it, it was a blast to ride, basically bulletproof... the folks at GSTwins.com mod these until they don't even resemble the original bike, fenderectomies, Buell headlights, suspension... pretty cool
A direct relation to the GS450 I learned on, I beat the crap out of it and it kept on going. As someone else mentioned, the carbs will teach you a lot. Previous owner of mine decided to seal the bowls and one of the CV boots with silicon. I probably had the carbs off well over a dozen times trying to chase silicon boogers out of all the orifices. I still have the gs450, in 4 milk crates and a couple of large tupperwares. One day I'll find someone that actually wants to put it back together.
I beat the piss out of one for a while it was fun, toward the end I acually tried to blow it up with abuse (i was younger and more destructive). i made sure the oil levels and what not were good but I literally tried to kill it over and over again with daily RPM blasts that even a rotory motor would shutter at and I literally blew the back tire off the damn thing. Turns out the bike just kept taking it, Frustrated cause it just couldnt kill that little twin I parked it behind a buddys shop where im sure it still is and 6-7 years later Im sure it'll fire right up and refuse to die some more i swear that bike taunted me.
Good bike 2 thumbs way up, dont expect a power house and you'll be very satisfied.
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