10,000km on a '95 GS500. Red flag or not?

Crom

Crom

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I found a good deal on a '95 GS500 with 10,000km on it. It's cosmetically mint. No rust even on the exhaust pipe underneath, where these bikes seem to get it first. Safetied, UVIP, etc..

Would the low km's for the year of the bike worry you?

Thanks!
 
Normally it might, but it depends on when it got those existing miles. If recently, no problem. If it's been sitting for a while, you could have issues with seals drying out etc. I bought an '83 last year with 650 km on it. Almost all of those 650 km had been put on by the guy I was buying it from, in the previous year, not by the original owner, who had supposedly bought it, rode it home and parked it. No issues as any problems had been dealt with by the guy I got it from.
 
Definitely check condition of all rubber items on the bike - tires, hoses, seals. Check condition of the brake pads. If the bike has been sitting for a while, you'll most likely need new tires and brake pads, change all fluids (oil/filter, maybe brake fluid).

Personally, I wouldn't care about low km as long as the bike is in good condition.
 
Thanks guys. How does one gauge the health of a seal? I mean, I would assume I am just looking to make sure the rubber is not dried and cracking. Right? Just make sure it is still supple and pliable?

And what about brake pads? How much should be left on the pad and how can you tell a pad is in poor condition?

Will tires with bad weather checking/cracks pass a proper safety? I am getting him to send me to code on the tires before I go look at it. In case they are super old.

What about when I start it up? How can I tell if the carbs are not all gummed up or out of sync? Will the idle be rough?



He's asking $2000 for it. I would offer less of course. Does this sound like a fair price?
 
Crom said:
I found a good deal on a '95 GS500 with 10,000km on it. It's cosmetically mint. No rust even on the exhaust pipe underneath, where these bikes seem to get it first. Safetied, UVIP, etc..

Would the low km's for the year of the bike worry you?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


What's the price? In 98, I bought an 83, a 15 year old bike. At the time I paid around $1000. Try to get the bike for less than $1000, certified, and on the road, then I would see this as a good buy. Even if you had to pay for fork seals, or other repairs amounting to $500 plus you are in good shape to absorb the cost.
 
2K is way too much IMHO. I paid a bit more than that for a 6-yr-old GS500F with 23K on it a couple of years ago - all it needed was new tires and new brakes. Tires - check for cracks in the sidewall, very easy to spot. Brake pods - don't worry about those, I usually change mine right after I buy a bike or a car - cheap and safe. Seals - IMHO if nothing leaks, the seals are good, check for signs of leakage, not just leaks under the bike. Gummed up carbs - there are different symptoms. Ask the guy to start the bike from cold, then let it warm up, play with the throttle - see if the throttle response is smooth. You'd really need to ride it to fully check it out.
Check out GSTwin forums for more info on GS bikes.
 
Wow. Really? $2000 is that bad for a '98 with under 10K on it? I thought it was pretty good, since the bike is mint. owner said previous owner stored it for a while.

Then again, I cold get a Ninja 500 for just a bit more. Liquid cooled, more hp, etc... From what I have read the Ninja is a superior bike in many ways.

Is there anyone here who's tried both the GS500 and Ninja 500 and willing to offer their experience comparing both?
 
Both bikes have been around forever and there is a huge abundance of parts available. For your purposes, ie a beginner bike, either bike will suit your needs fine.
 
Crom said:
Wow. Really? $2000 is that bad for a '98 with under 10K on it? I thought it was pretty good, since the bike is mint. owner said previous owner stored it for a while.

Then again, I cold get a Ninja 500 for just a bit more. Liquid cooled, more hp, etc... From what I have read the Ninja is a superior bike in many ways.

Is there anyone here who's tried both the GS500 and Ninja 500 and willing to offer their experience comparing both?
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Sounds like a fair asking price to me, without knowing further details.

GS500 w/ slip-on, all the way!
 
Yep, that's a fair price. If you haggle too much, you'll probably get the bike sold from under you. This is prime time, and people are looking for low mileage, clean rides. 2K is a drop in the bucket. Have a look on Kijiji for comparable prices for higher mileage examples. In the end, its worth whatever you want to pay.
 
I constantly see people saying that bikes that are like 15yrs old should be under $1000. That is just crap. At some point, a bike has depreciated about all it is going to depreciate and then hold some stable level of value forever as long as it runs well and is in good cosmetic shape. By this logic, if a '95 GS 500 is worth less than $1000 than a '90 or older GS 500 should be basically free? Maybe a couple hundred bucks at most. By that logic, what would a 40 or 50 year old bike be worth? Would you have to pay the person to take it off your hands? ;) Bikes that run well and are in good shape will always be worth in the neighbourhood of $2000 imo. Where can you get something that runs well and looks great for less? $2000 is nothing. Most people have that much invested in tv's and stereo equipment! If you bought something that was all ugly and ran poor for $500 you would probably spend more than the $1500 difference getting the bike mechanically and cosmetically sound again.
 
Crom said:
Thanks guys. How does one gauge the health of a seal? I mean, I would assume I am just looking to make sure the rubber is not dried and cracking. Right? Just make sure it is still supple and pliable?

And what about brake pads? How much should be left on the pad and how can you tell a pad is in poor condition?

Will tires with bad weather checking/cracks pass a proper safety? I am getting him to send me to code on the tires before I go look at it. In case they are super old.

What about when I start it up? How can I tell if the carbs are not all gummed up or out of sync? Will the idle be rough?
Click to expand...

For seals, just inspect the area around them (obviously you're not gonna go tearing everything apart just to inspect them, and likely the process of disassembling them WILL ruin them). Run your finger around the area outside the seal, and visually inspect for leaks. This is also better done with the motor running (for crank case seals/head gaskets) and for forks, just move them up and down as much as you can and look for oil coming out of the along the stanchions (the shiny fork shaft).

Just look at the pads to see if there's material still on them. For 10k, they should be pretty mint.

Tyres will need replacing if they're the OEM's. Tyres have a usable life of 6-7 years. You can stretch this out for cars, but I wouldn't for bikes; after this time the rubber compound is known to dry out, and lose some element of traction. ALL tyres have a manufactured date code printed on them that will end with 4 numbers like "1205" which means "the 12th week of 2005". Replace them as soon as you can afford it, just to be extra safe.

If the carbs are gummed, it won't start. If they aren't gummed (and it runs), maybe you can run some seafoam or some other type of carb cleaner after getting the bike, just to make sure all is well with the jets and needles and all the other crap that comes with carbs.

Back in '09 I found my 2004 SV650 with 6200kms on the clock. bike was MINT; probably the only time I've ever gotten lucky finding exactly what I wanted. Good luck!
 
Crom said:
Then again, I cold get a Ninja 500 for just a bit more. Liquid cooled, more hp, etc... From what I have read the Ninja is a superior bike in many ways.

Is there anyone here who's tried both the GS500 and Ninja 500 and willing to offer their experience comparing both?
Click to expand...

Like someone else said, both are beginner bikes, both have been around forever, there is no advantage of one over the other. Whichever you find a good deal on, buy that one. IMHO, Ninja 500R looks like it has been made in the 80s, they never updated the fugly exterior.
 
The guy has some people coming today to look. With my luck it will be sold today. It's an hour and a half away and due to my work schedule the soonest I could have been there was Sunday. Pretty disappointing... I was thrilled about it.

Ah well. I'll cross my fingers and hope that it's still around Sunday. I wish the used bike market in Niagara didn't suck so bad!
 
Thanks for the link Matt. I think I would prefer something with lower kilometres though, as I will be riding it a TON, and when I go to upgrade, it seems far easier to sell a bike with lower km's.

I am shocked that people still ask so much for their Ninja 500's though. I mean, there aren't many for sale for less than $3000 that aren't missing fairings, or have mismatched fairings, super high km's, etc. And even those ones go for $3000 to $4000, when you can find really nice 650R's for $3500 to $4000.
 
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