Ride Of The GS500s - Suzuki GS500 Meetup & Ride

Four of us, all on Suzuki GS500 motorcycles, met up to go for a ride. As the ride leader I created the route, including rest stops, food stops and fuel stops. The route was to take in some of the twistiest roads with the nicest scenery and the least amount of idiot racing wannabe riders - and the enforcement which usually goes along with the haunts of such riders. The GS500 is ideally suited to such roads as they are usually too far away for the supersport riders to get to because they don't have the fuel reserves to do it and longer rides into those areas are not comfortable on those bikes. The result is, we pretty well had the road to ourselves.

The day itself started out pretty clear although we did ride into the more overcast areas in the mountains. But it stayed dry, though cool. And so the day was a blast. There is much Much MUCH more footage I could have shown - over 2 hours of it - but selected some of the highlights to give a general idea of some of the roads we rode on for the day.

This ride again shows how versatile the GS500 is. From longer stints in the saddle done in comfort to having fun in the twisties, while also being ideally suited to being a daily commuter bike. Sure it's not a sport bike and many people feel they need to upgrade from this humble bike, but not all of us (yes, others besides me on this ride have Larger bikes but keep the GS500 for such fun times).

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• yt:stretch=16:9
• Suzuki GS500
• GS500
• GS500e
• Mt Lindesay
• twisties
• urbenville
• gopro motorsport hero
• gopro hd
• gopro
• lake moogerah
• rathdowney
• tooloom falls
• motorcycle

[1100HondaCB]

I had a '91 GS500E and did a 600 mile trip on a weekend with no problems at all. I rode 300 miles non-stop and then did the same on the 300 mile return journey. The engine didn't use a drop of oil and the oil retained its golden colour. The GS is a very smooth and reliable bike, even if I got bored with it quickly. It was fairly quick up to about 90mph, then performance falls off rapidly after that. Maintenance is easy and mid-range torque very useful. Engines will last a long time.

[michaelrossonline]

@1100HondaCB Oh yeah, they are reliable alright. Bullet proof engines. Real old technology but proven nonetheless. If you don't expect much of them you can be happy on them for a long time. And great around town too.

[Rokiz2006]

great video nice bike and awesome country :) i would like to live in Australia :)

[michaelrossonline]

@Rokiz2006 Thank you. I think we have some of the best riding of the country around our city. Sure, there are nice roads here and there, but I don't think other places have as much variety as we do. No matter which direction you head you always find a great road to ride in under and hour from the CBD. PLUS, we don't get snowed in here so we get to ride all year round. :)

[TKTex1]

Another great run Michael. Those roads aren't much smoother than the last time we went through there, at least you didn't have all the bicycles LOL. It great to see the Rathdowney cafe under new management. Hope the coffee is better than last time too :-) Look forward to catching up on Sunday. Cheers!!

[michaelrossonline]

@TKTex1 Yeah, even the repairerd roadwork where the landslide happened, has deteriorated badly. Looks like it was just a quick cheap bodgy fix that will either need constant refixing or a complete and proper rework.

There is something quaint and enjoyable about the Crown Hotel in Urbenville that sees me going back there. A friendliness not found in the larger pubs. See you Sunday :)

[1100HondaCB]

@michaelrossonline The engine was taken originally from the GS400, then became a 425cc, 450cc, then finally ending up as the 487cc. My one was quiet, had excellent mid-range torque, gears were all smooth and engine started first time all the time and never used a drop of oil. I would recommend the GS500 to anyone, as long as they were not expecting the performance of a ZZR600. The GS is sensible and useable, but no way a superbike. The GS will last years, but watch for rust.

[MrHasie]

@michaelrossonline about a quart of consumed, I heard different as to head gasket leaking and if it's not the case it still helps me sleep better at night :). My initial leak, however was due to PO negligence.

[michaelrossonline]

@TKTex1 Yeah, even the repairerd roadwork where the landslide happened, has deteriorated badly. Looks like it was just a quick cheap bodgy fix that will either need constant refixing or a complete and proper rework.

There is something quaint and enjoyable about the Crown Hotel in Urbenville that sees me going back there. A friendliness not found in the larger pubs. (See you Sunday :))

[michaelrossonline]

@MrHasie The headgasket per se is not prone to leaking - unless - there has been over-pressure. Filling the oil right to the very top of the Full Mark can actually create a bit of overpressure, specially if the engine gets high revs at some point, even briefly, can be worse when cold. Also, what size bottle are you talking about - pint, quart, half gallon? One small quart bottle between services is not unheard of as the bike's age, but consumed oil not leaked oil.