CB500, ER-5, GS500

[Frost]

Well after much debate witht he old guy we are going halves on a 'sensible' 500. We will have a budget of around £1500 to spend on the bike. So its a straight choice betwean the ultimate in training school and commuter bikes.

At the moment i am swinging slightly towards the CB500 as its a honda, which i trust, and it should be fairly easy to get parts for.

So oppinions/expirences please!

[roozor]

Suzuki GS500 its a nice bike, real smooth to ride, and it certainly doesn't hang around when its wants to! can pick them up very cheap these days, even brand new ones, make sure you get a later model tho.

[Bendy]

Never had any complaints about my CB500.

[dodsi]

sounds a lot like the conversation we had on msn messenger

[iCraig]

All 3 a very good first bikes, having owned the ER-5 and the GS500 I can say the GS is superior in everyway to the ER-5.

The GS is lighter, faster, handles better and has a lower centre of gravity and has much better brakes.

The GS is also a very smooth bike and very cheap to maintain with it being aircooled and cheap to insure with it being group 7 (the lowest of all the 500's) Though the finish on earlier GS's isn't great but the newer ones (EW Onwards) are better and get even better from the more recent K1 and onwards.

The ER-5 is a good bike and has some vices, one being dodgy electrics (rectifiers go alot on them) and also the finish is even worse than the GS500, Stock Shocks can last as little as 10,000 Miles and mine eat ate batteries and speedo cables as it like munching them, but it was a "good" bike, one thing I did like about the ER-5 was its spot on gearbox with its Positive Neutral finder.

Lastly having not owned a CB500 (yet ) I've heard good things about them, they have a very good engine that I believe comes alive after 8k RPM and build quality is usual honda and its also the highest 500 to insure being Grp 9 as its the most powerful at a claimed 60BHP.
They race CB500's so they must be good and from what I hear they handle very well indeed.

If I were you I would go for either a GS500K1 or later or a CB500 but for £1500 you'll be looking at older CB500's as they seem to hold there value better.

Also look on www.preloved.co.uk for owners reviews of all the bikes.

[stinkwheel]

What's wrong with a GPZ500s? same engine as the ER5, sportier bike, fairing, marginally faster than a CB500, loads of spares out there. A production run of 15 years suggests they got something right.
____________________
“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would say go for the GPZ500 as well. We are now on our 2nd one. Cheap, build quality seems better than the equivalent year GS500, handle OK, do 60+mpg.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[MaSh]

Riding both GS500's and a CB500 I can honestly say I prefer the CB. (This coming from a suzuki fan as well)

The CB definately has more go and is very lively when it hits the power.

One thing to consider is the CB is quite a lot higher than a GS..

Cannt comment on the Kwak as I've never ridden one
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Well thats broke it again !

[Lufbra_Paul]

hi there,

out of the CB500, ER5, and GS500, the GS500 tends to get rated the worse, followed by the ER5 and with the CB5 taking first place. having past my test 6 months ago i was on the look out for one of the three, the cb tended to be 400-600 pounds more expensive than the other two, with the er5 and the gs500 about the same price. Its generally asumed that the er5 is better than the gs500 so i went for that. wasnt dissapointed, gs500 seemd the smallest bike of the lot.

had my er5 for 6 months and its been a dream, no problems at all, iv pm'd u.

some reviews:

https://bikepoint.ninemsn.com.au/portal/alias__bikepointau/tabID__5760/BikeArticleID__118072/DesktopDefault.aspx

https://www.dooyoo.co.uk/motors/motorcycles/kawasaki_er_5/

https://www.ukbike.com/reviews/bikes/er5.html

MCN reviews:

er5: https://www.motorcyclenews.com/nav?page=motorcyclenews.bikes.model&product=MCN&workflowStatus=ACTIVE&fixture=BIKE_MODEL&action=search&make=KAWASAKI&model=ER-5&resource=707331&fixture_bike_model=707331&resourceId=707331

gs500https://www.motorcyclenews.com/nav?page=motorcyclenews.bikes.model&product=MCN&workflowStatus=ACTIVE&fixture=BIKE_MODEL&action=search&make=SUZUKI&model=GS500&resource=706878&fixture_bike_model=706878&resourceId=706878

cb5https://www.motorcyclenews.com/nav?page=motorcyclenews.bikes.model&product=MCN&workflowStatus=ACTIVE&fixture=BIKE_MODEL&action=search&make=HONDA&model=CB500&resource=706876&fixture_bike_model=706876&resourceId=706876


good luck mate

[Major_Grooves]

I've got a CB500 and I've no complaints.

I got a very clean 1995 bike for £1350, so for that price range you will definetly get somethign decent.
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[Nath]

I'm planning to do my test(for 33bhp) in the next month or two. After some wavering, i think i've decided a 500 would be my best option for a first bike(restricted).

CB500 looks great, and has a good rep, but most i've seen in mcn bikemart are a bit pricey. I'm too hoping to spend no more than £1500, and there just aren't many cb500s around for that money, unless they've done about 40k miles

I'm after either a GS500, or GPZ500. I don't have a preference currently(don't know alot about either tbh), but i think the GS looks a bit too much like a boring commuter, unless it has the fairing, in which case it wins hands down on looks. Both seem like nice bikes for the money.

[rizo-sri200]

i got a Honda CB-1 (cb400f)

Great bike

89' cost me £900 with 7000miles
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swift kick to the wing mirror puts em straight..
98' Bandit 600 with Slip on

[Lufbra_Paul]

well if anyones interested?

W reg, silver/champayne, 10,500 miles, I have had it since feb 2004 when i passed my test and i have used it everyday, and it has started first time everyday. 3 previous owners, 12 month T&T. engine bars/er5 haynes manuel included. scratches on right hand side seat panel and exhaust silencer, careless last owner dropped at traffic lights! but apart from this its perfectly clean, super bike! 6-7 pics including scratches available to email, just ask. have lots of paperwork for it: 2 MOTS/4 previous tax disks/pre-delivery inspection recipt when new/600mile service receipt/8000mile service receipt/full V5, Any test welcome, who can give it a good home?! selling because I have just bought a thundercat and the ER5 is no longer needed!

£1200

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/WallaceRL/P6140230.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/WallaceRL/P6140236.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/WallaceRL/er1.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/WallaceRL/P6140232.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/WallaceRL/P6140235.jpg

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v127/WallaceRL/P6140233.jpg

let me know if anyones interested 0787 671 7463

chrs
Paul

[dodsi]

hmmmmmmmmm

exactly what i am looking for actuially

really need to pass my test first and sell the speedshite

but its exactly what i need, typical!