Commuter 500

[Andy C]

Hi,

Started a thread about getting a GPZ305 to which a lot of people said they arnt that great and get a 500 instead.

Given it some thought and reckon thats what I should do. The RXS will be up for sale April once I have collected the spare engine, wheels and forks that will be sold with it (done 20k and had loads of new stuff put on such as brand new footrest if anyone is interested!).

Once this is sold I will be on the lookout for a 500 twin as they seem cheap and cant cost a fortune to run.

Thinking of CB500, GS500 or GPZ500, with a budget of £500-800.

Any advice on what to look for on them? Is one better than another?

Any advice would be great
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99 RS125 --> 02 SV650s --> 03 Speed Four --> 92 RXS100 --> 93 CB400sf --> 01 CB600f Hornet

[Flip]

The only 500's that I've ridden are CBs and ER5's. The CB was quite good. Better than the ER. Get a GPZ and rat it.

[Pickledswede]

Refer to this thread for quite a lot of useful info on the different 500s. I have a shoddy 1994 CB500 which is quite rusty and a bit tatty now and that cost me £800 so you might have trouble finding one of them in your budget but I think the others are a bit cheaper. Obviously this isn't definite though and I would look for a Honda for reliability!

[c_dug]

Got my GPZ for £400 or £500, cant remember exactly, that was in reasonable condition, mid 20k miles, with a brand new front tyre.

Was a brilliant bike and alot of fun to ride had a bit of trouble with the electrics (coil went) but other than that it was pretty bullet proof

Used it to ride from London to Hull and back with full luggage and a pillion and it didnt stutter once so its good for longer trips too.

Sold it to a friend and it is still going strong now Would definetly recommend.

c_dug
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[Seb]

You'll pick up a GS500 fairly easily for 500 quid with a bit of patience. Throw an RGV shock and some half decent tyres at it and you'll find it's a surprisingly nimble little bike, CB500s have a tad more power and I'd wager are better finished though. I can't comment on the handling first hand but I've seen a few different people hustle them along at a decent pace so eh, they can't be bad
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[craigs23]

[Andy C]

[neatbik]

Another vote for a CB1 - i still hanker after another one, it was a great bike

Very solid build, lovely creamy engine and good fun

[craigs23]

Depending on how much I was thrashing it, I got between 50 and 60mpg. Bike was around £500 to buy, which in my opinion was an absolute bargain - the suspension alone was worth as much.

Tyres lasted pretty well - expect well over 8k or so from something like some Roadsmarts.

Very reliable - my Superfour sounds sweeter than my RR3 Blade does and the CB1's got gear driven cams so they never rattle at all. Only weak point are the usual Honda reg/rectifiers, but easy to spot the symptoms before things get too bad.

Insurance was around £70 at the time. Probably on par with a CB5, but grey imports sometimes carry slightly higher premiums.

Sourcing parts is also very easy as well. Even Wemoto stock most consumable items for them.

I can't really think of any reason why I'd prefer a CB5 over one of the 4s, apart from maybe the addition of a fairing.

[c-m]

Bought a 96 model GPZ500s for £600 after passing my test a few years ago. It was great. Finish isn't as good as the CB500 but its quicker and very cheap.

I did all the servicing myself, its really easy to work on, and took its over 5,000 miles around Europe just 4 months after passing. It was awesome.

[arry]

[instigator]

I've had er-5, cb500, gpz500s and have ridden a GS500e.

They would fall in this order for a multitude of reasons:

CB500S
CB500
GPZ500S
ER-5
GS500

The CB has the nicest engine I'd say. The 7000rpm 'kick' of the GPZ's engine is, in my opinion, very overrated.

[hmmmnz]

ive ridden them all and owned the gpz500 and the gs500

the cb probably has the smoothest engine,
the gpz was ugly
the er5 was a bit better looking
the gs is aircooled and slightly underpowered


if i was going to get another 500 again, it would be the gs500,
they are cheep as chips probably the easiest to get parts for,
being air cooled probably the easiest to work on and the least to go wrong,
and there is a cult following because the bike is basically unchanged for the last 20 years.

i picked up mine for 300 quid with 30kmiles, did another 30k gave it to my little bro who did countless more, and the only break down i ever had was a starter relay and a broken chain

brilliant commuter weapons with loads of part changes availble with other suzukis
____________________
the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[chris-red]

TDM850 It will be more fun and the extra power and touring ability will be there if needed. A TDM can easily return over 50mpg and and are far more interesting than a GS500 or similar.

If you can splash out £1.5k you can get a decent Mk2 which are much better looking than the mk1's

You should be able to get a reasonably tidy mark 1 for under 1k.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[chris-red]

https://www.carpe-tdm.net/ipb/index.php?showtopic=15991&st=0


See that one, it's sold now but that is a hell of alot of bike for the money.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[Andy C]

[instigator]

Remember, hmmmnz is handy with a spanner. For all the examples I have seen, the GS500e's have by far the worst build quality. They truly are atrocious and for a £500 example, you know it'll have bad corrosion all over it.

And of course Tizer on this forum killed 2 engines through random failures. So I have no faith in the GS range.

Get a CB andy!!

[chris-red]

[Seb]

I spotted my GS fairly local to me on ebay, one nice ride over with 500 quid in my backpack and it was mine. You'll find plenty of clean examples about if you keep an eye out and have a little patience.

Yes they rot rather quickly if you don't stay on top of them, but meh, a rub down with acf50/fs365 and that's not so much of an issue. They are a reasonable cheap little bike with enough ooomph for most situations.

Yes they are a tad uninspiring as a base package, but it's nothing a bit of ebay shopping can't sort out, it just takes a few cheap and easy mods to show pretty massive improvements in ride and handling on them.
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

Get the CB500. The courier's weapon of choice for a reason.
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[Andy C]

[ttr]

Get an NTV650!

For no reason other than shaft drive = less maintenance and chances are it wont go wrong before you get something else.

Oh and it's quite fun. Brakes are shite but anything in the 500 category will have just as bad anchors.
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GS125-> NT400->VFR400->CRM250->Z750 + GS125->NTV650 rat + VMX1200->GSF600 + GPz550

[c_dug]

Totaly agree with the NTV thing Not as fun as the GPZ was but as a commuter and in terms of reliability I would give my Revere a 10/10 every time

In fact its now on 9?,000 miles and I don't doubt it would do another 20k if it hadn't been treated so bad by me.

c_dug
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[hmmmnz]

i really never did anything to it mechanicly that needed doing (i modded it like i do to most bikes, but there was no need to do anything to it)
the bike lived outside for 3 years whilst in mine or the bros possession, and rarely got cleaned, in my experience the finish was as good if not better than alot of other bikes ive owned.
far better than the kawasaki, rusty bunch of crap that was

id buy another gs, i bought mine from a add on gumtree
____________________
the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[Dazbo666]

I had a 1991 GPZ500S as my first bike, and I'd have no problem having another one.
Bought for just under £500 (from a fellow BCF member in fact). Good on fuel, cheap insurance even when I was a newly badged DAS rider. The engine is bulletproof, and the whole bike is easy to maintain etc - Couldn't really fault it for the price.

I also rode a Suzuki GS500 during my DAS, and enjoyed riding it so much that I've now bought it's bigger brother (a Bandit 600N)
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1st bike (Sept'06 - May'10) : 1991 GPZ500S / Current bike (since Nov 2009) : 2003 Suzuki Bandit 600N
Word of the day : DILLIGAF