Go for a GS500 unrestricted or something bigger?? A2...

[Shanerb97]

Hi there new to the forum, thanks for having me!

Just a question based on any past experiences really.
Doing my a2 in the foreseeable future and just scratching my head as far as bikes to go for.

I’ve been looking at the gs500s and they seem very much okay.
Although I’ve been looking at Fazer 600s and bigger bikes for a while potentially dreaming I know 😂
Just wondeered if anyone had any experience as far as bigger bikes being restricted and how much difference it makes with them being restricted.
Are they terrible?
Just want to know what’s best...if to go for a bike that’s made to fit within power regulations or get something a little bigger and restrict any advice is much appreciated thankyou

[arry]

Hi.

Wouldn't sweat restriction too much. Yeah it sucks to have to do it (thanks EU) but you never know, the restrictions might just 'fall out' one day.

You'll likely be riding a 600 ish on training which will be restricted by ECU most likely. Ride that, see how you feel.

[Rogerborg]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

The GS has a half-decent frame, and air-cooled simplicity and lightness on its side too. But it's a bland, gutless piece of shit with a coat of paint thinner than a graphene sheet. Then again, I ran a cb500 for best part of five years so wtf do I know.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[NJD]

Dreaming a bit far ahead: get your license done and you'll know a bit more about what you do, or don't, want based on what you end up training, and doing your tests, on.

Suzuki SFV650 Gladius with an A2 ECU under the seat swap so you when you do your A tests you can legit ride in and out for many less monies than me; three attempts later and still going. Seriously, though, if you can get a bike that has an ECU swap you'll thank yourself later.

My IL4 (ZR-7S) is slow low down (up to about 2000-3000 rpm) but wakes up when you wind it up. Plenty of power, even restricted, for both out on the higher speed roads and around town. On the plus side, though, it won't snap your hand of if you twist the throttle too fast too soon.

The SFV650 Gladius (twin; they all are) is a bike perfectly fine around town and if I had some more time on it I'd probably say it was ok on the higher speed roads (attempting to maintain a safe speed on a NSL during a Mod 2 isn't the best time to be forming an opinion on the bike performs). Jerky throttle (perhaps due to engine design) and wouldn't want to be too eager too soon, as a learner, with one.

For me, then, I think I'd probably got for a tripple (engine type) as my next bike but for you there's no way in knowing until you're out on the road for a few months.
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[Shanerb97]

Thank you for the reply’s I think it’s more over thought than anything else,
Whichever bike restricted or not, it’s deifnelty goting to feel a hell of a lot different and most probably more powerful than the cbf125 I’m currently on.

Suppose it’s more of just get the test done get whatever is right at the time and come too enjoy whichever bike for what it is rather than bothering about how quick it goes through the gears or top end, it’s mainly used for commuting but do enjoy the odd weekend travel, definetly want an upright jobby though, not built for this down on your wrists stuff

[P.]

I'd rather shit in my hands and clap for eternity than purchase a GS500.

Do not buy one x 1000000

Work buddy just picked up an SV and loves it, suggest you do the same, heck you could buy anything and it'll be better than a GS500. CB500 if you must have a dull parallel twin.

[Shanerb97]

Why are they so bad? Reviews are all over the place too be honest, good to hear people’s opinions of experience with said bike though. All helps cheers!

[P.]

[arry]

I did my test on one. After I'd chucked it through the hedge the day before. The only thing I could say about them that I liked was 'they bounce well'.

[P.]

[DRZ4Hunned]

Get a FZS600 but don't fuck about restricting it. If anyone asks it is though...
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DRZ400-SM
FZS600

[Shanerb97]

Is there not some bullshit legal crap as far as documentation for restriction etc. Too many pigs about nowadays 😂

[Teflon-Mike]

The old Suzuki GS500 was a tad long in the tooth twenty years ago, and it's probably the only one of the old 500 commuter-twins that just about eeks into A2 licence regs 'as-standard'. The CB500, and the ER5 even are just over the 45bhp mark and aught to be restricted if ridden on A2.

Why the loathing? Well, most of the old commuter twins get it; the ER5 particularly, GS500 significantly, CB500 peculiarly, SV650 curiously. Big reason is merely that they were sold as 'boring' bikes out the crate; used as DAS training machines, did little to make them any more glamorous.

Bike world is then dogged by a lot of toy over transport expectation or ambition, where 'sensible' tends to come a very long way down most riders list of values than 'excitement'....

The GS500 particularly? at 170Kg actually isn't all that heavy.. just feels like it! Main gripe is the motor, that is a very old design of air-cooled motor, I believe based on Suzuki's GSX250/400 DOHC rival to the Honda Super-Dream back in the early '80's, reworked in the latter half of the decade to utilise the air/oil cooling pioneered on the air/oil cooled GSXR's of the era; For the GSX-R's, that was a bit of left-field thinking, when ideas of a water-cooled bike were that it would be too heavy and too complicated to look after, and Suzuki, the smallest of the Japanese big-4, had least R&D to develop and tool up for an all new water-cooled engine, like Honda did with the VF series or Kawasaki did with the first GPZ's, or Yamaha had done for their late-to-the-game FZ's.... oil-assist cooling the 4-cylinder GSX engines, sort of worked, to get the power gains expected to keep pace with later generation water cooled engines, and keep the weight down; at least in the bigger motors, doing it to the GSX250/400 2-pot motor, with screw & lock-nut rocker arm valves, really just didn't.

They WERE not a bad bike..... in 1995... but the design was probably a decade behind the times even then; it wasn't all that light, it wasn't all that powerful, and as an every-day commuter... it was capable, and adequate... but the old tech ideals of 'lower' maintenance weren't there, and in fact, the maintenance intervals demanding fairly regular tappet adjustment were for the era it was built, rather short... and not made any easier for DIY mechanic by that box-section, 'almost' a beam-frame, but actually a cradle frame, that gave little access to get the rocker cover off!

Learner-Bikes and commuter-bikes, tend not to fare well in the hands of Learners and or commuters; who either don't know how to, or completely resent having to, more having to pay for, maintenance.

Add to that, generally much higher mileage, 'ever-day' early-rider/commuter use, all year and in all weathers, and 'cost cutting' fit'n'finish, which Suzuki aren't renowned for to start with.... THEN put about half these things on the market 2nd hand from bike schools, where they have spent most of their lives having their clutches burned out and the bars bent dropped on the play-ground....

Few will ever have got to ride a 'better' example of one to start with, even fewer will have ever owned one, and most folks experience of them will be based on a hard worked hack, probably bodged half to death, on budget tyres, with budget chain and sprockets, warped brake disc, and side panels attached with cable ties... and likely rather rattly tappets..... unlikely to leave a favorable impression on many!

This would account for an awful lot of the loathing that gets leveled at them.... but put it in context; look at how many derogate the ER5.... with a de-tuned GPZ500 twin engine, originally hailed as 'half a ZX10, the (then) worlds fastest production motorcycle... it was in many ways probably a better bike than the GPz.... cost cutting saw that one offered with simple twin-shock rear suspension, which is a heck of a lot easier to look after than the intricate and prone to wear or seize multi-link mono-shock of the GPz; the 'de-tuned' engine, only made about 50bhp at peak over the GPz's 60, but actually had a lot more 'area-under-the-graph' power in the low and mid-range, and point-to-point on the road, could actually be quicker, the tractability meaning that power could be put to the road more often.... but it didn't have the 6K 'hump' where things seemed to wake up and get a move on... so it felt 'bland', a sensation enforced by more conservative un-sporty geometry and suspension.... BEFORE they too, got sore used and abused by learners, early-riders and daily commuters..... leaving so many examples complete dogs, few would find much enthusiasm for even if they tried!

More context; the Honda CB500; when they launched this thing, they actually gave it its own one make race series, the CB500 cup, and the lap-times belie it was no slo-poke! When that series was dropped, many were pitted against much bigger bikes like the SV650 in the 'Super-Twins' series, and despite giving away almost twenty horses, they didn't disgrace themselves..... YET people still hump at even THAT and suggest its a 'Boring' commuter bike......they don't particularly rave about the SV650 much either!

So there are LOTS of reasons to explain folks general affectation for the old GS500, even if it was a pristine example...... and that's where, you are at....

Looking for a GS500, as a first-big-bike, based on stats in the mags that say it 'just' falls inside A2 power limits without restriction...... yeah, chuck away the mags... there are probably more mag reviews of the things than bikes for sale! THEN, if you actually find one that some-one will let you take away for cash money..... it will, by now be at least twenty years old....no spring chicken... and it wasn't exactly farm fresh in the show room.... but after 20 years in the early-rider/daily commuter world..... I wouldn't NOT have high hopes that anything that might have survived that would bear much if ANY resemblance to what the magazines tested, out the show room, probably before you were born!

CONDITION IS ALL... sod what the mags said when the thing was new, it aint new no more! Its an old bike, of even older design, and how its been used and abused and looked after, will make far more odds than whether it handled a bit better or worse than an ER5 or CBR600 two and a half decades ago!

Actually, just did a quick e-bay glimpse, and rather stunned that it came up with over 2-dozen adverts for the things; except that most of them vaunt the 35Kw/A2 complience... which explains your interest and the prices! Most over £1000.. similar for the ER5 shows half the number of bikes, at half the price!

In today's world... I wouldn't have high hopes of laying my hands on a truly great example; there were a few in that lost with suggestion that they were 'mint' or 'wonderful low miles condition'.. but, they were never the mechanics favorite, and its easy to scrub up and old heap skin deep.... and even if it was truly show-room pristine, it was never a hugely sparking performer and never an enormously low maintenance bike to look after.

Most though are in the under £1200 price range... at which I'd not have too many expectations to start with. anything in that range is likely old and sore used; and when you can buy a similar age ZX6 or R6 for that kind of cash, or even a bandit or fazer, its a quagmire of the bargain basement.

Any bike in that bracket can easily fail its MOT for as little as a pair of worn out tyres and brake pads; and be deemed 'scrap' or 'Beyond Economical Repair' simply because a pair of tyres, a chain and sprocket set, brake pads, spark plugs and oil, tally up the best part of £500, over half the bikes 2nd hand value... before looking at anything that might actually need 'fixing' like manky old brake calipers, or suspension, or cracked plastics and dented tanks!

In that world of tag-end ride till they drop world of bargain basement bikes, a GS500 is probably no worse a bet than any other; you get the price down when you buy for as many obvious faults as you can, ride the thing till it breaks, and chuck it away 'Spares or Repairs'.. and hope to have got your moneys worth out of it before you do.

IF you have notions of every-day use, and washing machine like reliability, though, you will probably be disappointed, and can get into a mire, when you start doing things piece meal, and biting the bullet to buy things like new tyres, then fighting to get the tappets tickled, and then frustrated you need new brake calipers or pistons, and are loath to give up on the thing after spending 'so' much money on it...... BE WARNED, this is the old/cheap bike trap.

Buying up the market... looking at the Full-Faired GS's often marked up closer to £3K than one.... personally I just wouldn't..... they are too expensive to chuck away if they go pop, and barely any less likely too, given how easy they can be to scrub-up-skin deep...

Under the skin? They aren't too bad a bike, and for daily commuter use, they probably aren't any more risk than a similar age Bandit or Fazer, and they might have some advantage that tyres and chains should possibly last a bit longer, and you only have to buy half the spark plugs come service.... they are probably 'more' DIY maintainable.... but that's a bit of string question, and very very reletive.. and its still an old bike, to an older still design.

The Bandit/Fazer/Divvy 'Fours'? Big sigh..... you are still in the bargain-basement old bike world.

PERSONALLY I rather like the old Divvy 6.... not much... but I do have a soft spot for it! They are reputedly pretty bullet proof.... certainly the engine harks back to the days of the old air-cooled 550's when they were built like a brick out-house.... and at 'just' 60bhp, its rather like four CG125's strapped side by side, and hard pressed to make enough power to do itself much damage... as long as there's oil in it! Hefty old thing though, and not the best balanced, and again, long in the tooth, and likely to have lived in that harsh world of early-riders and daily commuters. The divvy, was also often the choice of lady-riders, and tended not to so often get ragged to death or badly binged up like the Blandit did; The Fazer? was probably the better bike, and when newer more oft the choice of a more mature and discerning owner.... but falling into the price range of over-eager DAS lads, I would be more sangine now, one was much better than a Bandit...

BUT... more cylinders means more spark plugs, means more awkward servicing, means more money; More wight means more load on brakes and suspension and tyres, means more still.

I would 'hope' to find one that was kept as a sunny-day rider and better looked after, and less hard used than a 500 twin more likely used as every-day hack... but back to CONDITION IS ALL.

Sticking restrictors up its chuff, on pretty much any of the commuter twins, bar the GS500, and all of the 'fours'... hassles finding genuine 45bhpw restrictors not old 33bhp ones, dealing with insurance companies demanding verified certificates of restriction, and haviong to jump through all the hoops of getting an approved garage to sign a letter to say they had fitted them?!?!? I don't envy envy-one on A2 licence!

And there's no good answer to it. IF you have the money to buy up the market, and even look at £3K GS's.... you have the money to go look at much newer CBR250's or 300 Ninjas and things, and not have the hassle with the insurance companies.

Its tempting to say that I would probably sit it out for 2 years on my A1 125.... they are still often as fast as anything else is legally allowed to go in this country, and they are reasonably 'cheap'..... in 2-years you can go test over to get the A2 restrictions lifted and get the RWYL A and not have any of the hoops to jump through, and an extra couple of No-Claims-Discounts for when you do.....

Realistically though, if I was 19-21, I know I wouldn't have the patience and I would want as much as I could get.... but jumping through them hoops would be the price I had to pay!

But... no easy answer to that.. or what to buy, and with so many bikes on the market, so few of them A2 compliant, and so many made awkward by the restrictor issue, the biggie is MONEY... as old grey-beard told me a long long time ago; there's few things in life that cant be solved by the expedience of chucking large quantities of cash at the matter.... means that the only 'real' problem in life is getting your hands on large quantities of cash, to solve all your other problems.... So the 'easy' answer is to up the stakes and go buy a new Kawasaki 300 Ninja or similar...

Its how you choose to cut up the compromise; and if you look at the old bike market....CONDITION IS ALL... sod what the specs on google say, sod what the reviewers said when it was new, even sod what the man sticks in the advert for the one you actually go look for! Its whats in the metal infront of you that matters..... Pays your money and takes your chances.....

And THAT is the bottom line.... how much money you have to pay, and how them chances fall when the die is cast.

Don't sweat the small stuff... and GS500? Just ONE of many many bikes you could get for your money, with or without restrictors, in a world where there ARE going to be hassles, of which these A2 hoops are just a few!
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[arry]

[P.]

I don't think the police are going to be too bothered as long as you aren't doing 90+

I never rode with a restriction, didn't get anything.

[stevo as b4]

Oh god fucking help me! I agree almost completely with the first few paragraphs of Tef.

Trevor, you saying how shit a bike the GS500E is and with due cause to its finish and level of build quality is one thing. But implying that you were just as bad by having a CB500 is a bit of a piss poor paint everything with the same brush job.
As is Paddy saying the CB is dull as fuck and shit too. Show me an A2 compliant bike he'd have a wank over then?

Then TM saying they all make 45bhp. Do you want to state when and where they make this convenient 45bhp, and throw a few rwbhp and manufacturer's claimed figures into the mix in the same bike comparison discussion. Carry on doing that sort of thing and you'll get the editors job at MCN or Bike by next week.

The CB and ER5 and slightly more so the GPZ and SV650S arent bad bikes at all. But they all look a bit meh and you wouldn't get a bulge or wet panties over any of them.

Some ride far better than they look, and some handle better than you'd expect or have a chassis thats way more capable than the engine. Some look all sporty and a bit flash, but are let down by budget finish and Bandit levels of componentry spec at best.

I've never ridden a restricted Hornet or Fazer or TDM etc etc, but I'd never recommend a bike that isn't as a minimum going to be used in its OEM factory spec or better. I'll never get how a 47bhp 190kg 600 will be better than a 500-650cc under 175kg twin. I'll never also get why IL2 engines are supposedly a total worthless bag of shit compared to any V-twin. You V lovers are you just hard for 90degree V-twins or would a 60degree or 72degree one have a chance of giving you a semi too?
How many people on BCF say (fuck those tasty RSV1000R's, total horse shit mate, if it's not a 996/998 or a Honda SP1 it'll suck and be useless to all of mankind?

[P.]

I dislike some V's too if that helps. I dislike the underpowered 650 lump on the road, it runs out of puff too quick. I also dislike the TL lump, I reckon its probably changed a little in the SV1000 but it just felt like it had more to give but not enough revs to give it.

I liked the KTM 990 SD engine... that thing was great.

The simple fact is GS500s are unreliable dirty sacks of shit.

The CB500 is dull as shit, but I'd consider it a reliable workhorse.

An A2 compliant bike he'd wank over... EASY!!

https://www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk/motorcycles/roadsters/street-triple/street-triple-s-a2-licence

GPZ and ER, I'd probably put just below the CB but above the GS.

[chickenstrip]

[arry]

[Rogerborg]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[Rogerborg]

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

lol probably true

it is meant to be a really soft tune though - I rode one once and it was more of a put-put-put oh look I'm riding up a sheer cliff face...at two miles an hour kind of vibe. As opposed to nothing nothing nothing power band red line let slip the dogs of war aaarrgghh there goes my underwear.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[redeem ouzzer]

The GS is shit. The only thing in it's favour is that better front and rear ends are easy to fit.
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