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Surprise! My daughter changed her mind after telling me she wanted to learn how to ride.
I bought this for next to nothing and resuscitated it. Fluids, filter, and brakes are all new. I replaced a bunch of rusted bolts and crappy tubing, and threw in fork seals so the fork oil won’t ruin your jacket when you hit a bump. The tank is surprisingly good inside.
You know the GS500: It’s a simple, indestructible Japanese twin. Zombie apocalypse? Jump on this thing and ride off. It won’t break. It can’t break – there’s nothing there to break. It’s an air-cooled, carbureted twin. Traction control? Anti-lock brakes? Wrong century, Fredo. Parts? Everybody’s got them, and you won’t have to take out a loan to afford them.
Handsome? Hardly. Chips and scratches? It’s a 30 year-old bike - those are battle scars from everyone who learned to ride on the thing.
Fun? It’s more fun than my ZX1000. (Want to buy that? Let’s talk. I hate that thing.) The first time I took this bike out I went for gas and came back two hours later grinning like my first track day. It makes me giggle. I’ve got short legs and I can reach the ground flat-footed and legs still bent. The bars won’t make you look like Mark Marquez, either. More like Peter Fonda, but he’s dead. Still.
What does it need? Chain and sprockets. They’ll probably last forever, but they really ought to be changed. The battery is probably as old as that fuzzy green stuff in the back of your fridge. I just put it on a tender every so often. Tires? Same as the chain. Flintstone vintage, and probably will never wear out.
Let me know when you want to see it.
Edit: I forgot - the little plastic trim piece that sits above the taillight is missing.
Edit edit: The mirrors are new, too.
Even more edit: Title in hand.