Buying new

hmm, maybe check ebay or partsfish.com for prices on fairings. not cheap though, probably around $700-1000 for left and right side full fairings.

buying a used bike, especially one with some minor cosmetic damage, you'll be less inclined to want to fix a cracked or rashed fairing or engine cover right away if you drop the bike or go down. I speak from experience. :leghump

and unless you've ridden one for an extended amount of time, you can't really speak from 'experience' that the GS500 is really the bike YOU wanna keep for while. so if you decide that YOU hate the bike after 6 months (I doubt it but it happens) or you just gotta have the gixxer or R6 or other supersport, you'll stand to lose some money getting rid of the GS500. buying used, I bet you could get almost all your money back (if not more) when you decide you're ready to "upgrade."

I bought mine new, but it doesn't have full farings like the gs500 does. That was actually one of the reasons I chose it-as I knew that it will go down sooner or later... and it did, the same day it got delivered.

well, id recommend you ride/drop it for a year before replacing the fairings. JIC you drop ot 2X in that 1st year. that will also let the used parts inventory grow.

Either new or used.....MCN did a comparision of the EX500 and the GS500. Granted the GS500 looks better, but in most every other category...the EX500 was judged better.

Also the routine maintanence costs were about double for the GS500 compared to the EX500. One thing I remember is the valve inspection / adjustment interval was something like 3600 miles for the GS500. I think the EX500 was something like 8k to 12k.

Hope this helps....Peace

I would also highly recommend finding something cheap and used as your first scoot. That what you'll probably have the cash after you sell it to try something different/b*****/better if the fancy suits you after you get your wheels under you.

M.

Ryder, i'm in the same situation as you....I honestly like the looks of the GS500F a LOT better, enough so to continue consideration even though the Ninja 500r trounces it in almost every category (except braking I believe). I sometimes think that even the 250r looks better than the 500r....I know these things are beginner bikes, but whats the harm in looking good?

not a fan at all of how the ninja looks but whatever, its about the ride not the look...just have always been a bit of a suzuki fan...dont really care really...i think what i should do is get the gs500f and take off the fairings...ride it...and ride it, lay it down whatever, then when im confident enough put them back on?.....as well i sat on a SV650s today, they seem to be a bit b*****...and since im not small at all (6'4-5 200lbs) it seemed to be a better fit....any arguements other than engine size?