High mileage suzuki?

Message

jmillheiser · Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:52 pm

40k isn't excessive mileage for a GS500. Start it up and hear it run, if it starts easily and runs smooth it was probably taken care of. Check the condition of the hoses, rubber parts, etc.

Suzukis are amazingly reliable bikes. My second bike was a 96 bandit 600 that was the first bike of its two prior owners (you could tell it had been dropped plenty of times). I ended up having to sink a fair bit of money into it when I first got it (had to replace chain/sprockets, and tires right off the bat, but considering I only had to replace normal wear items that isn't a bad thing). It had about 10k miles on it when I got it. I put 12k miles on it in one riding season and never had any problems with it (I commuted on it every day and often rode 300+ miles every weekend).

Helmet wise. Stick with reputable brands, get the best fitting helmet that carries at least a DOT certification. A well fitting helmet will protect you better than an ill fitting helmet and will be more comfortable to boot. My first helmet fit adequetely (it stayed in place and was tolerable to wear) but wasn't the most comfortable and was noisy. My current helmet is vastly more comfortable, fits even better (I have a special fit consideration as I wear glasses and need them to fit under my helmet, my current helmet keeps my glasses right where they need to be), and is much quieter too. All my helmets have carried both DOT and SNELL certs.

jmillheiser · Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:54 pm

Dont buy a helmet sight unseen. Go around to different shops and try on lots of different helmets and get the one that fits you the best.

mrchristian · Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:13 pm

Sounds good...the reason I figured i'd be alright to buy online is because while shopping for helmets I tried on several in my price range and all the Large sized ones more or less felt comfortable. One of the five that I tried clearly felt a little 'off' (put a little pressure on my temples) but the rest I couldn't really distinguish. The salesmen let me try on a $500 helmet for kicks and the materials felt noticeably higher in quality, but wasn't any more comfortably. Maybe I just need to keep trying on more.

CyclePro has very nice and helpful salespeople, BTW.

Checked out boots at another place (not cyclepro) and they were out of my size in not-crazy-looking-MX-Xtreme styles. Anybody have any recommendations for the MSF course? I have gloves (downhill mountain biking) but they aren't leather. Is this going to be a problem?