| Author | Message | ||
     Mmoore4545 |
Hello all, I've been creeping on the forum for a while now, recently sold my old '72 Honda CB350four and have been considering buying a Blast, although they're quite rare in Northern Florida. Recently a 2005 came up at a dealership an hour out of town for 2k. 7800miles, new tires, "all maintenance" done, in black. Was going to make a trip to pick it up and was contacted by a friend whose neighbor is selling a 2004 GS500F (with all of the E/naked hardware included) 700miles, with the 600mile major break in service finished for 2,500 bucks. I need/want a light nimble bike to head to commute to school (I often ride in the cold/rain/etc) and weekly drive 200-250mi round trip down a 65-70mph highway with a brief jaunt down an interstate. Also I'd like to not deal with 40 years of Previous owner neglect like I did with the Honda, but I suspect that won't be too much of a problem with either of these bikes, and I know the Blast wins hands down in terms of maintenance, but I'm not afraid to turn a wrench by any means. I'll be throwing my leg over both of these bikes tomorrow. Anyone have experience with both of the bikes? I've read reviews for both and if it is a non-buell board the blast gets ragged on quite a bit for anything. Thanks in Advance. Marc | ||
| Froggy |
I had a 04 GS500F a few years ago, and I currently own a 03 Blast. You can't go wrong with either bike, both are dead nuts reliable. The Suzuki has an adjustable suspension, while the Blast does not. Both bikes ride great, get great fuel economy, light weight, and are comfortable. Maintenance is a pain on the Suzuki, and a breeze on the Blast. Changing the oil on the Suzuki is hard to do without removing the fairings, while the Blast you can have the entire oil changed in the time it would take to get the oil filter cover off the Suzuki. Day to day riding, the Blast has more low end power to make getting off the line and putting around town easier, but being a thumper it will shake your fillings out at idle. Due to cheap design, it lacks a clutch friction zone, it pretty much is on and off, but you get used it to. The gearbox is nicer on the Suzuki for sure. I found it harder to get parts for my Suzuki than my Blast. I got in an accident, needed replacement forks, it took 2 months for them to come in. The Blast shares many parts with other Buell models, so most parts can be obtained at any Buell dealer in a few days if they aren't in stock. The crash reminded me of another thing, the Blast is naked and will take a lot of damage well. My Suzuki fell off the center stand and ruined the side and front fairing, broke a mirror, turn signal, bent the handlebar, and scraped up the muffler. I ride my Blast in the snow and on ice, so far the rear right turn signal and left mirror are the only damage it has sustained in 7 drops. Ride both of them and see which you like better. They both are great bikes. | ||
| Mmoore4545 |
Froggy, Thanks for the reply, I plan on riding both. As far as engine vibration goes I don't mind. The gs500 comes with both the fairing/headlight and the naked equipment, guy says it takes around 20 mins to go from naked to faired or vice versa. Swapping it all out, since he preferred the naked bike. Why do you say the suzuki is a pain to maintain? How does the blast feel riding or overtaking on two lane highways? Or on the interstate? | ||
| Froggy |
He must of been good at it, I never figured out how to get any of them off or on without taking up an afternoon.
Chain drive, valve adjustments, and pain in the ass oil changes that make a mess. The Blast wins here by a long shot.
The Blast is fine on the highway, it starts to run out of steam around 75-80mph, while the Suzuki clearly has a better top end. Acceleration on both bikes is good, I'd say it is comparable to modern run of the mill 4 cylinder family sedans. (Message edited by froggy on July 05, 2011) | ||
| Mmoore4545 |
Fair enough on the suzuki comments. Ill take them into consideration, I may just leave the bike naked unless im going on a long trip or something. Valve adjustments/chain oiling is slightly trivial for me, my roommates ride, one a scooter and one an old kz kawasaki. I do their maintenance, im coming from a old Honda with decades of disrespect, so im thinking both bikes will be lightyears away from what im used to. However the almost no maintenance sounds pretty awesome though. Why did you pick the blast after the gs? Was it the parts availability? | ||
| Froggy |
It was a bit of an accident. I was helping a friend get back into riding, we found one on craigslist dirt cheap because it wasn't running right. We made an appointment to check it out that weekend, then the day before my friend got t-boned in his car, so he had more important things to worry about. The next day I went anyway to check out the bike, and ended up buying it on the spot. The guy let it sit for a few years in the back of his shed, so the gas was probably older than the bike itself. It ran like crap, but $700 later I was riding the new to me Blast home. Gave her fresh gas and an Italian tuneup, and now it runs good as new. I just couldn't pass the bike up, even though I had no use for it. I ended up using it as a daily beater bike to save on the expensive tires and gas that my bigger bikes use. Insurance is so cheap that it actually is free after my multi bike discount, so it pretty much is a no-brainer for me to own. Also, it shares oil filters and other similar parts with my Buell XB12, so I already had some spare parts for it on the shelf. | ||
| Mmoore4545 |
I've checked then both out. The buell is a way better fit, but there were some problems with it that I wanted to tackle nor was I sure they were normal for a blast. The bike started cold roughly, died, and started again then idled fine.. varnish on the carb from a gas lean that had been "fixed" Oil was pitch black, but there was plenty of it. it had been dropped, shifter was bent, had new turn signals on all corners, and the paint was a little beat up, not too badly. Also how much rust do these bikes normally have? Most of the bolts were rusty, brake banjo bolts, horn especially. also the front engine isolator/bushing was starting to tear. Basically had a "not this again" feeling in regards to my old Honda, plus the dealer insisted 2 grand for the bike. the gs was as advertised, 2500 for a brand new (essentially) bike | ||
| Froggy |
The bike has an autochoke, and the cold starting is difficult to predict if the autochoke is malfunctioning. It may be related to bad gas from sitting too Oil is quick and easy to change, I wouldn't sweat it. The bike probably didn't have the best of care. There is no paint on the bike, all the bodywork is plastic with the colors molded in, so you can easily buff it back to showroom new. The frame and similar are powdercoated, not much you can do for them without touchup paints. The coating will come off near the footpegs from boots rubbing on the peg mounts. I wouldn't worry about it having new signals, they are designed to break off easy so odds are this was a learner bike for someone who was balance impaired. The Blast is used in the Harley Davidson Riders Edge class, so if this was a former RE bike, its pretty much guaranteed that it hit the pavement a few times. The things do rust a bit due to cheap fasteners, and the steel muffler will begin to look like crap the first time you ride in the rain. Being that I ride my bikes year round including winter, the road salt and everything else takes its toll. My bigger bikes have some corrosion on the exhausts too, but for the most part the fasteners are fine. The Blast was penny pinched by Harley so it is more likely to turn ugly, but I'm yet to have any issues related to rust and corrosion. $2k for that bike? Not a chance. Spend your money elsewhere! | ||
| Mmoore4545 |
Froggy, Thanks for the reply, I also noticed a rather huge gap between the tank and seat, but this was the first blast Ive ever sat on. If someone sold a" bolt" kit similar to the ones for many vintage hondas id be less hesitant and just spend a night replacing fasteners, though there were some very ugly ones on the engine case itself. Road salt isn't an issue, im in florida, 90% of the populus isn't familiar with snow. Im not that worried with the paint, ill keep looking around, someone is looking at the suzuki this afternoon, if they don't pick it up I may have to snag it up, 700miles for 2500 doesn't roll around too often. | ||
| Mmoore4545 |
found a blast just outside of town, 2001 4k miles canary yellow, a little wear on the rear tire and it needs new signals, the seller said they dry rotted off? has the "low" seat (which will probably have to go) but no damage, stored inside it's entire life. seller wants 1,400 for it. The seller of the Gs500 is having a hard time selling his bike so he recently said he'd take ~2,000 (read 2200) for it. |
