Okay, so, I’ve been wanting to do some work on my bike for a while now, and I finally got around to it. I’ve got this Suzuki GS500F, a 2005 model, and I’ve been itching to customize it. Nothing too crazy, just wanted to make it my own, you know?
First off, I took a look around to get some ideas. Seemed like a lot of people were doing cafe racer builds with these bikes. Looked pretty cool, so I thought, “Why not give it a shot?” But I didn’t want to go full-on cafe racer. I wanted something a bit different.
I started by taking off the rear passenger pegs. I never ride with anyone on the back, so they were just taking up space. This was a super easy mod. I just found some washers that fit and jammed them in there to hold the pegs in place. It worked out, and it looks much cleaner now.
Next, I wanted to do something about the fairings. I considered removing them altogether. Turns out, the GS500E is basically the same bike without the fairings. So I figured I could just grab the brackets and parts from that model, and it should all bolt right up. It sounded like a plan, but I ended up changing my mind.
I stripped down my old ’89 GS500E I had lying around. It was basically just a frame and a bunch of junk, but I thought I could use some of the parts. I started comparing things, and it looked like I could make it work. But I just didn’t feel like going through all that trouble.
Then someone suggested I look into getting a new exhaust, that is good for performance and would make the bike sound better, maybe even louder. I liked the idea, but I also wanted to keep things somewhat simple.
I remembered seeing a post somewhere about someone who had done a few simple mods to their GS500F, and it looked really good. They said they did it all for under 65 bucks. That got me thinking. Maybe I didn’t need to do anything too drastic.
I noticed my sprockets were looking pretty worn, so I decided to replace those first. I ordered some new ones online. This wasn’t really a “custom” thing, more like maintenance, but it needed to be done.
While I was waiting for the sprockets, I decided to just take off the seat and lift up the tank. Super easy, no tools needed. Took me like 5 minutes, and it made a huge difference in how the bike looked. It gave it a more stripped-down, aggressive look, which I liked.
So, for now, that’s where I’m at. New sprockets are on the way. I might still do something with the exhaust later, and I’m still playing with the idea of removing the fairings or maybe just trimming them down a bit. We’ll see. But for now, I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out. It’s nothing major, but it’s mine, and that’s what matters.
I am not quite sure what will be next, but I will keep you guys posted.
