Rocking between the Fringes of the North Cascades National Park and Mount Baker National Forest, on my new bike; the Suzuki GS500F. Given that this trip was basically the shake down cruise for my new bike, with the break in for the engine and getting to know the characteristics of power and handling, I was in my element. Soaking in the stunning scenery; Mount Baker putting on a show in the gleaming sun light as I skirted the western side of Mount Baker National Park, the rim of the North Cascades National Park was no slouch either on visuals, with breathtaking jagged peaks and the road weaving between the river and old homesteads with open meadows.While this trip may have been to break in the bike, I found myself getting broken in as well. Due to starting on the Honda Rebel I found that the riding stance that I am used to puts a great deal of strain on my wrists not to mention the lean towards a more aggressive riding stance compared to the Rebel. This coupled with trying to learn the leaning and turning tolerance of the bike made for quite a sore body afterwards.
The six speed transmission for the GS500F shifts smoothly and is a nice upgrade compared to the five speed Rebel, I found that at the final shift down from 2nd to 1st - there is a slight shudder as gears grind - if you are too gentile in changing. I can not speak for the power for now as I am trying to stay under 5500 rpm as much as possible during the break in period that coupled with my tendency to ride in a higher gear than normal - usually results in less pull from the engine until I shift down. However that tendency has resulted in a little more than 62 mpg after the first major fuel up and that is even during the break in period before max efficiency. Nice. That gets me to one of the things I did appreciate, the 20L or 5.3 gallon gas tank couple that with ~60 mpg - I can get over 300 miles on a tank! After being used to the 2.7 on the Rebel, the nearly double volume with that extra 2.6 gallons is amazing. The brakes work well enough, a little squeaky although it may be a little dirty so a nice cleaning should take care of that, time will tell how good they are as I get more chances to use them. Things that I would change/add, to personalize my bike include some luggage storage, I may put in risers for the bars to get a better seating and feel, and maybe get a gel seat as well, again time will tell, but I can say this bike make a good first impression and it is growing on me.
