Suzuki should have never removed the fairings from the GS500.  When I started writing this post I was going to say I liked the looks of the Suzuki GS500 better than the Honda GS650.  However, yesterday I made some time to ride down some back roads of Southwest-lower Michigan and stumbled upon a Suzuki dealer. On the show floor sat a new GS500F.  The GS500 with fairings looked so much more complete that I wondered why they took them off.  I think the real problem I’m seeing is that this naked bike was designed to have fairings.  Suzuki decided to enter the naked market on the cheap without re-designing the bike.  When the fairings are removed an ugly frame designed to be hidden, is reveled.  What Suzuki and others should have done is design a new bike from ground up with frames and engines that complement each other.

The one up shot of the GS500 is the engine is a focal point.  When designing a bike it is important that there be some type of focal point and the engine is a safe place to draw peoples attention.