1980 GS1100e Front end swap

[80GS1000]

My numbers look like this:

24 Fork Angle (Castor) in degrees
3.94 Trail in inches
54.42 Rear axle centerline to centerline top of fork tubes, inches
59.5 Rear axle centerline to front axle centerline, inches
39.16 Top of fork tube centerline to ground, inches

I set it up so that it's pretty conservative (not much choice with such a long wheelbase), but so I can shorten the dogbones to steepen the rake and shorten the wheelbase a bit if need be.

Not sure what static & loaded sag are yet - had to quit working on it right after welding in the crosspiece... will try to measure today.

Sounds pretty good, your bike is going to feel much lighter and drop into corners much easier. 24 degrees up front is still pretty steep (a brand new GSXR 1000 is 23.5 degrees) and may be a bit twitchy compared to stock - any plans on fitting a steering stabilizer to help get rid of potential (hopefully this'll never happen) head shakes/tank slappers?

Also curious what your forward/rear weight distribution is - the shorter forks should get the weight forward a bit which is a good thing.

 

[johnnay]

I do have a steering stabilizer. The interesting thing would have been to measure the geometry with just the front end swap alone, before the monoshock conversion - I rode it that way last summer, and it did turn in quicker. It also felt a little "twitchy", but no shakes or wobbles. I may ride it without the stabilizer to see, and then fit it if necessary (hopefully I won't find out the hard way...!:shock: )

Still lots to do before it's rideable, though..

 

[johnnay]

finally took a pic and found a minute to upload it - this is how the bike sits now - just have to buy a chain, put it back together and make a new wiring harness (oh, is that all...!).

Of course, a seat would be nice, too..!

Any suggestions on where to buy chain in Canada, or that will ship here? I had an Ebay vendor refuse to ship me one because the weight meant it wouldn't have a tracking #. I told him I didn't care, but he still wouldn't do it - bummer.

I was looking at a black EK 530 MVXZ x-ring chain - any opinions?

 

[80GS1000]

Right on Johnnay, looking SWEEET! Did you chop the rear subframe too? Is your monoshock conversion all done now?

I bought my EK X-ring chain from http://sumofallparts.net/product_results.aspx?category_guid=0cda27f7-5ac5-439f-ac55-fc1e5d0b2256

Great customer service and prices. 120 links should be plenty, it's looking like my bike will need about 118 links using 520 chain.

 

[johnnay]

yes, subframe was chopped and angled up slightly..

thanks for the site - I'll check it out.