Front end compatibility?

[Suzukfan78]

Hello everyone. Im converting my 78 GS1000 front end to a Katana setup. I know a 1100 katana frontend years 1989 to 1995 is pretty much a direct bolt on and doesnt affect ride height much. Do you know if the 600 and 750 katana of the same years has the same front forks as the 1100? Heres a pic of the doner bike. Will this work for my 78 GS1000?

 

[LeeGS550E]

Hey Paul,
For what its worth, the front end on my bike is from a 750 or 600 as far as I know, and it bolted right up. What size Katana is it that your front end is coming off of?

BTW, how was the roadtrip? You must have survived...

 

[saffa]

easiest way to do it would be to have the stems pressed out of both yokes and then press the gs 1000 stem back into the 1100 teapot yoke ( lets face it , its not a real katana is it :-D )

 

[Suzukfan78]

The trip was great. And my van handled it very well. We went to yellowstone, lewis and clark caverns, a bear zoo, and the old montana state prison. It was a blast. Im trying to get more model/year info as we speak. I really like your front end setup lee; and Im planning on a conversion soon.

 

[pan]

You cant do a stem swap as its welded into the bottom yoke on the "katana" but I did this conversion on my old GSS1000 using a GSX600F front end, just cut the steering stops off your frame and it slips right in ;-) the springs are too soft though :-( but you can get around this.

Mark...

 

[Suzukfan78]

Thanks, that makes me feel better. Wow those brakes look a lot better than stock 78 gs1000 units.

 

[LeeGS550E]

the springs are too soft though :-(

I agree with Pan. The stock setup for the GSX is too soft. Kevin and I are going to rebuild our Kat front ends at the same time with progressives and new oil...should make a world of difference. I've finally decided that my soft front end is why my bike feels goofy in the corners...soft front end combined with super stiff rear end.

Maybe if you get your front end, Paul, you can piggyback on the rebuilding we work out.

 

[ArttuH]

I had a GSX600F front end on GS1100 too. I used progressive springs for 750F, which are slightly longer, to get more preload. In addition I used thicker 15W oil to match damping to stiffer springs. The result was pretty good, definitely stiff enough but I had a feeling that a bit more damping would have been better.

 

[pan]

I had a one of set of springs made, dont even think about asking how much!! ;-)

 

[Suzukfan78]

Ok the doner bike is a 96' Katana 600. From all the previous post Im thinking it will be a snap to convert. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[motocycle shawn]

front end

front end

if i can put a zx600d front end on my 81gs750e im sure your swap will be eazy..