GS1000 streetfighter idea w/ picture

[80GS1000]

Ain't nothing but a thing without titanium bling...

Hope you guys don't mind a "blog" style post, had some cool stuff happen today and thought I'd share. :-D

Hoping this'll help someone else if they have to go through this type of injury - it gets better with time. : )

So back in August of 08 I had a bad highside at the track on my GSXR due to a mechanical failure, leading to a rather severe clavicle (collarbone) fracture. Ended my racing season, yada yada yada.

The bone wound up looking like this: (not my pic but looks about the same as mine was)



Had to have 7 screws and a titanium plate installed by an orthopedic surgeon to stabilize the bone while it healed. Then 6 weeks of recovery, physical therapy etc. Was not fun by any means.

After the surgical repair it looked like this, not my pic but looks pretty much identical to my x-rays:



The plate was also painful in the mean time as the screws and plate were constantly poking and scratching me under the skin.

So today was the day to get the hardware removed. The surgery was quick and only took about 45 minutes under general anesthesia. The recovery so far is surprisingly painless - no pain meds needed at all.

Here's the plate and screws removed. The doc let me keep the hardware.

I plan on using the Ti plate as an exhaust hanger on the GS.

Six weeks and counting and I'm back on two wheels. :-)

[NorCalSuperF]

That's over the top! Even if it doesn't work out as your exhaust hanger you have to mount that thing on the bike someplace just for good mojo!

NorCalSuperF

[isleoman]

Hope you guys don't mind a "blog" style post, had some cool stuff happen today and thought I'd share. :-D

Hoping this'll help someone else if they have to go through this type of injury - it gets better with time. : )

So back in August of 08 I had a bad highside at the track on my GSXR due to a mechanical failure, leading to a rather severe clavicle (collarbone) fracture. Ended my racing season, yada yada yada.

The bone wound up looking like this: (not my pic but looks about the same as mine was)



Had to have 7 screws and a titanium plate installed by an orthopedic surgeon to stabilize the bone while it healed. Then 6 weeks of recovery, physical therapy etc. Was not fun by any means.

After the surgical repair it looked like this, not my pic but looks pretty much identical to my x-rays:



The plate was also painful in the mean time as the screws and plate were constantly poking and scratching me under the skin.

So today was the day to get the hardware removed. The surgery was quick and only took about 45 minutes under general anesthesia. The recovery so far is surprisingly painless - no pain meds needed at all.

Here's the plate and screws removed. The doc let me keep the hardware.

I plan on using the Ti plate as an exhaust hanger on the GS.

Six weeks and counting and I'm back on two wheels. :-)

80 GS1000 Glad your all recovered. Hope you don't mind another war story

Made a key chain out of my stainless plates from a broken arm. Serves as a reminder to never give up when you start to loose it on a bike. I know what you mean about having the plates and screws just under the surface. My arm was in a cast for a year. Had the plates removed and had to wear another cast for another three months.

I was 18 at the time and wanted those plates badly, so I asked the doctor and the head nurse politely before the start of the operation. When I finally came too in recovery the 60 year old nurse was leaning over me with my plates in a plastic bottle rattling them a few inches from my nose. She said here's your fricking plates!! That's all you been saying while you were unconscious through out the operation and in recovery. Guess I wanted those plates. Still have em.

[80GS1000]

80 GS1000 Glad your all recovered. Hope you don't mind another war story

Made a key chain out of my stainless plates from a broken arm. Serves as a reminder to never give up when you start to loose it on a bike. I know what you mean about having the plates and screws just under the surface. My arm was in a cast for a year. Had the plates removed and had to wear another cast for another three months.

I was 18 at the time and wanted those plates badly, so I asked the doctor and the head nurse politely before the start of the operation. When I finally came too in recovery the 60 year old nurse was leaning over me with my plates in a plastic bottle rattling them a few inches from my nose. She said here's your fricking plates!! That's all you been saying while you were unconscious through out the operation and in recovery. Guess I wanted those plates. Still have em.

Agreed, I'm keeping the plate as a reminder to be careful out there. Don't want to go through this particular experience again. Might make it into a bike part as a reminder when on the bike of what can happen when asphalt meets shoulder at 55 MPH.

Today it feels great to no longer have that painful hardware installed.

[Bad Kaw]

Mind?!!! Inspired! Drive on, man! Makes the little crap that keeps me from getting on my projects seem trivial.

[patrickmcp]

Hello 80GS1000, I have an 82 GS1100E that I am doing the same mods to except I have an 95 GSXR1100 front end and a 2005 GSXR1000 swingarm. Did you get the swingarm spacer in the middle machined as well? I have my new swingarm pivot spacers made already and would like to know basically the steps for figuring out the correct location to weld the upper shock mount on the frame. Did you first set the head angle then go from there.......I've seen the suspension geometry links you have provided but what I'm looking for is what steps in what order. I believe you start to get into it on pg 28. Sounds like I need to put the engine back on to get the numbers right? Could you possibly share you're measurements and specifications for the monoshock mounts.

Any information would be helpful.
I did notice several others have done the same thing and ANY assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[80GS1000]

Hello 80GS1000, I have an 82 GS1100E that I am doing the same mods to except I have an 95 GSXR1100 front end and a 2005 GSXR1000 swingarm. Did you get the swingarm spacer in the middle machined as well? I have my new swingarm pivot spacers made already and would like to know basically the steps for figuring out the correct location to weld the upper shock mount on the frame. Did you first set the head angle then go from there.......I've seen the suspension geometry links you have provided but what I'm looking for is what steps in what order. I believe you start to get into it on pg 28. Sounds like I need to put the engine back on to get the numbers right? Could you possibly share you're measurements and specifications for the monoshock mounts.

Any information would be helpful.
I did notice several others have done the same thing and ANY assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

First off, cool bike! The mods you have planned will be a great improvement for turning and stopping.

So, to answer your questions...

Swingarm spacer in the middle is not machined. The trick with the swingarm pivot spacers is to make sure that they allow for the swingarm bearings to work properly. You want the rotation to be in the bearing, not the pivot bolt to rub on the pivot spacer to prevent galling. When you assemble everything, grease up the pivot bolt and the swingarm bearings well.

What material did you have your spacers made from?

What size rear wheel are you using?

These steps worked for me to determine the correct placement for the shock mounts*:

1. Go find a 2005/2006 GSXR 1000 and take lots of pics and measurements of the swingarm angle, the linkage angles, chain clearance above/below the swingarm, and the shock angle. A dealership with a used bike is ideal for this unless you have a friend with one. The idea here is that we're copying Suzuki's ideal configuration for that set of rear suspension components.

2. Put your motor back in the frame. I know this is a pain but checking chain clearance is very hard with an absent motor. Hate to tack all those mounts in and then find out the chain clearance is all wrong.

3. Slap a magnetic based inclinometer (under $20 at Home Depot) onto the headstock to measure the rake angle. Put bike on a motorcycle jack like the one you have, jack up the rear till the headstock is 24.5 degrees of rake.

4. With the bike up on the motorcycle jack, adjust the rear suspension components (swingarm, linkage, and shock) until they are at the specifications you reverse-engineered in step 1. Check for chain and ground clearance once you have it mocked up where you think it needs to be. Once you have all the factors dialed in, this tells you where in space your monoshock mounts need to be. Precision, precision, precision.

5. Build your mono mounts and weld them to the frame based off the spec you determined in step 4. Take design hints from existing GSXRs - those engineers know what they're doing. Also see YoshiJohnny's new thread on OSS. Check, then tack. Check again after tacking before welding it in solid.

6. Brace the frame. The X shaped bracing and the tube in the V of the bottom of the subframe is highly recommended to manage the new forces introduced into the middle of the frame.

I'm probably forgetting something so if you have questions, shoot.

*Remember this is all at your own risk/discretion and if you don't trust your welding/fabrication/engineering skills with your life (seriously!) farm out the work to a pro or just buy a stock monoshocked bike*

[tone]

Hi guys i'm a little confused about the comments on machining the swingarm centre spacer imo all you need to do there is either sleeve it to the size of the spindle you are using or replace it with one of the correct length that fits the spindle

cheers tone

[patrickmcp]

Thanks for replying guys.

The swingarm bushings were made from 440 stainless, just like yours. What I was asking about is the 5 inch spacer sandwiched between the bushings that has an inner diameter of 20mm(I'm @ work n guessin here.) Since is is still getting sandwich I will have to assume its ok.

I'm using a 5.5' wide GSXR 750 wheel.

I'm using a digital inclinometer.

I'm building the mounts similar to YoshiJohnny's.

I will be bracing the frame, the 4 @ the head tube, 2 under the big curves between the tank and the seat, X brace and the tubes in the V on the sides. I'm bracing this area between the seat and the tank in case I decide to later redo the seat rails to something more recent in styling, more street fighter minimalist like.

Thanks for the information. I am sure i'll have some more questions when it comes down to the chain issue. I have the same sprocket as you from Randy @ AP, the DID Erv 520 chain, only difference which may be an issue is that I have a sprox sprocket in the back like jwhelan65 has.

BTW, what did you do for steering stops? any pics?

Hey Tone, what are you riding these days?

[LilTinc]

What frame mods GSXR swing arm into to the frame?
I've got an '81 GS750E frame and a 6" straight spoke wheel (I think off a '03 GSXR600).

SRAD 750 fork tubes leaning in the corner.

[jwhelan65]

Rear Sets

Super looking build! Have you started a thread? Would be very helpful as your build progresses and besides all us GS freaks want to see your handy work! One thing I might suggest is replacing the old stock heavy foot rests with later model rear sets. I have patterns for the alluminum plates for your bike (82 1100E) that you can mount any rear sets you would like to. You will just need to mount the helicoils in the right positions. It knocks about 4lbs of dead weight off your build and in my opinion really adds to the over all look of your build. Love the bike man!!




The pic below is Isleoman's build. I used his rear set plate measurements and that them saved at a machine shop. If you decide to do it I can get them fabbed up pretty quick.


sorry for the hijack PJ....

[patrickmcp]

Hey PJ, I was gonna make my own out of 1/4" 6061 aluminum, but hey shoot me PM about the details. Thanks

I may start a thread if I have time, PITA to get enough time right now to do anything.

I would like to get it on the street by May 1st.

[patrickmcp]

So PJ, the mounting holes for the foot brackets didn't change from 1980-1983?

I've got 08 GSXR 1000 rearsets.

PM sent!

[patrickmcp]

Could someone who has a GSXR 1000 2005-6 rearend, please do me a favor and measure in millimeters the distance from eye to eye on their rear suspension linkage. I forgot I had picked up Vortex lowering links when I Ebayed and it's kind of tough figuring out the weld in shock mount position.

Thanks in advance.

[jwhelan65]

PJ,

Has anyone done or given any thought to using the bandit swingarm and the stock mono set up on a conversion? I see alot of GSXR rears and Rob is using an R1 on his latest build. I was thinking it would be an easy fit with some frame welding of coarse. Thinking about a mono next time around.