GSXR Conversion/Swingarm Questions

[80GS1000]

80GS1000, my question now is would you have a guess as to how much the shock mounts on a dual shocked swingarm have to be jacked to reach the same height as your bike if you were to used stock, or stock length shocks?

Get everything mocked up with the suspension components and steering geometry you want to use and the numbers for your shock length/shock spacer blocks will fall into place on their own.

Reverse engineer and/or research the steering geometry numbers from a newer bike whose handling you like. The mechanical engineers at Suzuki have already figured out what works best so it's best to copy their steering geometry numbers. I like the way the GSXR 1000 handles so I set up the GS1000's new geometry like the GSXR 1000. Once the steering geometry was correct on all fronts, we welded in the new shock mounts.

Do this carefully and with precision and you'll get a sweet handling bike, do it wrong and you might wind up on your ear, be careful.

Things to consider when designing and building your frame/suspension geometry:

*Rake, trail
*Ground clearance
*Swingarm angle and chain to swingarm clearance
*Forward/rear weight distribution
*Chain offset to clear larger rear tire
*Front/rear wheel alignment

Here's a handy steering geometry calculator, was very useful when I set up my chassis: http://www.papkegroup.com/superbikee...nematics1.html

You'll want to use a swingarm that doesn't have bracing on top of it because that will get in the way of welding on shock mount lugs.

[jwhelan65]

I agree with Tone...get the complete front end, I tried piecing together a GSXR 1100 front end for my GS 1100 conversion. It was kind of a nightmare....you end up without things like missing caliper bolts, missing fender bolts, no fender frame, pitted leaky forks you can't really add new seals to, a front wheel that's bent, the wrong rotors and oh yes.. $400.00 poorer with a bunch a stuff you cant use.....I found a complete front end with only 6000 miles....solved all my issues!!!!

[katman]

Something you have to watch. YOu can't just jack the backend up as high as you like. If you go to high your chain will make a right turn around the pivot of your swingarm and "CHAINSAW" through it.
some guys have put rubber or balistic nylon on there to keep the damage to a minimun but, with your chain dragging across the pivot area guess what happens when you crack the throttle and that chain wants to straighten out?

With a bandit arm you can only raise the back end about an inch and a half before the chain impacts the swingarm and that doesn't do much for increasng header height at the other end of the bike.

of course this may be different with different swingarms. But its something you have to be careful of.

92-98 gsxr 1100 forks are 30.5" long. very close to your bike now. you can use other clipons (not the 1100's) or you can use risers and drag bars to take advantage of the whole length of the forks.
I believe '88 gsxr 1100 forks are also 30+" and a set of 18" wheels will put you pretty much at stock height.

[makenzie71]

Just for the sake of noting...an acquaintance of mine has a k4 1K front end on his GS750 with dual shocks. He's using RM250 shocks. He's trying to sort out what year for me.

[katman]

What is the stock length of gs750 forks? the k4's are only 28' aren't them?

With a katana the forks are 31.5" and 19" wheel. so you lose 4" which is unacceptable to anyone who likes to corner.

They sure do look good on the gs though. I am wanting to mount a radial front end on my kat but haven't got the height loss figured out yet. I can do it if I turbo the bike which is a good idea anyway.....Then I have no header to worry about.

[makenzie71]

It depends. The KYB's on my '81 were 31.5" from fork cap to center axle. The Showas on my '79 are 29". I put the Showa forks on my '81 (built and clean vs. leaky and spongy) and I have ground clearance issues with the stock rear end. Even if I loaded the front another inch to match wha tthe K4's should be I'd still have clear travel (not much) before my Kerker header/muffler.

[80GS1000]

Remember that you need enough ground clearance under your header so that it won't ground out when your front forks/rear shocks are fully compressed. I have about 5" of ground clearance under my header. Springing the front end for the combined weight of bike + rider really helped, as did the custom 4-2-1 header.

[makenzie71]

Just for the sake of noting...an acquaintance of mine has a k4 1K front end on his GS750 with dual shocks. He's using RM250 shocks. He's trying to sort out what year for me.

1994-era RM250 rear shocks with one inch cut off the springs. Says it put his length at 14" eye to eye.

[Sc0ttzi]

GSXR swingarm

Does anyone know how a 2007-08 gsxr 1000 swingarm fit on one of these projects. I would assume it would fit similarly to a 2006 but I wondering if anyone knew of any specific differences between the years. Found a complete setup on ebay for a 2007-08 gsxr1000 for a good price and was wondering if anyone, especially you 80gs1000, knew if it would fit the same way yours fit. I know how you talked about everything fitting well with 750 spacers and wondered if it would be the same with this setup.

[tone]

Does anyone know how a 2007-08 gsxr 1000 swingarm fit on one of these projects. I would assume it would fit similarly to a 2006 but I wondering if anyone knew of any specific differences between the years. Found a complete setup on ebay for a 2007-08 gsxr1000 for a good price and was wondering if anyone, especially you 80gs1000, knew if it would fit the same way yours fit. I know how you talked about everything fitting well with 750 spacers and wondered if it would be the same with this setup.

Ive done this swap into an 1100ef, the problems are..........
#1 Pivot spindle size is bigger as is normal
#2 The arm is wide so will interfere with rear footrest hangers
#3 The top of stock shock for the arm will be just where you need to put your battery
#4 A new top shock mount will need to be built out rearwards from the original position to get the shock to work correctly
#5 The bottom shock mounts will need re-making as the latest models work in a different way to the earlier stuff
#6 The stock wheel is a 6" rim so you will need to swap it for a 5.5 to have much hope of getting the chain run correct

All this refers to the bike in the pic below but the same things will apply for putting this arm into any gs/gsx


Hope that helps

[katman]

#6 The stock wheel is a 6" rim so you will need to swap it for a 5.5 to have much hope of getting the chain run correct

Tone,

I am mounting an R1 swingarm with a 6" wheel. Am I not going to be able to get her ligned up? I am going to be attempting a 200 tire on a busa wheel.

[80GS1000]

Ive done this swap into an 1100ef, the problems are..........
#1 Pivot spindle size is bigger as is normal
#2 The arm is wide so will interfere with rear footrest hangers
#3 The top of stock shock for the arm will be just where you need to put your battery
#4 A new top shock mount will need to be built out rearwards from the original position to get the shock to work correctly
#5 The bottom shock mounts will need re-making as the latest models work in a different way to the earlier stuff
#6 The stock wheel is a 6" rim so you will need to swap it for a 5.5 to have much hope of getting the chain run correct

All this refers to the bike in the pic below but the same things will apply for putting this arm into any gs/gsx


Hope that helps

And here's how to sort those issues, at least for a GS1000 with a 2005/2006 GSXR 1000 arm/shock/linkage which can be had on eBay for about $100.

1. Have some top hat spacers made up to make up the swingarm pivot bolt size. The pivot bolt goes through the center, the outside rides on the swingarm bearings. The brim of the tophat keeps the spacer in place. These go in lieu of the stock GSXR 1000 swingarm spacers. The top of the brim is flush with the pivot of the swingarm.

http://www.slcelectronics.com/GS1000_Build/030307/DSC01345.jpg

2. Passengers? Are you kidding? I cut off the frame bits which held on the passenger footpegs.

3. Relocate the battery and electrics, not hard.

4. Look at post 415 here: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...mounts&page=42
Shock, swingarm and linkage angles are critical for correct damping rates so make sure you get those right.

5. Look at post 421 and on: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...mounts&page=43

6. A 2005 GSXR 750 5.5x17" rim using the 750 rear axle spacers will bolt right up into the 2006 1000 swingarm. This centers the wheel in the arm and centers the wheel with the bike and front wheel. You'll need to shave some material off the cush drive rubbers for proper chain alignment. From my experience, you have to go with a 520 chain conversion with a DID ERV3 520 chain so the chain won't foul the frame.

Katman- Never say never, but it's damn near impossible to run a 6" rear wheel in a GS frame as the chain would have to go right through the frame for it to work. Maybe with an outrigger chain or something it could work....

[katman]

I'm gunna give'r a try.

I will run a thread when I get to it.

[tone]

Tone,

I am mounting an R1 swingarm with a 6" wheel. Am I not going to be able to get her ligned up? I am going to be attempting a 200 tire on a busa wheel.

Hi mate I'm interested to see how this idea works out but suspect you will struggle as the last time i tried a 6" rim & 190 tyre it would have involved trimming the inside of the frame by a few mm to get a clear chain run & even then would have still been very tight to the tyre, i suppose it depends on the exact frame & the actual measured size of the tyre you will be using

This is maybe where a 520 chain would help with clearance, i'd also be wondering about a support bearing for the front sprocket as you will be putting a lot of extra strain on the output shaft One more thought i dont know what you intend for this project style wise but wonder if you had realised the R1 arm is very long

Without going into it in a lot more detail i cant say for sure wether it can be done or not but do suspect it will be more hassle than its worth

please keep me updated on this project as i'm very interested to see how you get along with it & what problems you find with that particular selection of parts
cheers tone

[katman]

Hi mate I'm interested to see how this idea works out but suspect you will struggle as the last time i tried a 6" rim & 190 tyre it would have involved trimming the inside of the frame by a few mm to get a clear chain run & even then would have still been very tight to the tyre, i suppose it depends on the exact frame & the actual measured size of the tyre you will be using

This is maybe where a 520 chain would help with clearance, i'd also be wondering about a support bearing for the front sprocket as you will be putting a lot of extra strain on the output shaft One more thought i dont know what you intend for this project style wise but wonder if you had realised the R1 arm is very long

Without going into it in a lot more detail i cant say for sure wether it can be done or not but do suspect it will be more hassle than its worth

please keep me updated on this project as i'm very interested to see how you get along with it & what problems you find with that particular selection of parts
cheers tone

sorry for the hijack. moving to seperate thread in performance mods.