Special top bearing for late GSXR fork swap on GS?

[Guest]

Greetings All-
I am gathering together what I need to swap an '05 GSXR1000 front end on to my '82 GS1100E. I have been looking around for the information needed to buy, what I have been lead to believe I need, is a 30x47x15 tapered bearing for the top steering head position. I gather I can us a regular GS lower bearing. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? A vendor or part number would be great! Thanks!
Cheers, Erick

[patrickmcp]

Originally Posted by 80GS1000
An update-

The toughest part about doing this particular front end swap is the difference in steering stem diameter between the GS1000 and the GSXR 1000. The bearings on the bottom are the same size, but the bearings on the top are different.

The steering stem bearings on the two bikes are like this:

GS1000 UPPER:
25 mm inner diameter, 47 mm outer race diameter, and 15 mm height

GS1000 LOWER:
30 mm inner diameter, 55 mm outer race diameter, and 17 mm height

GSXR1000 UPPER:
30 mm inner diameter, 55 mm outer race diameter, and 17 mm height

GSXR1000 LOWER:
30 mm inner diameter, 55 mm outer race diameter, and 17 mm height

So, that leaves you with a few options. You can turn the GSXR steering stem down 5 mm on a lathe to get the upper steering stem to get it to fit the stock GS1000 bearing. This however potentially compromises the strength of the stem. You can get a new stem made to match the GSXR lower triple and the GS steering stem. But this is a PITA, involving drawing up accurate specifications to send to a machine shop for fabrication.

Or you can get the correct 30x47x15 bearing to mate the two. \\/ This guy custom makes these bearings for front end swaps, they are not available from any bearing manufacturer. Just so happens that the SV steering bearings are the same as the GS. Gotta love Suzuki interchangablilty.

Ground clearance shouldn't be too much of an issue as the new forks are only .5" shorter than the GS1000 forks. The main potential ground clearance issue is the fact that the new Gixxer front end has a lower profile 17" tire instead of the 19" on the GS1000. But the radial tire and vastly superior front forks should help prevent bottoming out. To be determined.

[edmondsm]

Website has Chaned though

This is the correct Bearing I found the new site.

[Zweihammer]

Thanks, patrickmcp and edmondsm!
I remembered that the first time I saw the information posted, the link did not work, so I wrote down the dims. Every other post I saw on the conversion alluded to it, but no info. Thanks again, I appreciate it!
Cheers, Erick

[jomomsophat]

would this work on a 850gt ?

is the steering head tube on the 1100s and the gs850gt the same ?
i was wondering because i would like something modern on the front of the
bike to make it look cooler.
i got this bike cheap and am going to be tearing it apart. 14,000 original
miles ? or just a swapped clock ? i will find out.
but i'm building a street fighter out of it and any cool fork options are a plus
also maybe the sv650 trees that mounts for regler bars ? would that fit
or is the top tree to bottom tree length different ?
im an experianced mechanic but a first time gs owner so i don't know the
ins and outs like this forum does im sure.