Simple old school + new school, call it pre skool

[Zweihammer]

Greetings LeeGS550E-

I bought the risers and the bars as a set for a hundred. I know, I know, I could have done it cheaper. But these are beefy tapers, 1 1/8" down to 7/8", in blue anodized with laser etched increment marks for angular positioning (like I need that?!) and I am sometimes susceptible to that gimmicky crap!

I am going to try to mock up the front this weekend if I can make the time. These new bars are about the same rise as the old, with a little different pull back and a couple of inches wider. I will mount the throttle, levers and switchgear and probably see how much I can cut off the ends to narrow them up.

Or I will flip them upside down like some redneck clubmans, Ha!

[LeeGS550E]

Very good then - I'll bet they're going to look very slick.

[80GS1000]

Nice project, you'll love the performance improvement over stock.

Couple words of unsolicited advice - You'll want to respring those forks to something in the 1.0 kg/mm+ neighborhood (check Racetech's site for a good fork spring calculator) for the increased weight of the GS compared to a standard GSXR 1000. Also start scouting for an oilcooled GSXR 1100/Bandit 1200 4-2-1 header as this will gain you back precious inches of ground clearance compared to a 4-1 header.

Keep us posted with lots and lots of pics.

[Zweihammer]

Well, I scored a set of Mikuni RS38's off the E*ay last night with a buy it now of $225. I really wanted some 36s but I could not ponder much as I thought this opportunity wouldn't last. I have had deals bought out from under me while I stared at the screen. I just confirmed they weren't old slabby flatslides and hit the button.

So I guess I will find out first hand what too-big carbs will do. I already have a set of fcr 39's with spacing that didn't fit the GS (or I would have tried them last summer) and I have grand plans for a big bore some day, but that is a year or two away and as far as I can tell I have a stock 1100 with a header.

Any advice on jet sizes I should start with? I plan to go through these before I try to use them, any advice? I also have an odd thought of machining some 1mm thick, tapered, hard plastic reducer bushings to bring the venturis down to 36mm. I would press them in for the time being and take them out later once I can utilize more flow. I have heard of many instances of boring a carb body larger, or using filler in a manifold to alter the flow characteristics, why wouldn't it work in reverse? Or am I worrying for nothing?

Cheers, Erick

[Zweihammer]

Hello Everybody!

Looks like I have to do this entry in three parts because I have too many pictures, So here is part one,

Made a bit of progress on my GS/GSXR mash up last weekend. Here are the e*ay Mikuni RS 38s put on just because. I wanted to see how they fit her. They seem good overall; someone pulled the bowls off and pinched a gasket putting them back together. Can you get individual gaskets outside of “rebuild sets”? Well, this is how they look;




Here is the GS stripped of her original front, I am keeping the headlight, not sure of the rest.




On to part two!

[Zweihammer]

Here is the new upper race from the adapter bearing (great find, guys!). I ground a relief in both sides in the unlikely event I have to drive this out. Then I put it in with a brass drift, as you can see the upper shoulder is very thin. Now I am ordering a new GS lower bearing because I naively thought I could remove the original without destroying it. Not so much.



On to part three!

[Zweihammer]

Part three!

Here the Gixxer forks have been slipped in for a mock up (no lower bearing, need to add stops and damper mount). The front wheel is an ’02, but the discs are tweaked from shipping. I scored a set of ’09 before realizing they are 6 bolt rather than 5, then a set of ’05 to match the forks thinking they would fit the ’02 rim, of course not. One of the times I didn’t research the cross reference myself, trusting the e*ay seller description. So I need to score either another rim or a third set of discs. This goes back to the buy the front end complete and save the headaches advice I ignored. By the way, I know the forks will need to be rebuilt as the left is wet and they will need to carry the extra weight of the GS and my copious mass. Is this something one can handle themselves or does that require special tools? I wanted to pull them apart and have the fork tubes re anodized as well at the same time.













Fab will begin soon, I am starting to get excited! As always comments are welcomed.


I am looking for an image of the lower linkage on the '08 GSXR monoshock. It is a bit different than the earlier years it seems. I can see how it is supposed to function, I was hoping for an image of the relative position of the connecting link when it is at rest so I have a reference. Anybody have one?


Cheers, Erick

[Zweihammer]

Good Morning Everybody!


Well, I went out into the shop last night to try to fabricate the frame connection for my lower link to put my K8 swinger into my GS. As near as I can tell the K1 through K6 is what most everyone who has attempted this so far has used.

Leave it up to me to make it difficult, as the K7 and K8 have the connecting links going forward from the lever to the frame in a horse shoe shape, instead of going from the lever back to the swinger. Backwards to seemingly all the set ups for the last 25 years, As is shown in this pic from Bike Bandit;






Similar, apparently to a H*nda. The only clear pics I have located online of this style of set up are H*nda, the GSXR pics never show an unobstructed view. The first pic here is an ad for GSXR Sato rearsets, but you can make out a bit of the linkage, the other pics seem to be H*nda, but show the principle;







Does anyone on the board here have pics or access to an ’07 or ’08 GSXR and can snap a couple of pics from down low so I can try to maintain the relationship Suzuki set up from the factory?

Thanks in advance! Erick

[posplayr]

Here is the new upper race from the adapter bearing (great find, guys!). I ground a relief in both sides in the unlikely event I have to drive this out. Then I put it in with a brass drift, as you can see the upper shoulder is very thin. Now I am ordering a new GS lower bearing because I naively thought I could remove the original without destroying it. Not so much.



On to part three!

Not sure I like the idea of a relief ; What if the race dents into the relief(s)?

If you are worried about getting races out there have been various techniques descibed here.

[Zweihammer]

I appreciate your concern, the relief is only a 16th or so less than the ID of the race, just enough to give purchase to a punch. It is what the maker of the adapter bearing recommends and is apparently what is factory on the SV headstock, which is the larger market for these GSXR swap bearings.

I have removed races with heat and cold before as well. To tell the truth, I don't think I am going to put the kind of miles on this that will ever require changing this, who knows?

Cheers, Erick

[Zweihammer]

Hello Everyone!

Here is a pic from under my GS with the K8 swinger. I think the links on this swinger are lowering links as they are about 30mm longer than the stock linkage on second swinger.




This is a pic of the second swinger with the linkage in roughly the orientation I believe it should be ( I still need to confirm this), a little less than parallel to the swinger. I think I will need to shorten the link even more to fit it in off the former center stand cross member. Can anyone think of a problem with that? I know that will change the ratios slightly, but the lowering links are anywhere up to 100 mm longer than stock. Any input would be appreciated.









Let the mockery continue! Here is my stunter bars with the levers and switchgear slipped on to check fit. Obviously, all the cables and lines are too short, I will be replacing all of these. The brake master and calipers are ’08 R6. The rest is K8. I will be retaining the big ass GS headlamp, I love that thing.


I hope I can find time this weekend to move this along a bit further.

Cheers, Erick

[80GS1000]

fNot sure you'll want to mess with shortening the linkages as that'll effect the way your rear suspension will behave. You want the shock. swingarm and linkage angles to be as close as possible to the way they're set up on the GSXR they came from so that everything works as designed. Try going to your local Suzuki dealer with a digital camera and a notepad and takes a bunch of pics and notes on how the rear shock and linkage for a 07+ GSXR 1000 is set up, and then mock up and duplicate those angles that as closely as possible with your hardware. This'll tell you where the shock mounts need to be welded to the frame.

As far as rebuilding your front end, plenty of people do it themselves but if there's a Racetech dealer near you it may be easier for them to do it for you. I had Jason at Corporate Suspension (local roadracing suspension guru) do mine.

[Zweihammer]

Well, 80GS1000, it seems from my searches that raising links and lowering links seem to be a common mod, some for looks, some for retrofits (seems GSXR shocks into SV650s seem popular and usually requires a set of 1/2 to 1 inch shorter raising links to raise the rear to accommodate the shorter shock) and some to vary the steering angle to suite their riding style. I am definitly trying to keep the geometry as close to as Suzuki intended.

Speaking of steering head angle, I seem to remember in your build you determined a value. What made you choose that particular value, and now that you have put some miles on it, do you still feel you made the right choice? I don't really see track days in my future, but I do go out of my way to find the twisty routes. I would like to end up with something quick, but not so twitchy I fear releasing a grip to raise my visor.

How does one account for sag without loading a comparable set of weights on the seat area? Is it just trial and error, tack it it up and then sit on it?

Cheers, Erick

[Turtleface]

Rear Combo Lamp

Erick, did you buy the bike with that rear light on it? Or did you install it? Either way, could you tell me if it's a straight bolt-on, or was there a repositioning of mounting tabs involved? I'm really liking the stance of the bike, and I think that tail's helping. I'm probably going to have to mount one on my bike.

[Billy Ricks]

Greetings All!

Thanks for the encouraging words! 80GS1000, your build was one of my biggest inspirations, I got my adapter bearing for the headstock from the source you listed, as well as my offset 520 sprocket,

I used to have the source bookmarked but can't find it anymore. Do you have a link?