Size question due to bar swap

[Flyboy]

Having owned and ridden all three bikes, GSX, 850L, XS Eleven Special, I can honestly say, the most hateful one was the Eleven Special.
I am not knocking your preference, we all have our own and I respect that.
Sure the Eleven Special could get off the line in a hurry and would smoke most anything between the lights, but that was about it.
The riding position was nice around town for about 30 minutes, but on the highway, it was terrible, too much wind and found myself hanging on the bars, got tiresome real quick.
I think you will find that the Eleven Special bars are not going to give you what you are looking for, the whole package is wrong, the Eleven special's seat is a lot lower slung in relation to the bars, the GS seat a lot higher, I think you will find your arms/wrists at an uncomfortable angle after a while.
I may be wrong, but those are just my observations.
Nice GSX, by the way, like you said, they pull like a run away freight train all day long, what is not to like.

[dr_fosg8]

Total line length for a stock GL from the master to the splitter is 23 inches. This measurement is WITH the banjos on the line.

[bruin]

Glad to hear the cables were long enough for you anyway. I had so much left over when I swapped out my L bars that I didn't think you would be able to make yours reach. I'm a tall guy too and I found that I had more room with straighter bars, although I never explored the riser aproach.

[Sojourner]

Well...

Bruin- You mentioned in another thread that you're closer to my height (technically I'm only 6' 2.75"). On my 1100E with the stock bars I found myself hunching over to reach the grips. Also the angle of the bars from the final bend to the end of the bar, farthest from the stem, caused a weird bend in my wrist as well. I'll refer to that as 'grip bend'. Like I said, ~3" risers would address the height issue, but the 'grip bend' would either need to be straightened like a MTX bar/drag bar, or bent in more like pull-backs. I went with the thought that drag bars on risers might alleviate the wrist bend, then I'd still probably end up hunching. While bars would be higher, the grips would still be north of the tank. Between my job and playing bass, my wrists already take a beating daily. No need to up the discomfort/carpal tunnel while on the bike too. So I went with the "Yamaha Special" bars since it brought the controls up to a reasonable height, addressed the wrist angle issue, and allow me to sit upright. Since you're close to my height, have you had a problem with feeling cramped in the leg department? I've also considered getting case guards and highway pegs- possibly forward controls so I can stretch out a bit. Not HD-esque "I want to turn my bike into a chaise lounge or a hammock" type stretched out, but something where my knee angle is greater than 90 degrees.

Dr. Fosg8- Thanks for the measurement! Now to find that line or just get an entire front end kit since I'll be bleeding the system anyway.

Flyboy- See, I loved the Yamy XS1100. The only thing I had a love/hate realtionship with was the shaft bob. Eventually I learned to accept the quirk and got over the hate. Then I'd let a buddy try it out and loved the fact he thought it was quirky- haha. You are completely right about the seat height differences between the two though. I bought a leather tooling kit last month and have been practicing on leather scraps. My intention is to find a cheap '80-'81 1100E seat pan and try my hand at making my own custom saddle. I fully intend to carve the padding low up front in order to lower the stock E seat height by a few inches. On the rear I want to add padding and get the profile into a cruiser style King & Queen seat. All of this I intend to cover with hand tooled BROWN leather. Let's face it- 98% of the motorcycle seats in the world are black already. The only issue is that it might cause a problem with the aforementioned knee bend/angle. While I'm at it I am also going to try and fab some custom side covers also out of hand tooled leather to cover the whole side triangle. There's an old (as in middle ages+ old) leather technique called cuir bouilli. Basically you boil the leather with a fair amount of wax and when it dries it's damn near rock hard. That should keep them from flapping around on the sides and lets me mold them into shapes. All the leather work is of course on my over-the-winter project list. But I digress. As for the XS1100 I always loved the riding posture. I guess I like to ride my bike like I used to ride horses?

Looks like I'm going to replace my throttle and clutch cables with L length cables anyway. While the E's throttle and clutch cables will fit, I'm not sure how old the ones on my bike are and I'm with spending ~$14 each for some piece of mind. I'm thinking I'll also replace the front turn signals and bar mount them...

[bruin]

Maybe my seat height is lower on my L than on your E, in relation to hanlebar height. Even with drag bars I am only slightly leaning forward. My legs are cramped too although the slight lean forward caused by the drag bars has, I think, allowed me to scoot my butt back just a little more. I noticed my knees didn't hurt as much after the change. I would imagine case guards with a highway peg would make a nice alternate leg position. I have seen several pictures on here where folks have done that.

[Flyboy]

Sojourner, sounds like you have put some thought into it, I hope it works out for you as planned, I sure hope the mods will be in a project thread so we can follow along.
I never liked the Yammie's shaft jacking tendencies, it was cool in a quirky kind of way in the beginning, but the novelty wore off after the first 10 minutes, the shaft Kawas and my Honda CX500 did it as well, but to a lesser degree, Suzuki were the first to eliminate the tendency all together.
I am thinking along the same lines as you, lowering your seat, will compound the leg angle problem, unless you move your feet forward, but it sounds like you have thought it through properly.

[Sojourner]

Thanks. I'll try and snap a few pics tomorrow and post them here.

P.S.- Always remember two things in life... 1) DON'T PANIC, and 2) always pack a towel.

"We apologize for the inconvenience." -God.

[Steel Toed Tank]

I have highway pegs.
I think they're ugly, but they are comfortable enough that I'll keep em on.
I also have a seat that is much lower than GS seats, but after the first few rides my knees stopped hurting.



Tank

[Sojourner]

So here they are- set to the perfect angle and tightened down. No weird wrist angles, no need to hunch over, almost perfect. Why almost? Because the damn brake line from the master cylinder to the split is too short.

I tell ya- if it ain't one thing with this bike, it's another.

[dr_fosg8]

Was the 23 inch brake line not long enough?