GS1150ES w/ GSXR rear wheel: need advice

[Bad Kaw]

Greetings guys,
I'm in the middle of putting a 4.5" gixxer rear wheel on my '84 GS1150ES and it's not the bolt-on that I thought it was going to be. Before I go all trial-and-error on this thing, surely one of you guys out there has done this and can dial me in on the right things to do to get it to fit. This bike is going to be the daily driver, so I'm soliciting advice from the experts.

Thanks ahead of time for any useful advice!

-KR

[Billy Ricks]

Your rear suspension is esssentially the same as mine. You may have the right size axle already, mine was smaller than the GSXR stuff so some of what I did may not apply.

If you look at the photo of my bike in the other thread some of what I did shows up. BTW, if you end up needing a GSXR caliper hanger I may have one, not certain though.

For my use I gathered used a Katana 600 caliper hanger since it used the same size axle as my 700. If you have a bigger axle like the GSXR you won't need that. I knocked the bigger GSXR bearings out of the wheel and cush drive and reinstalled my 700 bearings in the GSXR wheel. I used the cush drive bearing support from my 700 wheel since all the critical dimensions worked. The bearing support for the wheel hub from my 700 is a little shorter than the GSXR support. I just epoxied a piece of a hydraulic jack handle to my support to make up the difference. All your trying to do is keep the bearings centered in their races and the supports are squeezed into position.

The wheel was tight in the swingarm on my bike. At first I would have to pry the swingarm apart a little to get everything in, later I used a hydraulic bottle jack to spread the arm apart a little. I used a block so I wouldn't damage the arm. You need to spread it close to an inch so when you release the pressure and it springs back to its old shape it remains about 1/4" wider than it was. On your 1150 space may not be an issue.

The left side spacer will either be your stock piece or the GSXR piece depending on axle size. The right side spacer that fits betweeen the wheel bearing and the caliper hanger should be either Katana 600 or GSXR, again depending on axle size.

You need a GSXR caliper and rotor. The brake torque arm needs to be relocated to the bottom of the swingarm. I just cut the attachment point off the swingarm and had it welded to the bottom. You have to bend the torque arm to clear the sidewall.

You will probably need a spacer behind the front sprocket to help with chain alignment. With the radial I assume you will be mounting you need to change gearing. For instance, my stock gearing is 44/14. With the GSXR wheel I run a 42/16 combo and it is just about the same as stock.

[Bad Kaw]

Billy,
Outstanding. That was exactly what I was facing. The arm is juuuuuust a bit too tight and I was wondering about giving it a little 'hydraulic' love. The 1150 stuff is the same diameter, so that's an adjustment that I don't have to address. The torque arm is good advice, too.
I appreciate your response; it is what I was needing.
-KR

[mac1170]

gday mate, you can just measure the differance between the two, and have a machine shop turn up a thin ally spacer to suit, if you have a look at a swingarm you will see that the chainside, is normally a different offset to the brakeside, thats why i would not use a portapac, as unless its in a steel box, it could move the thing anywhere, measure it thru the centre off the headstem, and wheels, run a string down both sides of the bike, measure that they are parellel, then take readings from the rims, it does not matter if the readings, are differant in offset, measure front and back, of rims, the bike has to be straight, when you do this, if you have a laser level, even better this is the short version, hope this helps, regards,

[Bad Kaw]

mac1170,
Hey man, that's good advice! I'm getting ready to go pick up the brake caliper and bracket tomorrow, then as soon as I get a chance I'm on it.
Thanks again!
-KR