1st Gen GSXR upgrade for GS1100ED

[jwhelan65]

+1 on Katman he did exactly the same mod for me, did a great job. He also set up and fabbed my rear spacing and offset sprocket. Jim is is right it is a little costly but well worth it. It's a bolt up when you get it back from him, which saves you a lot of headaches and speeds up your build.

[posplayr]

+1 on Katman he did exactly the same mod for me, did a great job. He also set up and fabbed my rear spacing and offset sprocket. Jim is is right it is a little costly but well worth it. It's a bolt up when you get it back from him, which saves you a lot of headaches and speeds up your build.

Joe you and I have a pretty different setup. My swing arm is off center 4mm to make room for the stock rear brake master. Also I'm using 3/8" v.s. your 5/8" offset sprocket. My sprocket side spacer is different to account for the extra 4mm offset swinger.

I still have not figured out yet why, but all the rest of the stock 88 Gixxer spacers fit just right (with 1st gen brake hanger). With the 1st gen Gixxer wheels requires the 1st gen gixxer sprocket carrier instead of the way your later Gixxer stuff fits. Also the 88 1100 3 spoke sprocket carrier is unique to that year.

I worked with Rob quite a while on all of this so as far as I know nobody else I know has done the mod this way. He generally centers the swinger and modifies the brake master to further back than the OEM locations.

Tone, you done it this way?

[Bad Kaw]

Great stuff!
-KR

[cavehamster]

I got the Bandit swinger from Katman. It was pricey but he did all the running around. Basically he did the following:

1.) machined off the rear mono-shock mount
2.) made swingarm bolt bushing/spacers for the 20mm GS1100E
3.) cut the rear chain guard mount (which I restored)
4.) welded on left and right CNC suspension (for clevis) mounts and pressed in bearings.


There are a few tricks to sort out like how to route the brake master cylinder. For an GS1100E it will not fit with the Bandit swing arm on center in the frame. I was able to retain the complete stock unit, but had to shift the swing arm over and compensate with wheel spacers.

I would suggest welding the shock mounts on while mocked up on to the frame (with shocks) as mine would have been asymmetrical preload if I did not have a set of $1K Ohlins shocks with adjustable height adjustment.

This thread has many of the details, although I don't have mechanical drawings for the parts from Katman.

There are alot of details to getting the rear wheel aligned in the frame and then getting the counter sprocket aligned to the rear sprocket. Depending on your wheel/tires size and what you do with the brake master you need to get the swingarm spacers, rear wheel spacers and countershaft sprocket matched. Mine works for what I have, but will deviate some (and be more challenging) if you are going USD and 17" wheels.

Joe Whelan is going this same mod now with 17" wheels; you can see his thread as well.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...d.php?t=131593

So, it is asymmetric because the swing arm is offset to one side to allow the rear master to function? And the wheel itself is offset to stay in the bike's centerline, correct?

Would you recommend 17 inch wheels or should I be thinking about 18 inch wheels?

Lastly, is there a technical reason to remove the monoshock mount? I'd kind of like to retain mine in case I want to go that route in the future.

Thanks for the info and posting your pictures!

[posplayr]

So, it is asymmetric because the swing arm is offset to one side to allow the rear master to function? And the wheel itself is offset to stay in the bike's centerline, correct?

Yes the intent was to keep the wheel centered in the frame and centered relative to the swingarm pivot bolt bosses.

Would you recommend 17 inch wheels or should I be thinking about 18 inch wheels?

!

I have a GSXR 1100 street fighter (with USD and 17" wheels) and the look of my GS would never really look stock anymore with USD 17" wheel). That combined with not wanting to lose ground/cornering clearance as well as the ease of 18" v.s. 17" chain and wheel clearance issues I went 3 spoke 88 GSXR 1100 wheels which are the only 3 spoke with 18x4.5". Hard to come by they are.

I have taken alot of pains to retain the ED look which would be harder with USD's and 17" wheels.

On the mono, it might clear the battery box or might not. I don't know. It is a cleaner look without it trimmed off. Mono shocking is a whole lot more trouble but in the end might be cheaper since the shocks are easier to come by. If I was gonna do mono shock then USD 17" wheels are a natural. There are many interrelated issues that it would be best to sort out which way you wanna go. Right now you probably don't know what you dint know. You need a list to figure out each of the options. A spare frame or a tore down bike helps.

Gotta go; I plan to be done on mine this weekend.

[jeffd]

What's gpong to happen to your old rear shocks?

[posplayr]

What's gpong to happen to your old rear shocks?

They are pretty old; they have 3500 miles on them.

Once the ED gets finish I will start disgorging some of my GS stockpiles.

[chef1366]

I call dibs

[posplayr]

Got her pretty well finished. Few electrical issues (blinker not blinking, and tail light idiot light) Went for a couple of rides, one slow speed to bed in the new EBC HH brake pads, a second one for about 25 miles over Gibraltar road in Santa Barbara to do some introductory twisties.

The suspension still needs some tuning. The brakes really grips and I immediately went down to grind my engine guards as the grip is much better. Bike feels much more natural like it is much better able to handle the power and speed .

It was alto or work, but I'm happy with the results and will be on the road to Bills Tues nite for the Shasta trip . Crap this was too easy. I still got 3 days .

[TheCafeKid]

Damn jim!!!!!! that looks FUGGIN AWESOME!!! didnt end up with much loss of GC at all. Im impressed! And excited! I hope my little project I was talking to you about turns out half as nice! Congrats and NICE NICE work man!

3 days left. thats pleanty of time to tune the suspension!!!

[jwhelan65]

Jim,

That thing looks absolutely fantastic! A one of kind gem.....Easy? Wanna road trip to San Antonio and finish mine in 3 days..

Bravo on your bike it is a true recognized flaggship on this site.

[posplayr]

Josh,
It is certainly a step up. I would figure I'm able to carry at least about 15%-20% more speed into a 30-50 mph corner. I was concerned about the trail change with the new forks but it is really nimble . I have the rear shock length set to the lowest which is about 1" over. I was just trying to scruff off the release compund off of the tires. What do you think about the highway pegs? I think this is going to be a great highway cruiser.
Jim

[posplayr]

Jim,

That thing looks absolutely fantastic! A one of kind gem.....Easy? Wanna road trip to San Antonio and finish mine in 3 days..

Bravo on your bike it is a true recognized flaggship on this site.

Crap Joe, thanks. That is a hell of a complement . Maybe now I will submit to BOM

Err road trip.... ???Yea were going on a road trip but north

Believe it or not I just got my first ticket coming home on the ride. My buddy and I pulled to a stop light. He has a KLR 650, I took off and with the 1/4 throttle mod I accidently got the front wheel off the ground, came down a little crooked but no worries, Anyway that was not the issue. Tehre was a closed to local traffic sign I went past it; my buddy followed. Then there was a road closed sign, I went; he followed. There was two cops there giving tickets for people driving through a closed road sign. CRAP. I told the cop it coulda been worse. The ticket for wheeling at 60 mph down a 35 mph wouda been worse.

[chef1366]

Are you putting on the faring so we can both do 130?

[posplayr]

Are you putting on the faring so we can both do 130?

Yea Bill,
I got:
highway pegs
criuse control
and fairing coming soon