GS 1000 ST weight saving program

[Wraith]

I did this with my sprocket cover to save waight



If you want wight saving have a look at this
271327549798 on eb*y

[John Kat]

I bought myself a kitchen type scale graduated to 5 kg to measure the smaller weight savings
Rear sprocket: 530 Supersprox 48 T 1004 grammes vs 630 std 42 T 1834 gr
Engine sprocket cover: XR69 Alu copy 845 gr vs OEM 1241 gr
Instrument panel: GSXR 11 G/H 1129 gr vs GS 1000 1599 gr.
So on these three items alone a saving of 4674-2978= 1696 grammes
To be added to the 11,1 kg already accounted for or a current total of 12,7 kg.
I believe the weight saving on the exhaust has been underestimated and I still need to take into account the rear caliper, the front mudguard, the drive chain ( from 630 to 530), the rear swingarm and some smaller items I'm thinking about.

[Frank Z.]

Nice work, Mr. Kat. One diet that makes sense to me.

[gmansyz]

Weighty

Hiya John
You got some good posts going there and more should pay attention.
While I would suggest some of those Carbon Fiber wheels to get some Kilos out of it, they are a little pricey to justify. But a fiberglass seat base, a single shock GSXR arm and single shock to get rid of the twins and a non-inverts front end and 17" wheels from an early 2000's GSXR to get more weight out of it. And the electronic gauges will save even more weight. Just add a trigger on the countershaft cover. Someplace next to the alt? Or perhaps, on the rear wheel with a special trigger wheel? Just a thought. Oh, and change to a more compact ignition as well. Grams here and there and everywhere all add up. Oh, how about making an aluminum rear sub-frame? Aluminum handle bars. Aluminum brake master cylinders as well. Plastic headlight and bucket?
How much do you think it weighs now?
Light is right!
Laters
Greg

[John Kat]

Hiya John
You got some good posts going there and more should pay attention.
While I would suggest some of those Carbon Fiber wheels to get some Kilos out of it, they are a little pricey to justify. But a fiberglass seat base, a single shock GSXR arm and single shock to get rid of the twins and a non-inverts front end and 17" wheels from an early 2000's GSXR to get more weight out of it. And the electronic gauges will save even more weight. Just add a trigger on the countershaft cover. Someplace next to the alt? Or perhaps, on the rear wheel with a special trigger wheel? Just a thought. Oh, and change to a more compact ignition as well. Grams here and there and everywhere all add up. Oh, how about making an aluminum rear sub-frame? Aluminum handle bars. Aluminum brake master cylinders as well. Plastic headlight and bucket?
How much do you think it weighs now?
Light is right!
Laters
Greg

Hi Greg,

Yes, there is no limit ( with money) to how far you can go to reduce weight.
It would be interesting to get the weights of the modern GSXR wheels?
I was led to believe that the 6 spoke GSXR 11 G/H wheels were the lightest ever made at least for the front?
Going carbon would be ...unreal at least for my pocket
Also remember that I'm modifying my "standard" GS 1000 ST as I have another one fitted with an Ohlins single shock, a fiberglass based seat and many other mods to get the most out of the package without any concern about keeping it "stock".
The result is two very different bikes for different purposes but you are right: weight is the ennemy
When the bike is done I'll try to find a scale to weight it!

[John Kat]

Nice work, Mr. Kat. One diet that makes sense to me.

Thanks Frank

[Wraith]

Like what your doing, I know you can put Bandit 600 wheels in a GS1000 use the GS500 twin sprocket carrer with the B6 rear wheel and it all lines up nicely and is less waight than the standerd wheels. As its been posted the GSX1100/750ET (gs 16v head for the US) dose a strat swop for the standerd GS1000 swing arm and is lighter and twin shock. Also I put a GS850 Gen and rotor on my GS1000 there smaller and lighter and has no probs with charging the standerd GS1000 batt or you can go down to a 10A batt smaller and lighter batt, use a 10A batt on my day to day GS1000 with no probs.

[gmansyz]

Weight

Hiya John
Those were only ideas. It is hard to keep track of all that you got and which direction you are going with each.
I wish I could afford the BST Carbon wheels as well but it looks like a NO.
I would weigh my '07 GSXR1K wheels but I only have a bathroom scale and not particularly accurate. Would it work to get a guestimate? they have the stock brake rotors still attached and cush too.
Laters
Greg

[John Kat]

Like what your doing, I know you can put Bandit 600 wheels in a GS1000 use the GS500 twin sprocket carrer with the B6 rear wheel and it all lines up nicely and is less waight than the standerd wheels. As its been posted the GSX1100/750ET (gs 16v head for the US) dose a strat swop for the standerd GS1000 swing arm and is lighter and twin shock. Also I put a GS850 Gen and rotor on my GS1000 there smaller and lighter and has no probs with charging the standerd GS1000 batt or you can go down to a 10A batt smaller and lighter batt, use a 10A batt on my day to day GS1000 with no probs.

I've done a similar conversion on my 1100 Kat with GSXR 2nd gen components except the fork tubes from a Bandit 1200 for ground clearance.
It's a pity but I did not weigh the components before assembling the bike
I really like your idea of putting a GS 850 gen and rotor on the bike
The Kats came with special gens to reduce weight but also I suppose to reduce the crank inertia.
A double good idea!
Thanks

[gmansyz]

Weighty 2

Hi again. I would recommend the smaller altanator. I have a GS750/850 with the starter clutches too. But the better bet would be to try and graft an early 2000's GSXR rotor and some kind of Sprague starter clutch. The rotors use rare earth magnets and weigh half what the old GS ones do. And the Sprague starter clutch gives less trouble.
And a side note, stay away from steel belted radial tires as well. They way much more than the Aramid and Kevlar units.
Laters all.
G

[John Kat]

Hi again. I would recommend the smaller altanator. I have a GS750/850 with the starter clutches too. But the better bet would be to try and graft an early 2000's GSXR rotor and some kind of Sprague starter clutch. The rotors use rare earth magnets and weigh half what the old GS ones do. And the Sprague starter clutch gives less trouble.
And a side note, stay away from steel belted radial tires as well. They way much more than the Aramid and Kevlar units.
Laters all.
G

I will look into the GSXR alternator opportunity
There is a guy here in France aptly named "Madmax" who has entered the complete GSXR 1100 in a 3D CAD system.
Well worth a look here: http://grabcad.com/library/1100-gsxr-project
I will ask him if he has detailed the GSXR 1000 rotor yet?
In the meantime I got my GS(X) 1100 swingarm back from coating and the weight is 3087 gr versus 4227 gr for the OEM steel version ( both without bearings and spacer)
A whopping 1140 gr!
Total weight saving so far 12.7 kg + 1.14= 13.84 kg

[gmansyz]

The SolidWorks program is really fun and he must has spent months drawing everything up. He did a really good job too as you cannot tell for the most part that it is a drawing and not the actual bike.
The GSXR rotors I am speaking about go on the end of the crank much like the GS units. The early ones have the same taper as well. I was looking into converting my GS11 engine as well but no one would appreciate and after all this, I will sell it anyway. I have an 1127 GSXR engine, Busa 2x
ZG14engines and will acquire an early GSXR1000 engine as well. So, no need to dwell on the old GS engine. But the hard part will be getting the Sprague starter clutch welded to the alt rotor. And modding the cover as the rotor is shorter than the GS. More ground clearance is always welcome.
Laters
Greg

[John Kat]

Greg,
I looked at some of the pictures I took when I had to fix a loose rotor on my GS 1000 skunk and you are right, it could be a nightmare to adapt the GSXR 1000 rotor to the GS 1000 starter clutch
Maybe that with a rotor in hand an easy solution would pop up requiring no welding as on the GS the starter clutch is bolted on the rotor?

http://www.cmsnl.com/suzuki-gs1000-1979-s_model13513/partslist/FIG-09.html#results

Getting rid of the infamous regulator would be a big bonus

[gmansyz]

John, I will try to get some pics taken today for your perusal. I would try to use a Sprague GSXR starter clutch instead of the GS. It is not only more durable, but lighter. I am thinking that the 2006+ GSXR600/750 had a starter clutch on it that bolted on. There are a few complications though.
Eliminating the stock reg./rec. would be perfect but alas, trying the air/oil cooled GSXR alt with a belt being the only way, the next best solution is PosPlayer's solution. Only I have not tried it yet.
Laters
Greg

[gmansyz]

Here are a couple pics of the GSXR rotors. Also, using a belt to drive the alt., you get some cushioning from the pulses.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj55/gmansyz/GS-GSXR-AltRotors-2.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj55/gmansyz/GS-GSXR-AltRotors.jpg