GSX1150 Rebuild

[wyly]

This is why I insisted on a 'neutral' Sportster. I also dislike the very look of most of the stock Harleys. Big fat tires or skinny ones. Undersize wheels or oversize. Not for me.

Yeah there's a bit of vanity with tires bigger looking better but going bigger can definitely come with detrimental consequences to handling, factory engineers of the day made careful calculations based on the bikes geometry and tire technology. The efe design did allow for an optional larger factory wheel tire combo I don't recall exactly how much larger but I think it was .5".

[Rob S.]

The efe design did allow for an optional larger factory wheel tire combo I don't recall exactly how much larger but I think it was .5".

Very interesting! Can anyone add to that?

[dorkburger]

As far as I know, the 84 model had a 3” wide rear wheel like the earlier 1100e bikes. 85 on had 3.5.

[wyly]

Yes it could be because of the year, I nearly bought the larger wheel on this site. Manufacturers also have different specs dependent on the country or region that the bike is sold, I don't know if that applies here. I've noticed Canadian bikes are frequently different from US or European versions.

[ensure]

I have noted previously the old wheel size. I made the mistake of putting it in big letters

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My main reason for swapping it over were
1. Get a better range of modern tyres to use
2. I was getting near the end of project so needed something else to fiddle with
3. Learn something new. Once you have removed and re-installed a wheel 20 times it becomes easy

I could have put a 150/60-17 tyre on but there were only new ones available and that was going to cost an additional $120 over a slightly used 160/60-17 so the wider tyre won. To be fair I hadn't even thought about chain clearance at that point.

Anyway I have moved the rear wheel over to the right far enough now that I can put the wider Cush drive from the original GSXR-750 wheel back on and remove the spacers. Chain clearance is now a massive 6mm or so.

Another test ride and the bike really does feel different now. Going through corners it tips into them just like I was riding on my 2010 GSXR-1000. And that is why you want to swap out the old forks and wheels for new (relatively) ones. My 3rd loop of my test course (about 15km) and i am starting to scrape my toes on some corners, not intentionally, I just have more confidence when leaning in.
And I still have the original rear shock in so that is probably causing some issues. The problem is new ones cost $799 locally.

[dorkburger]

I have a Ducati M900 shock in place of the original. Nearly a bolt in except that I had to mount it upside down and it was recommended to use the GS spring which I did. It was a whopping $60 used.

[wyly]

I'd like to go to larger rubber in the future the 16" front doesn't leave many options for tire selection.

I don't think I'd need to go to as large 160 on the rear but Ensure is demonstrating it can be done.

[ensure]

For the Number plate light I have bought a 10cm long LED striplight with connector

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and found an old piece of plastic tube to mount it in

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I then glued it over the holes I had drilled in Lens, double checking I had the LEDs pointing in the correct direction

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Drill a hole to get the wires out

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A quick bench test

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Now to get it back on the bike

[wyly]

That worked out nicely. When I modified my tail assembly I wondered why didn't Suzuki do exactly what you have done, it seemed the easy solution rather than the complex monstrosity they produced.

[Big Block]

Yeah but 35 years ago it was the "thing". If you look at an 84 Corvette or Dodge Daytona they match the styling of these bikes pretty much.

[wyly]

Yeah but 35 years ago it was the "thing". If you look at an 84 Corvette or Dodge Daytona they match the styling of these bikes pretty much.

the part in question wasn't styling feature, it was a clumsy attempt to cast light on the plate to meet road legal requirements it was finished in flat black in order to obscure it. My 79 CBX has exactly the same set up as what ensure has manufactured here.

[ensure]

I thought I would try and measure bikes weight to see what sort of difference I have made. I pushed bike up onto some 6x1 timber and thought if I put some scales front and rear I could measure it in 2 halves fairly accurately by just pushing the bike back & forth a bit.

Front End first

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138kg. Unfortunately the limit on scales (in small print) was 130kg on scales and now I just get Error message so this is yet to be finalised.

here is updated drawing of wheel installation with new Cush Drive and different spacers for anyone who might want to replicate this method

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[wyly]

Start with factory dry weight 524 lbs and deduct weight of any part removed , add back whatever after market you replace it with.
Oem exhaust weighs a hefty 34 lbs if you don't have them to weigh.
I haven't done a calculation lately for my efe but I believe it's about 480 lbs/ 218kg

[Rob S.]

I weighed my 11E once by separately weighing the front and back with a bathroom scale. Seems like it works because the total was very close to the weight Cycle World listed in 1982.

[ensure]

So I bought some new bathroom scales (180kg max) and tried again, I got the following readings

Front - 120kg
Rear - 118kg

Total 238kg

Bear in mind that this is wet weight, I have about 14 litres of petrol and 3.5 litres of oil in there so if we subtract that at 1kg/litre I get about 220kg

Dry Weight from manual for a ES is 237kg so I think I am pretty close to accurate based on what I have removed