1979 GS750E front end upgrade questions

[Guest]

So seeing as my steering head bearings are shot and my forks are pitted enough that new seals only lasted 1 season of riding, I figure it's as good a time as any to make some upgrades. Early GS1000 forks (I know not to get the leading axle ones) are a slightly larger diameter and take the same brakes, so that seems to be a good upgrade. They also seem to be easier to find and cheaper than your average early GS750 fork. This requires a triple change, which is my first question. Are the single- and dual-disk triples different widths? I want to keep my dual disks. The forks would be getting Sonic springs, seals, and 15w oil. This should be plenty for my needs.

I'm also thinking I could upgrade to some different rims in the process. I know some consider wire wheels to be a downgrade, but I love the way they look on an old GS. GS1000 wheels are also alloy instead of steel. They would get converted to dual disk. My question is, how do these compare weight and strength-wise to the factory mags? Would it be more worth my time to find a set of newer 3-spokes off a Bandit of GSXR or something that can run radial tires?

[Billy Ricks]

A newer rear wheel wouldn't be too hard to do, but the front is another story. The toughest part is getting newer calipers to work in the early forks and bearing sizes are tough to work around. You end up having to shim the GS bearings in the GSX-R wheel because of the axle. It's easier to do a complete front end swap.

[gearheadE30]

Yeah, I've run across references to that a few times. Basically at this point I will either do early GS1000 37mm forks from a dual disk bike, with the triples, and GS1000 spoked wheels, or I will do an entire GSXR front end. I'm almost thinking the GSXR swap might be better because for the same amount of trouble and only a bit more money, I'm getting a much better setup.

That said, in my quest for early GS750EN information, I've come up pretty dry on what the best parts to use are. Head bearings I can get from allballs. Apparently 750+cc gixxers have longer forks, so I should go with those, but is there a particular year range I should go for? I don't have a preference of inverted vs. conventional forks; cost is far more important as I am a college student.

[Billy Ricks]

Just make sure the components come from the same range of years. I know that you can mix and match wheels, calipers, and rotors from '86-'95. From '95 up I'm not sure how far up in the year range you can go before you run into differences. Katman, Rob, could answer that for you. I run '95 GSX-R forks in a CBR954 triple set to gain a little more clearance due to the stepped top triple of the CBR. I have '88 GSX-R wheels on the bike.

[gearheadE30]

It appears that Bandit bits can be had for a bit cheaper than gixxer parts, but searching isn't turning much up. Is there some fundamental reason why there aren't many people using early 40mm bandit forks on a GS?

[Billy Ricks]

It appears that Bandit bits can be had for a bit cheaper than gixxer parts, but searching isn't turning much up. Is there some fundamental reason why there aren't many people using early 40mm bandit forks on a GS?

Probably the adjustability of the GSX-R stuff is what makes them more desirable. You have compression and rebound adjustment as well as preload.

[TheCafeKid]

If you do the gixxer front end, you'll need to at least convert the wheel in back as well and you shouldn't run bias ply tires and radials together. The easiest, and likely cheapest way to go would be a GS1100E aluminum swingarm with an early gsxr wheel. I think you can fit a 5" wide wheel in the GS arm? Someone will know better. Early gsxr right side up forks from an 1100 will cause less ground clearance issues, though they seem to be harder to find and not all that much more fantastic. Bandit stuff is about the same, and may even be the same stuff. Zook loved the parts bin...