GSXR 1100 K cartridge components

[John Kat]

I opened a GSXR 11K RSU fork and disassembled the cartridge to try and improve the performance
Here's a picture of the lower ( compression damping) component and I was wondering if I identified the components correctly?
I'm referring to P. Thede's "Motorcycle suspension bible"
If I'm right there seems to be a single shim to control the high speed compression damping?

[John Kat]

I moved one step further in the understanding of the cartridge type fork
I did what most kids do...pull the whole thing apart
The pictures below show the rebound valve but the mechanism is the same for the compression valve.
First the compression phase.
Here the oil flows from right to left on the first picture and it goes freely through the one way valve that is controlled by a very light spring.
On the rebound phase it's a little more complicated as the oil has to enter the hollow rod through a few holes one of which can be partially blocked by a rod that goes right up to the top of the fork.
This rod can be turned up or down to alter the rebound effect.
Thereafter the oil exits the hollow portion of the rod through a stack of shims that deflect more or less under the pressure of the fluid.
The pressure is related to the speed at which the fork rebounds.
It creates what's called a digressive damping that our normal GS forks are incapable of!
You can change the rate of the damping by adding or modifying the shims.
On the GSXR 11K you can see that three shims are stacked on top of each other.
As I want to decrease the rebound damping, I will remove one or two shims or else pile them up with spacers in between.
Lots of fun ahead of me

[slayer61]

So John,
You have done more fork swapping than anybody in their right mind should- In your experience, is there a Bandit top yolk or triple that will work in conjunction with the GSXR1100-K model bottoms? I am in the beginning stages of my conversion and I'm looking to "bolt-on" standard bars. Thanks for your help, Paul

[John Kat]

So John,
You have done more fork swapping than anybody in their right mind should- In your experience, is there a Bandit top yolk or triple that will work in conjunction with the GSXR1100-K model bottoms? I am in the beginning stages of my conversion and I'm looking to "bolt-on" standard bars. Thanks for your help, Paul

Yes, I'm a little crazy about suspensions
I don't have the answer to your question but the offset I measured on my GSXR 11K triple is anywhere between 34 and 35 mm and the spacing between the tubes ought to be identical as I have mixed GSXR yokes and wheels with Bandit tubes without any issue.
I'm interested by the answer as it would save me buying an ABM top yoke

[postman_pat]

So John,
You have done more fork swapping than anybody in their right mind should- In your experience, is there a Bandit top yolk or triple that will work in conjunction with the GSXR1100-K model bottoms? I am in the beginning stages of my conversion and I'm looking to "bolt-on" standard bars. Thanks for your help, Paul

Use an RF900 lower triple clamp in conjunction with the Bandit 1200 upper triple clamp. Both of these bikes use the same lower triple clamp (the aluminium part) pressed onto different steel stems. Same spacing, offset, 43mm diameter etc., and the rf900 is a easier fit into old GS head stems.