GS1100G suspension upgrades…recommeded parts?

[Buffalo Bill]

Sure will be fun testing the bike.

[Buffalo Bill]

Ok, I put a twist tie around one fork tube, then rode up and down some very bumpy country roads at various speeds, mostly real fast.
There was still 45mm clearance above the tie at it's highest level. Of course slow speeds allow more movement in the fork tubes.
The bike feels much more like a sport bike, fast bends were easy and undramatic.

The clip-ons are very adjustable, angled more backward they seemed almost under me, like Clubman bars. Some people would find that way comfortable.
I angled them as far forward as I could until the gauges obstruct them, anyway far forward is the most comfortable for me.

[Buffalo Bill]

Ok, installed shock extenders, a little bit higher at the back end, enough so the bike leans far on the side stand.
Can't test the ride until the roads dry off some.

[Chuck78]

Word of caution - definitely get a good set of springs and cartridge emulators (Racetech at least, Ricor Intiminators if available for 37mm GS forks) and keep that rear end jacked up. You have OEM exhaust, lowered front, and still not much extra elevation in the rear. AND crash bars.

My buddy had dropped the triples on his KZ1000 forks, stock springs, clubman bars (more weight on front), crash bars. On a 5 hour ride Ohio to Kentucky through some great twisties, following me through some really nice S curves, I arrive at the end of the road thinking "Geez, I just saw Dan in my mirror a minute ago..."

Turned around and found him standing over his bike upside down & backwards in the ditch. He scraped his crash bars leaning aggressively in the S curves, broke front tire traction, lost control... luckily it just banged him up a bit and bent his bars. Saddlebags took the hit mostly. And the mangled crash bar. Lowered front, soft springs, more weight on the front, wide crash bars... don't mix well with spirited cornering.

Point for you Bill - might want to do some rake and trail calculations to see how much longer rear shocks you can get without dropping below 95mm trail (gets pretty twitchy below that). Proper sporty rate front springs per Sonic. Emulators or Intiminators. Also, what clipons are those? I've been reading that maybe it was the newer versions of Vortex clipons are shorter height in the clamping area than most, so you don't have to drop the front as much.
There's also Riser clipons, which you can mount under the triples but they project upwards as if they were mounted at the top of the triples. If you go this route, I'd definitely suggest selling those Hagons and getting something with more advanced damping in 25mm longer length than stock in a spring rate matched to your bike and rider + gear weight. Works or Racetech are amazing even in the mid level (100% engineered for your bike), but YSS or Gazi or Hagon Nitro's are pretty great as well. I'd be pretty tempted to go with a 340mm YSS Z-362 if I were you, comes with a +10mm ride height adjuster to jump to 350mm also, bonus. Adjustable rebound damping, valving and spring selected for you based on some info collected about your setup, alloy body steel cylinder, threaded infinite positioning preload adjuster, self adjusting valving to compensate for cavitation/emulsion when the oil is worked up and hot. Pretty good looking set if performance shocks.


I failed to mention fork brace. Also a great investment with the rest.

And good grippy tires, road riders, sport demons, battlax bt45, etc. makes a world of difference.


with all of those changes, you will have the best handling GS 1100 G out there. I hope you get all of that stuff done or comparable! best of luck, drop me a line anytime.

[Buffalo Bill]

Thanks for your suggestions, I do have Sonic Springs installed.
About your friend's crash, probably he had bad body position: butt down head up, so he was pushing his bike down in the corners. That seems to be the natural tendency of all riders. MO-BETTA > Don't lead you friends so fast they crash trying to keep up.
About my crash bars, I am thinking about taking them off, and protecting the side covers with a welded on plate, I can find used side covers for backup.
However, they did get use because I dropped the bike a couple times.

[Buffalo Bill]

Ok, bolted this Tarozzi fork brace on today. tested it too as you can tell. Roads were too sandy for any real cornering test, but there is no binding.
I loosened the axle holder bolts before tightening the brace bolts, so the forks could adjust themselves to the brace.