GS1100E Money Pit Thread

[posplayr]

Good input. Stuff to think about.

Frank doesn't make 43mm tubes. I already emailed and asked. This would have been my preference, but no go.
With an 18" wheel I'll open a can of fitment issues with the brakes and front fender. One of the advantages of the RF900 forks with the 17" wheel, is they go togther, so the 900 twin pots bolt right on making front brake conversion cake.
Option 3 sounds the the best, get a cheap top triple and hack off the clamps then weld underneath the clamps on the 900 triple. I'll have to see what the clearance is as it sits. I don't want to scrape my pipe every time I turn in my drive, but as you guys know I am a straight line speed guy, no plans to be footpeg scraping in the twisties.

My measurements for triple offset

Distance from the top of the fork to the top of the frame head set tube; compensates for drop triples

So normally the top of the stanchion is above the top of the frame as in the following measurements:

GS1100E -1 inch
GSXR 1100/750 1st Gen -1.0 inch
GSXR 1100/750 2nd Gen -1.5 inch
DropTriple 0.0 inch (no loss)

The numbers are negative because they subtract from the available stanchion length. A drop triple would at least buy back 1 inch and so the top of the stanchion would be level with the top of the steering tube (approx)

I pulled these numbers from my ride height spreadsheet. With a few numbers I can set it up for you and then send a copy. I have used it for GS1100EZ/ED ride height calculations.

More pics as promised.

The way the front axle is stepped, tightening it from the right side actually moves the wheel right to left in the forks. Interesting feature. Not quite centered when I took this pic.




Another side shot.

Some things you can do to lengthen it....

1. run an 18" front wheel.
2. Get longer tubes from frank
3. Get a second top triple, hack the clamps off & have them welded underneath what you have there already.
4. Have a custom top triple made...

One other idea i had is an adapter that would clamp to the top of the tube & then in turn slide in & clamp in the triple... no good reason I can think of why it wouldn't work but it wouldn't be cheap to machine.

Good input. Stuff to think about.

Frank doesn't make 43mm tubes. I already emailed and asked. This would have been my preference, but no go.
With an 18" wheel I'll open a can of fitment issues with the brakes and front fender. One of the advantages of the RF900 forks with the 17" wheel, is they go togther, so the 900 twin pots bolt right on making front brake conversion cake.
Option 3 sounds the the best, get a cheap top triple and hack off the clamps then weld underneath the clamps on the 900 triple. I'll have to see what the clearance is as it sits. I don't want to scrape my pipe every time I turn in my drive, but as you guys know I am a straight line speed guy, no plans to be footpeg scraping in the twisties.

[salty_monk]

Some things you can do to lengthen it....

1. run an 18" front wheel.
2. Get longer tubes from frank
3. Get a second top triple, hack the clamps off & have them welded underneath what you have there already.
4. Have a custom top triple made...

One other idea i had is an adapter that would clamp to the top of the tube & then in turn slide in & clamp in the triple... no good reason I can think of why it wouldn't work but it wouldn't be cheap to machine.

[posplayr]

I'll get you more measurements tomorrow.

The axle is stepped, the right third is one diameter, and the left 2/3 is another.

The reason I decided to mock this up is the 1100E stem is maybe .5 mm smaller than the Bandit, and the Bandit is too long. the 1100 stem would have the be knurled to fit the Bandit triple, so decided to try this first.

The forks are 29.5 unloaded, the wheel is 17", it's gonna be a drop for sure. Have some clearance idea later, but have to mock the pipe back up to know for sure..

I'm using 88/87 1100 forks and they are 30.25" so 29.5" with a drop triple aint bad at all.

But yes then there is the 17"" wheel

I'll get you more measurements tomorrow.

The axle is stepped, the right third is one diameter, and the left 2/3 is another.

The reason I decided to mock this up is the 1100E stem is maybe .5 mm smaller than the Bandit, and the Bandit is too long. the 1100 stem would have the be knurled to fit the Bandit triple, so decided to try this first.

The forks are 29.5 unloaded, the wheel is 17", it's gonna be a drop for sure. Have some clearance idea later, but have to mock the pipe back up to know for sure..

[posplayr]

FYI

The RF900 front end is as straight as bolt on as there is. I had to slightly grind the steering stop, but other than that, the bearings are the same, and the stem is the same length and diameter. I had it bolted on in an hour.




I don't like the bars, but I believe I can remove them and fit the risers from the bandit triple I bought and don't need (DOH!).

More picks from the process to come.

If U dont mind,
What is the stansion OD?
What is the overall (unloaded length)?
What is the axle OD?

From here looks like a good fit

FYI

The RF900 front end is as straight as bolt on as there is. I had to slightly grind the steering stop, but other than that, the bearings are the same, and the stem is the same length and diameter. I had it bolted on in an hour.




I don't like the bars, but I believe I can remove them and fit the risers from the bandit triple I bought and don't need (DOH!).

More picks from the process to come.

Finished up all the work on my G today, and finally got a chance to remove tank, seat and side covers from the E. Every tab on the side covers is broken, From the underside of the tank it used to be the Burgundy color, and the whole bike needs to be dipped in PB Blaster. What you'd expect from a $400 bike.

Pretty sure both of my side covers have at least one broken tab. Seems intact ones are something of a rarity. When I pulled my tank for the first time, (in the bike's life, it seemed) the amount grunge that had accumulated under there was epic. Took a few hours with a nylon scrub brush and a spray bottle of Simple Green, and went to town. Make sure you have something underneath the bike to catch all the dripping fluid, this crap WILL stain your concrete. Grab a radio, this isn't exactly stimulating work, but it is necessary. Clean parts are so much more fun to tinker with, eh?

Finished up all the work on my G today, and finally got a chance to remove tank, seat and side covers from the E. Every tab on the side covers is broken, From the underside of the tank it used to be the Burgundy color, and the whole bike needs to be dipped in PB Blaster. What you'd expect from a $400 bike.

What I'm now considering is having Frank's Forks, make me 1" extended tubes for the RF900 forks to take them to 30.5 to partially compensate for loss of clearance, plus totally unpitted tubes (used) are almost impossible to find.

I agree with Jim on this one, take it from experience I tried to piece one together and ultimately ended up finding a complete 94 GSXR 1100 front end for mine. Trying to mesh Bandit/GSXR/RF900 is probably workable but having the complete front end makes for a lot less headaches. If you are interested in a GSXR 1100 front end let me know, I know of one for sale.

Thanks guys. I'm going to give it a try and if it fails, such is life. I'll sell the bandit triples (at not too much of a loss hopefully), and go back to square one with a complete front end. The one thing that might bite me I think would be the distance between the forks on the Bandit triple being too narrow to mount the RF900 wheel. The RF900 forks are 29.5, so reasonable length, and are the same style and diameter as the Bandit, so we'll see. Probably going to be some clearance issues any way you look at it mounting a 17" wheel on 29.5" forks, but it's another "we'll see how it plays out".

Good Luck, but the general recommendation on front end conversion is to go with complete front ends. Different combos work but it is much more difficult to thread that needle.

I agree with Jim on this one, take it from experience I tried to piece one together and ultimately ended up finding a complete 94 GSXR 1100 front end for mine. Trying to mesh Bandit/GSXR/RF900 is probably workable but having the complete front end makes for a lot less headaches. If you are interested in a GSXR 1100 front end let me know, I know of one for sale.

Good Luck, but the general recommendation on front end conversion is to go with complete front ends. Different combos work but it is much more difficult to thread that needle.

I can always get bandit forks if it proves problematic. The RF900 are the exact same type of cartridge fork (pretty sure) in 29.5" length. I am trying to research what the length of the bandit forks were, but no luck yet.

[posplayr]

Alright, major step on the front end. 02 bandit 1200 upper and lower triple and risers for $135.00 shipped. 43 mm, so they will work with the RF900 forks, or if I find those too short I can plug in one of the longer 43mm sets.

Good Luck, but the general recommendation on front end conversion is to go with complete front ends. Different combos work but it is much more difficult to thread that needle.