GSX1150 Rebuild

[ensure]

I saw your picture when you first loaded it. It certainly lines up better than mine.

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I have pulled bike apartand can align wheel like this

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But now the brake caliper doesnt fit so there is still work to do.
I am going to swap the original swingarm back in and see if that makes a difference.
Otherwise I may have to mount the caliper bracket off the swingarm.

Oh and I saw after my ride that the front fork seals are leaking a tiny amount so they will need replacing.

[dorkburger]

I was hoping this tweaked swingarm was the cause of my problems. Unfortunately it was just a bit player.
http://Damaged goods.... by Glen Brenner, on Flickr

[ensure]

So I took the wheel out and installed it in my spare frame and swingarm. It lines up offset just like when its on my bike.
I took a few diagonal measurements on both frames and they are both very similar

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I even tried some triginometry lining up the centre of front wheel with centre of rear spring in swingarm with centre of frame at back of bike

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What I take from this is that my frame is not twisted at all and the problem is with the wheel alignment.

So out with the hacksaw and file to remove 3-4mm off the caliper mounting bracket to give some more space on RHS.
I also removed the 1 washer I had on the RHS. This enabled me to install 2 washers on the LHS of axle

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hence moving the whole wheel across approx 7mm to the right

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Alignment now looks like this

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Its not perfect but it is getting close

I also had to shave 3mm off the inside edge of caliper torque link bar so that would align properly

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I probably have enough meat in caliper bracket to trim another 2-3mm off it before it loses its strength completely so I could move wheel across another washers width. Any more than that will require moving caliper mount onto swingarm.
I dont think I want to go there.

I took it out for a ride and it handles good. Is it better? I think it is but its hard to tell if it is or just my imagination saying it is.

[wyly]

S

I took it out for a ride and it handles good. Is it better? I think it is but its hard to tell if it is or just my imagination saying it is.

it must be better but with such things you often don't notice the difference until you've pushed the bike to the edge when it fails and you find yourself sliding down the road.

The mechanic I use is a suspension expert with many years on the Superbike circuit with factory rides he told of me of home mechanics who got the geometry all wrong and and end up in the ER or morgue. He emphasized that even small changes can have huge effects on handling.

[ensure]

In response to an earlier question from Wyly What is the difference in weight between 2 wheels ? I have an answer

18" c/w disc and sprocket 18.7 kg
17" c/w disc and sprocket 16.6 kg

Something else I noticed with losing 13mm of ground clearance is that it is noticeably harder getting the bike up onto centrestand.
I have placed a sheet of timber on floor that i push bikes rear wheel onto before lifting onto centrestand. It makes a real difference.

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The side stand really needs shortening by a cm as well as the bike doesnt lean over very far. I am worried it will fall to the right if i am not careful.

[ensure]

I have taken a little more width off the caliper bracket so i can get the wheel across another 2mm to the right

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It has made a minute difference to the alignment so I am going to leave it there.

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One other area that need modification was the chainguard. I have had to take a hunk out of that to give clearance to tyre

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This will probably prove a bit generous now as the wheel as gone back to the right a little.

[Rob S.]

The mechanic I use is a suspension expert with many years on the Superbike circuit with factory rides he told of me of home mechanics who got the geometry all wrong and and end up in the ER or morgue. He emphasized that even small changes can have huge effects on handling.

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.

[wyly]

In response to an earlier question from Wyly What is the difference in weight between 2 wheels ? I have an answer

18" c/w disc and sprocket 18.7 kg
17" c/w disc and sprocket 16.6 kg

Something else I noticed with losing 13mm of ground clearance is that it is noticeably harder getting the bike up onto centrestand.
I have placed a sheet of timber on floor that i push bikes rear wheel onto before lifting onto centrestand. It makes a real difference.

[IMG][/IMG]

The side stand really needs shortening by a cm as well as the bike doesnt lean over very far. I am worried it will fall to the right if i am not careful.

Good to know thanks! So for two wheels about an 4kg/8lb weight savings in dry wt, as it's a rolling unsprung weight it'll improve suspension/handling.

It was never easy to get it up on the centre stand but as my Hindle headers required removal the centre stand it's not a issue. I agree the side stand was a bit long, on the first day riding after I restored the efe to oem the sidestand folded up and it fell on to the curb damaging the new paint, not a happy day.

Have you converted the front wheel to a 17" from the oem 16" ?

[ensure]

Wyly

Yes I have changed front wheel as well. Check out Post #41
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Once I get the front forks off again to replace the seals I will post the weight comparison for the front end as well

Getting onto the final tasks now I have had to come up with a method to light the numberplate seeing as I have removed the stock option. In reality I wll probably never ride the bike at night but if i want to get it registered for the road then it is a neccesity.

Due to positioning of numberplate I thought that I could use the illumination from rear tail lamps to illuminate plate if i cut some holes in bottom of plastic lense

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So I drilled a bunch of holes across the bottom face

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Because of the angle of the face and thickness of plastic I worked out there would not be any spill light to shine in the eyes of following motorists

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Unfortunately it does not give enough illumination so an additional light source is required

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Need to get a LED striplight in there.

[wyly]

I purchased a led set up from the US, it didn't cost much and it blends in perfectly, if you're interested I can search through my invoices to see where I found it.

[wyly]

So even with the 17" front the sidestand was still too short?

[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.