new GS racer

[Guest]

Picked this up from a local road racer earlier this month, pretty excited:



Going to campaign her with the Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association next season, maybe an AHRMA event or two (currently not in the budget, but optimism never hurts).

I glassed in the taillight section of the seat last weekend, fit some new bars, etc. Just got a new seat from eBay, this is off a Kawasaki, doesn't look quite right.

[Crankthat]

Already has the works.
Looks like a lot of fun......
Very jealous.
Have fun.

[John Kat]

Looks very nice
What size wheels/tires do you have?
How long are the shocks from eye to eye?

[white79bu]

We need some details!I am getting ready to do a sv650 front end swap.

[patrino]

The details I know:

1. GS1100 aluminum swingarm
2. Works Performance piggyback shocks
3. SV650 wheels (front and rear)
4. EX500 front brakes
5. Keihin CR smoothbores
6. 1st-gen GSX-R600 front end
7. Braced frame (some of the Yosh mods)
8. LH crank-end cut off (otherwise motor is box-stock)

I didn't do this work, bought the bike this way. I've got a short list of changes to make, none of them that important. I won a free set of Gold Valves last year at the AHRMA Miller races (raffle) so figured I'd throw those in. I don't like the MAC pipe's look, so am working on replacing it. Plus maybe a paint job.

I'm a bit worried about ground clearance, yes, so if other folks have done 17" wheel conversions I'd like to know what dimensions they've got. On the bike (but without rider) the shocks have an eye-to-eye length of 14.25". Front forks (again, bike weight but without rider) measure 29" from top of fork tube to center of axle.

[patrino]

Ah!

Dyna ignition and 520 chain conversion, too.

[patrino]

John Kat, the front tire is a 120, the rear a 160. Don't know what the rim width is, if memory serves most 120s are on 3.5" rims, and 160s on 4.5" rims (somebody correct me here ...)

SV650 wheels, regardless, don't know what generation (or if they changed).

[white79bu]

What kind of exhaust are you looking at? The gs bikes seem to limited on what will drag and what wont.

[azr]

Very nice machine. Some closer photo's when you get a chance would be great. Something to droll over.

[patrino]

I'll grab some more photos this weekend.

Priority #1 with the pipe is ground clearance. Joe Signs reports that the MAC isn't bad when it comes to that.

My biggest beef with the MAC is the chrome, I'm not a big fan. Not a "real" problem, but hey ...

As far as performance goes, I tried to find dyno #s for different pipes but couldn't find any. Anyone got info on how any aftermarket pipes perform? I'm coming from the world of two-strokes, so all the exhaust options for the GS look the same to me. (:

[GregT]

Very nice. Quite similar to what we're running on our 1000 here in NZ.

Don't change the pipe until you've ridden it in anger...Yes, ground clearance is the main question but you need to ride it to find out if the power is where you want it for the tracks you race on. If it's too much up top not enough down low/middle or vice versa, then there are plenty here to advise on suitable changes.

Are your CR's 29's ? Most of the US race groups seem to have ruled that as max carb size. With a 4.5in rear you won't have probs...We don't have the carb size rule and our 1000 has now got more power than tyre...

Get it out and run it then tell us how it goes.

[John Kat]

I'm a bit worried about ground clearance, yes, so if other folks have done 17" wheel conversions I'd like to know what dimensions they've got. On the bike (but without rider) the shocks have an eye-to-eye length of 14.25". Front forks (again, bike weight but without rider) measure 29" from top of fork tube to center of axle.

It depends on how hard you ride of course
On my 1100 Kat I have GSXR 1100 wheels with the same size tires you have ( 4.5" rear wheel) and I use Bandit 1200 fork legs that measure 775 mm fully extended ( 30.5").
In fact I don't use the full length as I have placed the clip-ons above the triple clamp.
I haven't grounded so far... but I don't race the bike

[ptexotik]

Very nice machine. Some closer photo's when you get a chance would be great. Something to droll over.

+1 ... (interesting rear swingarm brace (?) / or is that just exhaust bracket?)

[patrino]

GregT, what are you running for tires?

[GregT]

I can't remember the sizes offhand as the bike's not here at present but they're 3.5in front and 4.5in rear with Michelin Pilot 2CT's fitted.
These are apparently one step down from the full race Pilot power's but we don't use tyre warmers (yet) and these warm up very quickly.

The local tyre guy who also races in our Post Classic class is trying to get us to try the latest and greatest Dunlops...His nephew has just won the European Junior Cup so he's plugged in to what's hot at present.

We're allowed slicks and sooner or later we're going to have to go to them and tyre warmers too...But that will mean spare rims and wets too.