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16" vs 19" front wheel

Spiff

Spiff

Forum Mentor
Hi. I recently accuired a 1983 GSX1100ES, it needs new brakelines and fork seals at the front and on a used parts page I see quite a few GSX1100EF's being broken. They have the 16" front wheel and maybe a better suspension?
What are the benefits of swapping to that setup, if any?
Is it worth it? I assume it's pretty straight forward....
 
Better check the steering head angle. I suspect 16" bikes have a shallower head angle to offset the reduced stability of the smaller wheel.
 
It's clear that the 16" wheel will make the steering feel more nimble.
Not a bad thing considering the weight of the bike:rolleyes:
I believe the caster angle has remained the same for all GS 1100's as Suzuki used a longer fork for the bikes equipped with the 16" wheel.
It's the trail that's reduced with the smaller wheel.
Some time ago I devised a formula that links these variables together in case you want to investigate different possibilities;)
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=187077
It's good to know also that reducing the height in the front of the bike by 1 inch will typically reduced the castor angle by 1?.
The same applies of course for the rear if you lift it by 1 inch:cool:
 
Yes it's fairly straight forward, I put a 16" wheel on the front of my 1000s but stayed with the original yokes, I extended the tubes by 32mm by using gsx750/1100 tubes to take care of the changed rake angle, also because the 1000 yokes were narrower I had to turn a bit out of the bearing spacing and also off the hub where the disc is bolted I think it was about 3.2mm each side, but its so long ago I can't remember the details.
The 16" wheel was very good for 'tipping in' to the turns and you could power on sooner and lift the bike out of the corners on the throttle, completely suited my style of riding.
I would've liked to stay with the 16" wheel but when I changed to spokes I had to go to 17" as I felt most of the tip in feel was lost.
The picture shows when it had the Katana sliders which were abandoned early on because as far as sliders go it made no difference so I put the originals back on.

DSC02794-Copy.jpg


John beat me to it, well done. :)
 
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Before deciding to go 16in, check on tyre availability.
16's are becoming rare - and top of the line rubber is now equally rare.
 
If I remember rightly the fork legs for the 16" wheel (i measured 83GS750ES) were at least an inch longer (plus the bit for fixing the clipons on top) so in total somewhere close to 2".... This is a 5 year old memory though so the figures may be wrong.
 
I have enjoyed the feel of 16" front wheels on several bikes, from Interceptors and Ninjas to the current beast of my 1150. I'm probably in a small minority, but there is something good about the way they turn in that I quite like.
 
GregT said:
Before deciding to go 16in, check on tyre availability.
16's are becoming rare - and top of the line rubber is now equally rare.
Click to expand...

Yep. And they're only going to get more rare.
 
Only 6 different choices available on bike bandit in the 110/90-16 dimension: http://www.bikebandit.com/110-90-16-street-motorcycle-tires/n1348-4294966192-4294966933

I have the bridgestone battlax tires on my GS and they're great.
I have only driven the GSX a short ride but it felt like a pig, but so did the GS before I swapped out the old tyres for the bridgestones and installed new progressive springs. After that I could flick it around as easily as the GSR600 I rode on the driving school!
So I guess it's maybe the same thing with this GSX, it just needs a tuneup. But If a 16" setup can be had cheap enough then I might as well go for that I think.
 
OR! Can I just swap the wheel over and buy the longer fork tubes? Or are there differences in the shock? I'm guessing it is?
 
Plus one on the Bridgestone battleax tire. I have 16 inch wheels on my Ninja and the Bridgestones are the best rubber I've found yet. Great grip, good wear ability, and a generally predictable tire.

One downside to the smaller front wheels is that I noticed the bike has a tendency to follow cracks and grooves in the road when the Dunlop tires were on. Thankfully they didn't last long and the Bridgestone alleviated this issue. Although my gs with the 19 inch tire handled bumpy roads much better even with the better rubber.

If the parts are available try it out. Why not.
 
Given the choice I think I'd put an 18" GSXR rim on instead or a modern 17" rim. The Forks for the 16" wheels are wider so there should be room to fit it all in....

The 1150 17" Rear matches the pattern of the 18" GSXR rim.

Just a thought... :)
 
Tim Tom said:
Plus one on the Bridgestone battleax tire. I have 16 inch wheels on my Ninja and the Bridgestones are the best rubber I've found yet. Great grip, good wear ability, and a generally predictable tire.

One downside to the smaller front wheels is that I noticed the bike has a tendency to follow cracks and grooves in the road when the Dunlop tires were on. Thankfully they didn't last long and the Bridgestone alleviated this issue. Although my gs with the 19 inch tire handled bumpy roads much better even with the better rubber.

If the parts are available try it out. Why not.
Click to expand...

Parts are available but not cheap, well I guess they are cheap but not cheap when you consider the money I was going to spend on this bike.
And you have a point with the bad roads and the 19" tire because if it's one thing whe're not short on here in Norway it's bad roads :rolleyes:
 
Someone here mentioned the 16" wheel is wider, does that mean the width between the fork tubes is also wider? Meaning I would need a new (EF) lower and upper tripple to?

I asked a motorcycle shop that also breaks and sells bikes about this conversion but I was told this would be too costly and require lots of money and modification... But from what you guys have told me it appears to be bolt on
 
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