'97 katana 600 front end and wheels swapped onto my '79 gs1000e chain drive

[garyS-NJ]

I recently picked up a '97 katana 600 no title and planned to part it out with the black wheels going on my '95 katana 750 then my purple wheels from the '95 kat 750 going on the GS1000 along with the '97 kat 600 front end..

Well I'm thinking about it (along with moving the kat 600 BST 33's (or 32's?) onto the GS1000 to replace the stock VM26's.. (got to research that..).

anyway, I recently got the '95 katana 750 on the road and it is the newest bike I've ever ridden and I'm super impressed with the handling. It just rides straight, leans over great and carves, and pretty stable up over 100mph. I'm used to riding 70's to 80's bikes.

So I'm thinking the kat front end and front brakes will be a treat for the GS1000 but now I'm reading more about rake and trail concerns..

I've found a few threads about katana front end on GS messing up the geometry making for a wonky handling bike (in fact, there were posts that said ditch the katana upper and lower triple trees for lower and upper from two different mikes (I guess to get more rake & trail, closer to the GS geometry).

Can any of you folks that have done this sort of mod and obtained better than stock handling post here?>? and also, post links for the build threads? this bike would be a bar hopper for cool points but I don't want to sacrifice any ridability because my friends all have newer bikes and I don't want to get killed trying to keep up with them,.

thanks!

 

[thebrandonbeezy]

Be sure to check my reply! Also if you ever find your way down in fl I'll take the 600 engine off your hands

 

[garyS-NJ]

thanks Brandon.

So nobody else here on GS resources have experience good or bad with swapping a later model front end into their GS?? Brandon's change in rake (and trail) I would think to be a major change in geometry and ride stability but he reports nimble and solid up over 100mph (but still wants to add a steering dampener?). After riding my stock '95 katana 750 and seeing how easily it can be steered at slow speeds up over 100mph, I don't want to ride anything that might ride worse than that or the 70's and 80's bikes I'm used to. So the front end swap would have to represent a ride improvement.. Bandon likes it but had adjustable height shocks in the rear to adjust trail (what kind of shocks again Brandon?).. Comments?

 

[thebrandonbeezy]

Theyre cheap ebay rfy shocks, stock length shocks are shorter. Which will decrease rake and increase trail. Which is closer to stock. If you do the swap you wont regret it. If you go back a few pages on my thread you can see the measurements mines at. I want my damper cause i have it and it looks cool soo haha

 

[thebrandonbeezy]

You also mentioned the kat carbs
Heres the stock specs on them, i think they'd be a good mild performance increase for a gs imo

 

[thebrandonbeezy]

Paging Chuck78

Paging Chuck78

That guy^ he's the man who you need to talk to about suspension geometry, and how your ride will be affected..