GS 1000/1150 rear wheel facts

[John Kat]

Following my pitch on how to check your frame with a laser beam: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=219818 ,I had the idea that any rear wheel will be centered if the distance from the "reference" surface to the wheel center remains the same.
Now given that the spacer between the rear wheel and the caliper bracket is the same for all models ( P/N 64740-45002) and given that the caliper bracket is also identical ( P/N 69721-47011), you only need to measure the distance between the wheel center and the disk center to compare your wheels in order to decide if you can use the same spacer outboard of the caliper bracket to center your wheel
I've measured a few for you:
GS 1000 EC ( 2.5*17" wheel) : 85 mm
GS 1000 SN/ST ( 2.15*18" wheel) : 80 mm
GS 1150 ( 3*17" wheel) : 75 mm
GS 1150 ( 3.5*17" wheel) : 75 mm.
So in practice if you put an 18" wheel on your skunk you will have to use a larger outboard spacer ( this is the case with the OEM spacers that go from 12 to 17 mm wide)
The interesting part is when you want to use a wider 1150 rear wheel!
Here the spacer has to grow by 10 mm compared to the one used for your "skunk" wheel.
So much for today.
Tomorrow I'll go into the spacers required on the left hand side with these wheels

 

[John Kat]

I measured the bearing to bearing width of the different wheels I have.
GS 1000 C ( spokes) 111 mm
GS 1000 SN/ST ( 18") 111 mm
GS 1150 ( 3" and 3.5" ) 111 mm
GS 1100 SD Katana 2.5" 116 mm
The Sprocket center line to the wheel center line measures:
GS 1000 SN/ST 90 mm
GS 1150 3.5" 93 mm

All this means that on the 1150 3.5" wheel the disk has moved inboard by 5 mm ( versus GS 1000 S) to 10 mm ( versus GS 1000 EC and GS 1100 Katana).
This has to be compensated by an additional 5 to 10 mm spacer outboard of the caliper carrier.
On the LH side the spacer has to be reduced in ALL cases by 5 mm.
The sprocket on the 1150 wheel is moved outboard by 3 mm compared to the other GS wheels.
This requires moving the engine sprocket outboard by the same amount.
This has been done by Suzuki on their 1150 bikes with a 3 mm longer sprocket spacer.
This part ( 09180-25074) measures 25*32*21.6 mm and is available from Suzuki.
I hope this will conclude the long debate on adapting GS 1150 wheels to the other GS 1000/1100's ...