GS1000 streetfighter idea w/ picture

[80GS1000]

Stay tuned for the next episode of this thread...still tinkering now and then. The bike hasn't tasted a Miller Motorsports Park trackday yet either, might have to fix that. Would be fun to go beat up on some newschool 600s.

 

[Bad Kaw]

Hoooooo-rahhhhhh!!!
Now that's what I wanna hear!

Post up as soon as you get more pics of ANYTHING!
-KR

 

[LilTinc]

An update-

The toughest part about doing this particular front end swap is the difference in steering stem diameter between the GS1000 and the GSXR 1000. The bearings on the bottom are the same size, but the bearings on the top are different.

The steering stem bearings on the two bikes are like this:

GS1000 UPPER:
25 mm inner diameter, 47 mm outer race diameter, and 15 mm height

GS1000 LOWER:
30 mm inner diameter, 55 mm outer race diameter, and 17 mm height

GSXR1000 UPPER:
30 mm inner diameter, 55 mm outer race diameter, and 17 mm height

GSXR1000 LOWER:
30 mm inner diameter, 55 mm outer race diameter, and 17 mm height

So, that leaves you with a few options. You can turn the GSXR steering stem down 5 mm on a lathe to get the upper steering stem to get it to fit the stock GS1000 bearing. This however potentially compromises the strength of the stem. You can get a new stem made to match the GSXR lower triple and the GS steering stem. But this is a PITA, involving drawing up accurate specifications to send to a machine shop for fabrication.

Or you can get the correct 30x47x15 bearing to mate the two. \\/ This guy custom makes these bearings for front end swaps, they are not available from any bearing manufacturer. Just so happens that the SV steering bearings are the same as the GS. Gotta love Suzuki interchangablilty.

Ground clearance shouldn't be too much of an issue as the new forks are only .5" shorter than the GS1000 forks. The main potential ground clearance issue is the fact that the new Gixxer front end has a lower profile 17" tire instead of the 19" on the GS1000. But the radial tire and vastly superior front forks should help prevent bottoming out. To be determined.

Hey,
Does anyone know where the "custom" upper bearing can be currently sourced?
My project is FINALLY about to begin.

 

[80GS1000]

http://www.twfracing.com/zparts.html

 

[80GS1000]

Trackday prep

Trackday prep

So the 2011 riding season here in Utah is almost upon us, and with it comes another season of trackdays and roadracing. It's been a dream of mine to ride a GS1000 on a track since I was a kid - I had a poster of Wes Cooley battling it out on a Yoshi GS1000 against Lawson etc in the old AMA Superbike days hanging on my bedroom wall in grade school.

It was something like this:

So let's make it happen...the first trackday of this new season is at Miller Motorsports Park on April 9th.

In order to make that happen, the following things need to be done:

1. Fix the starter clutch. Somewhere along the line it stripped a tooth and makes an awful racket when the bike is running. I have a NOS replacement for it, and will have to install it plus probably pull the oil pan to find the missing tooth.
2. Rebuild the clutch. Started slipping last riding season even with new springs, so got some new fibers on order.
3. Safety wire the front caliper mounting bolts, the oil drain plug, the oil filler cap, and the header bolts which especially like to work themselves loose. Lockwiring isn't required by the trackday org, but never hurts to make sure important bolts stay nice and tight.
4. Strip all the street gear off the bike. Taillight, turn signals, and probably the headlight. Thinking I'm going to be riding the track only this season.
5. Install a set of trackworthy tires. I'm not going to be pushing hard enough to justify a set of DOT race tires, so something between a regular sport tire and a DOT is the call. The nice thing about street tires vs. full on race tires is that they don't need tire warmers, handle heat cycling well, and last for stinkin' ever compared to race rubber.

The new Dunlop Qualifier 2 (Q2) tires have been getting rave reviews and are better priced than the Bridgestones and Michelins so that's probably going to be the selected tire. The profile on the Q2s in person looks exactly the same as the Dunlop 211 DOT race tire, so it should perform well on the track.

 

[salty_monk]

The new Shinko Trackday only tyre has been getting some decent reviews in the mags....

 

[speedorchid]

Agreed...it is a piece of art as it is....that being said...when u hack it up ;-) can I buy your exhaust.. ;-)

 

[Bevo]

I just read 83 pages of goodness!

That was really done well and the documentation was superb!
Great job!

 

[80GS1000]

Getting the GS R&D building bug again... :lol:

It's getting to be winter project time so I have a few things to do on the bike this winter:

Improve ride height: As cool it looks (IMO), I think the Gixxer 1000 front end will be eventually replaced with something like a Bandit 1200 front end. This will help regain valuable ground clearance. With RSU forks, it will give the bike a more traditional appearance vs. the USD forks it has now. Also, I don't like how the bike looks like it's leaning forward, so longer forks should "level" the appearance of the bike. Hurts the boys too when you're pretty much sitting on the gas tank when hard on the brakes. :lol:

Quicken the steering, improve chain straightness: Considering replacing the current 5.5" x 17" rear wheel with a 4.5" x 17" rear wheel, from a Bandit 600 or Katana 600. This help by allowing me to run a 160 vs. 180 rear tire, quickening the steering by narrowing the tire and raising rear ride height by about 12-13 mm, while bringing the rear sprocket closer to the center of the bike, making for better chain alignment. I'd like the bike to be able to turn in faster. As it sits, the front and rear sprockets are probably ~ 10 mm out of alignment, causing premature chain and sprocket wear. I want to get the sprockets dead nuts straight if possible.

GPS speedometer: I like the idea of having a speedometer which is self-contained, doesn't need a reading from a front wheel sensor etc.

 

[John Kat]

Glad to see you are back to the GS R&D
I followed your thread carefully before upgrading my own GS's.
Strangely, I decided to go less agressive than what you did.
First try was with my GS 1000 S that I equipped with GSXR 2nd gen wheels ( 4.5" rear), monoshock swingarm and RSU fork.
My ground clearance was also a little too low ( upfront) for my liking, so I decided to move to GSXR 1st gen components.
The fork is much longer and I have now the 18" wheels.
The roadholding is not quite at the same level as the previous set-up but it could be because the front fork is too softly sprung?
Maybe the tires also allthough I used radials for both?
Here are pictures of the two set-up's

 

[80GS1000]

Glad to see you are back to the GS R&D
I followed your thread carefully before upgrading my own GS's.
Strangely, I decided to go less agressive than what you did.
First try was with my GS 1000 S that I equipped with GSXR 2nd gen wheels ( 4.5" rear), monoshock swingarm and RSU fork.
My ground clearance was also a little too low ( upfront) for my liking, so I decided to move to GSXR 1st gen components.
The fork is much longer and I have now the 18" wheels.
The roadholding is not quite at the same level as the previous set-up but it could be because the front fork is too softly sprung?
Maybe the tires also allthough I used radials for both?
Here are pictures of the two set-up's

Nice bike! What do you mean when you say the roadholding is not at the same level? From what I've seen, 1 kg/mm springs in the forks are correct for any type of aggressive cornering with GSXR forks on a GS1000.

 

[John Kat]

Thanks!There is maybe another explanation about the difference in road holding between the two versions I built: the fork mounted fairing!
I discovered this on my 100%OEM GS 1000ST that handled very poorly, specially over 100 km/h.
After a lot of trials and errors, I discovered that the fairing had a very negative effect on high speed handling.
This could also explain the difference between my two versions of my GS 1000 XP as I never tried my first version with a fairing!
Later on, I discovered that the fairing was not the root cause of the weave on the std bike but the non-linear response from the suspension
Any small bump would unsettle the bike at speed made all the worse with the fairing...
First I replaced the old Konis that are apparently well know to develop hard spots over time.
The situation improved a lot but I still could not attack the turns with full confidence.
So last but not least, I changed the front fork for a true OEM one and...bingo the issue disappeared totally
The issue was related ( I believe) to stiction in the non-OEM front fork tubes.

 

[Agemax]

i have a gsxr1100 rear wheel with a 180 tire, bolted straight into a gsxr1100 swinger with no mods on spacers etc. 530 chain and sprockets and a 1/2 inch offset front sprocket.
admitedly the chain is close to the frame, but it clears it and the 2 sprockets are dead in line

 

[80GS1000]

i have a gsxr1100 rear wheel with a 180 tire, bolted straight into a gsxr1100 swinger with no mods on spacers etc. 530 chain and sprockets and a 1/2 inch offset front sprocket.
admitedly the chain is close to the frame, but it clears it and the 2 sprockets are dead in line

Which sprocket carrier did you use, the GS or GSXR?

Also what is the spindle diameter at the pivot on that GSXR swingarm?

 

[Agemax]

the wheel is all gsxr, nothing machined, just bolted straight in.
the swing arm is a one off made by JMC, it is a gsxr arm with a gs1000 pivot so it uses the stock gs spindle.
the JMC arm did come with 2 x5mm spacers that fit either side of the wheel in the swingarm

 

[John Kat]

I took no risk by using a complete GSXR 4.5 inch rear wheel on my GS 1100 Kat.with a 530 chain.
The front sprocket needs to be offset by 13 mm.
The AFAM P/N is 25003-16T

I checked the alignment with a laser tool.

 

[80GS1000]

I took no risk by using a complete GSXR 4.5 inch rear wheel on my GS 1100 Kat.with a 530 chain.
The front sprocket needs to be offset by 13 mm.
The AFAM P/N is 25003-16T

Good to know for those using the stock 1100 swingarm.

 

[80GS1000]

Interestingly enough the SV650 uses a 4.5x17" rear wheel (160 tire) and those wheels are cheap as chips on eBay right now....a 160 definitely turns in faster than a 180...

Also uses a 20 mm axle so if some 20 mm chain adjuster blocks can be slotted into the GSXR 1000 swingarm, we might have a winner....

Would need some wheel spacers made up but no biggie....

:-k

 

[80GS1000]

More suspension tech details....check this chart out.

06 Gixxer 750 forks are 18 mm longer than the 04 GSXR 1000 forks I have now. Unlike the Bandit forks, they're new tech and have compression, rebound, and preload adjustment. The spring rate is correct for GS applications at 1.0 kg/mm.

Also, 20 mm fork extender caps are available for the 750 forks, for a total of about 1.5 inches of additional front ride height over what's on the bike now.

So, it'd bring the fork length to 758 mm.

Stock GS1000 forks are 775 mm for reference, so using the 06 GSXR 750 forks with the extender caps would drop the front end down about 1.6" over stock, factoring in the 17" front GSXR wheel. Not bad.

And they look trick in that nice anodized black.

 

[John Kat]

Great info!
I collected the data on the "old" GSXR forks that I'll add tomorrow.
By the way, I noticed that Ohlins now produce RSU upgrade forks for bikes like the FJR 1300.
Surely not cheap but it would turn heads for sure