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GS750: White Orphan Baby build

  • Thread starter Thread starter DannyMotor
  • Start date Start date
Tonight: complete rear disassembly, turn the frame over, start removing mounting bolts. Sunday = motor liberation day.
 
You put leading axle forks on a bike that had end axle forks stock. That may make for some goofy handling. The steering mast wasn't designed for leading axle, don't know how much that will affect rake and trail...
 
TheCafeKid said:
You put leading axle forks on a bike that had end axle forks stock. That may make for some goofy handling. The steering mast wasn't designed for leading axle, don't know how much that will affect rake and trail...
Click to expand...


I did think of that, but the leading forks are identical in height from top of the tube to the axle, so the only 'real' difference is the axle is set 1 inch forward of where it was... which, if anything would make for more stability (longer wheelbase) and slightly slower turn in, which I'm fine with. I don't think it'll affect anything negatively.. shouldn't cause a wobble, or anything weird like that. I'm pretty sure, if worse comes to worse, I could simply raise the forks up in the trees a bit, 10mm-15mm max.
 
I have been playing with doing just that to one of my 1000G's to make more of a highway cruiser out of it as a matter of fact.
TCK, has anyone ever done it before on GSR? OldSkool? I have never seen anyone try.

Eric
 
TONIGHT: Spent about an hour and a half going balls-out on some of the final tear-down.

Took the boots off the head, looks like there was a bit of a leak by how much gunk was around them, and the o-rings are hard as rocks, had to use a pick to snap a hole in them to peel them out.

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Then I started to tackle the steering head, prepping it for tapered races and caged bearings for the new Triple Trees.

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Then I went back to the rear of the bike to tackle disassembly. As you can see the GS1000 wheel and tire fit AWESOME, and look MUCH better, filling up the gap that dinky 18" spoke wheel and tire left. Should add a bit better handling to have a 130 out back rather than the 3.5 that was back there before. After a once-over, I pulled the swingarm bolt, undid the brake line and pulled the rear out in one piece.


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cont....

Next up, I tackled removing those odd-ball chrome foot-pegs... ended up snapping the LH one off inside one of the holes... Nice place for this to happen! So far this is the ONLY bolt I've stripped or broken on this ENTIRE bike! If all goes well, hopefully it'll be the last.

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Urgh... what a mess!!!

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Pulled out the 'spare' exhaust that came with the bike... looks like an old Kerker, but I can't be sure.. probably a cheap knock off... there are absolutely no markings on it.

I decided to use a little "rust-b-gone" to see if there would be any salvaging the chrome, and no... not at all. Looks like more flat-black paint will be involved!

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cont...

Lastly, I pulled the valve cover to do check out the cam lobes and see what's going on.

All-in-all, things look good... except for ONE thing... The exhaust valve on cylinder 1 looks to be a little scored. It's smooth, but it obviously got hot at one point. The shim under it looks to be fine. I don't know if the gap was WAY too tight at one point causing the excess heat, or if it's something more threatening... but it doesn't seem to have done any physical damage to the lobe, so I'm not super worried...

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Come Sunday, I should have the motor completely out of the frame, washed and prepped for paint... before I go too much further, I think I'm going to do the valve check and see where everything's at. Then I can button it back up, and start the fun part!

During engine freshening up, I'll also be working on the frame. They're the two biggest parts I have to worry about, and the basis for everything else I have to do... so the sooner I can get them done, the better I'll feel about moving forward with wheels, tins, and everything else :). So far... still feeling good!
 
DannyMotor said:
I did think of that, but the leading forks are identical in height from top of the tube to the axle, so the only 'real' difference is the axle is set 1 inch forward of where it was... which, if anything would make for more stability (longer wheelbase) and slightly slower turn in, which I'm fine with. I don't think it'll affect anything negatively.. shouldn't cause a wobble, or anything weird like that. I'm pretty sure, if worse comes to worse, I could simply raise the forks up in the trees a bit, 10mm-15mm max.
Click to expand...

Well, and this is just from my perspective based on what I personally go after in mods: GSes were already fairly long in wheelbase compared to KZs and CBs of the day. This gave them a benefit in handling at high speed over their counterparts. The cost of this stability was a bit of, in my opinion, tractor like steering heft and speed. Lengthening the wheelbase even farther make that feel even heavier and slower.
Ive never done this set up so I can't say for sure. But that longer base might also make the front wheel "flop" in slow speed handling.

Totally my opinion of course, but I've had a few GSes at past triple digits, and as long as the steering bearings and such are good, they're rock solid at speed. Me, im often after the other end of the spectrum, trying to shorten up the wheel base a bit to quicken the steering and sharpen turn in...
 
TheCafeKid said:
Well, and this is just from my perspective based on what I personally go after in mods: GSes were already fairly long in wheelbase compared to KZs and CBs of the day. This gave them a benefit in handling at high speed over their counterparts. The cost of this stability was a bit of, in my opinion, tractor like steering heft and speed. Lengthening the wheelbase even farther make that feel even heavier and slower.
Ive never done this set up so I can't say for sure. But that longer base might also make the front wheel "flop" in slow speed handling.

Totally my opinion of course, but I've had a few GSes at past triple digits, and as long as the steering bearings and such are good, they're rock solid at speed. Me, im often after the other end of the spectrum, trying to shorten up the wheel base a bit to quicken the steering and sharpen turn in...
Click to expand...

Oh, I hear you. My daily driver is a 2001 Triumph Tiger 955i, which has leading front forks, a super long wheelbase, about 5" of ground clearance, and weighs about 540lbs... so big, heavy, cumbersome bikes are something I have an affinity for... :)

Not to mention that I've dragged peg so much on the Tiger I need a new one on the right side. Hahaha. I'm going to be playing with a few handlebar choices as well, either low, super-bike bars, or clubman bars... Hopefully the clubmans will work, but having a wider bar with a flatter stance will help the input to the front wheel. Cafe bars might muddy up the feel, or cause that low-speed 'flop'.

.. We'll see!
 
Even with the leading axle forks, it would still be over 2" shorter wheel-base than my old V-65 Sabre.
That bike, felt bad at less than 35 mph in turns. It was, however, smooth as glass over 140.


Eric
 
7981GS said:
Even with the leading axle forks, it would still be over 2" shorter wheel-base than my old V-65 Sabre.
That bike, felt bad at less than 35 mph in turns. It was, however, smooth as glass over 140.


Eric
Click to expand...

My brother's got a 87' Intruder 750 that is awful under 15mph. Talk about 'lock and flop' doing parking-lot figure-8's is near impossible without your butt hanging completely off the opposite side. Haha.
 
Wow - you know way more about this stuff than me! Thanks to the guys here I can follow what you're doing but I couldn't do half of what you are doing.

I really like that you are using the cast wheels - I think they look cool. And the frame has a great shape to it. One thing I found with my GS1100G is that the difference in tyre size from front to back is quite large which can look a bit odd. I found a fatter tyre which fits my front rim, looks better (IMHO) and seems to handle really well. Not Harley fat but a better match for the rear. With new bearings like the ones you are using it steers a lot better than it did when I got it. Nimble but solid at speed.

Amazing work and on a bike even worse than mine! Good stuff.
 
Thanks man! It's 99% exposure when it comes to this stuff... Get a manual, read a little here-and-there, and get your hands dirty! It's the only way to figure some of this stuff out!

The 1000 wheel on the back IS bulky compared to the front. I absolutely LOVE the honey-comb style pattern on my back tire, and my front is a flat-track style straight tread (very 50's) so I may opt for finding another honeycomb style tread front in a wider size to offset the bulk.

I'm not really sure where this build will take me yet. It's going to be a trick, muscle, cafe, cruiser type... kinda the best of all worlds, and yet remain comfortable and dependable.
 
Yeah they can go in many directions, can't they? Such a great platform. I bought mine purely because I thought it looked good and was cheap, but since buying it have discovered that it's actually a really good bike. Every time I mention Suzuki GS anyone who knows about bikes will tell me how strong the engines are and how reliable. Now I've had a chance to ride it I have been surprised at how much fun it is, and how easy it is to ride.

Keep up the good work!
 
Dear 1970's Suzuki Motor Corp.... why does your motor weigh as much as the entire motorcycle WITHOUT the motor? My back hurts.

Sincerely...

Slipped disc.


Just kidding. Pulled the motor... fun stuff tomorrow!
 
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There's the frame... ready for a de-grease, power-wash, and sanding/stripping.


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Got the motor ready for some TLC... it's going to take a WHILE.
 
More bad news.... during cleanup, I noticed that under the stator cover, two of the bottom bolt perches have HUGE cracks around them and the bottom of the cover is stained yellow... oye-vey. Now I need a stator cover! Hopefully this is the last 'little' annoyance before re-assembly.
 
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Welp, got her painted... not sure if I'll keep the valve cover black or not... we'll see once it's in the frame.

In the last picture, you can see the awful cracks.... *sigh*... back to e-bay!
 
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