GSX1100S Katana rim sizes...

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Paul, Iam going to have the Kat spokes replaced after I polish and clear coat the hubs and rims, still have to make up my mind about going for stainless or genuine spokes at this stage and of course who to do the job. What sort of price have you been paying for respoke work with Ash's and are you happy with the work? Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Wasnt mine but i rode it way back when. more pics here....

Hey sharpy, great pics mate! Single pivot helmet visors with no locks, non armoured leathers, number boards that can take ya leg off, razor blade tyres, potholed tracks made of concrete and tar and riders made of iron! Aaaahhhh those were the days. And the support crew was usually a couple of mates, a ute and the Girlfriend, well for a while anyway.

 

[sharpy]

Hi Paul, Iam going to have the Kat spokes replaced after I polish and clear coat the hubs and rims, still have to make up my mind about going for stainless or genuine spokes at this stage and of course who to do the job. What sort of price have you been paying for respoke work with Ash's and are you happy with the work? Cheers.

Ash is THE bloke in australia to do your wheels. He took over fron Keith Novak who used to run Tyres for Bikes. Ash worked for titman racing doing all there wheels and when keith "retired" everyone was worried who would do there wheels but ash is making people happy. You be kicking ureself if u dont do the stainless option and there way shiner than the cad plated spokes. I even polished my spokes before i put them in. Only down side is there a tad more brittle and one snapes now and then(6mths)

 

[pmcburney]

Hi Paul, Iam going to have the Kat spokes replaced after I polish and clear coat the hubs and rims, still have to make up my mind about going for stainless or genuine spokes at this stage and of course who to do the job. What sort of price have you been paying for respoke work with Ash's and are you happy with the work? Cheers.

Hi Shin-Ken,


I can only echo Sharpy's comments about Ash, he does really excellent work and is a bloody nice guy to boot.

He did a set of Kat wheels for me for an 1100 I restored about five years ago, and he's done my GT750 wheels (two sets), all my dirtbike wheels, and if I decide to build another set of Kat wheels, I'll get him to do them as well.

He can sort everything you need - polishing, bead-blasting, drum-arcing etc.
Just give him the bits and wait for the great result!

Pricing is as I posted previously. You can do the lacing yourself if you like, but it will still cost $100 or so a wheel to get Ash to true them (standard labour rates apply).

I'd go with stainless spokes. Ash can supply stainless that look OEM, but of course they won't rust. As Sharpy said, they can be a bit brittle, but I'd be happy to replace the odd spoke rather than an entire set when the plating goes off...

There is another wheel-builder in SEQ - Mike Warner on the Sunny Coast. I've had wheels built by him as well, and he does work of the same quality for a similar price.
Ash is a bit closer to me, so it's a no-brainer as to who I go to.

Slightly off-topic for a bit...
I want to preserve my original exhaust system, i.e. fill it with something and stash it away and fit my bike with a good four-into-one.

Can you (or anyone else for that matter...) advise about the best preservation method?


Cheers
Paul

 

[ozman]

Sharpy is on the money there with the rim size. 19 x 1.85 and 18 x 2.50 were the standard road size rims fitted ex factory. Australian, South Africian and New Zealand (not sure about Canadian model) Katana rims were made by Takasago in Japan and are made of alloy, not steel as fitted to the earlier GS models.

P.S. No, the pic Joe has posted here is not my Katana, I wish it was!!! I hope my restoration turns out as good as the photo, I'd be happy with the result.

The GS1000HC usa model came with single front disc and spoked wheels with alloy rims 19 inch front 18 inch rear standard
Oz

 

[sharpy]

Heard a rumour the Warner wheels fella passed away.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Shin-Ken,


I can only echo Sharpy's comments about Ash, he does really excellent work and is a bloody nice guy to boot.

He did a set of Kat wheels for me for an 1100 I restored about five years ago, and he's done my GT750 wheels (two sets), all my dirtbike wheels, and if I decide to build another set of Kat wheels, I'll get him to do them as well.

He can sort everything you need - polishing, bead-blasting, drum-arcing etc.
Just give him the bits and wait for the great result!

Pricing is as I posted previously. You can do the lacing yourself if you like, but it will still cost $100 or so a wheel to get Ash to true them (standard labour rates apply).

I'd go with stainless spokes. Ash can supply stainless that look OEM, but of course they won't rust. As Sharpy said, they can be a bit brittle, but I'd be happy to replace the odd spoke rather than an entire set when the plating goes off...

There is another wheel-builder in SEQ - Mike Warner on the Sunny Coast. I've had wheels built by him as well, and he does work of the same quality for a similar price.
Ash is a bit closer to me, so it's a no-brainer as to who I go to.

Slightly off-topic for a bit...
I want to preserve my original exhaust system, i.e. fill it with something and stash it away and fit my bike with a good four-into-one.

Can you (or anyone else for that matter...) advise about the best preservation method?


Cheers
Paul

Hi Paul, thanks for the run down on Ash and his work. As for storage of exhaust I have used fish-oil for headers, removed headers and rolled them by hand until the inner walls are coated then seal the ends with duct tape. Haven't tried to store an original muffler (never had one) so depending on the baffle material may well decide how you treat the cans. Cheers.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Ash is THE bloke in australia to do your wheels. He took over fron Keith Novak who used to run Tyres for Bikes. Ash worked for titman racing doing all there wheels and when keith "retired" everyone was worried who would do there wheels but ash is making people happy. You be kicking ureself if u dont do the stainless option and there way shiner than the cad plated spokes. I even polished my spokes before i put them in. Only down side is there a tad more brittle and one snapes now and then(6mths)

Hi Sharpy, if Ash can be mentioned in the same sentance as Keith then thats good enough for me. I meet Keith when he was still working out of the Shop before his first retirement. Spoke with him a few times when he was doing wheels from his home around the late 1990's, good bloke and a wheel genius! Thanks for the tip about Ash I'll chase him up in the New Year for some ideas on the Kat wire wheels, cheers and Merry Christmas.

 

[pmcburney]

Heard a rumour the Warner wheels fella passed away.

Hmmm... maybe?

It doesn't mention anything on his website - www.mww.com.au


Cheers
Paul

 

[sharpy]

Hi Sharpy, if Ash can be mentioned in the same sentance as Keith then thats good enough for me. I meet Keith when he was still working out of the Shop before his first retirement. Spoke with him a few times when he was doing wheels from his home around the late 1990's, good bloke and a wheel genius! Thanks for the tip about Ash I'll chase him up in the New Year for some ideas on the Kat wire wheels, cheers and Merry Christmas.

When i was workn at Tyres for Bikes keith brought my bike new and built it mostly the way it is today. thats why i got hold of it 12 odd yrs ago as i knew what was in and on it.

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Thanks for the link Paul, the "About Us" section on their website has Mike Warners bio, sadly he passed away in November 2009. His family is still running Mike Warner Wheels from what I can make out from the rest of the website.

 

[orangeback]

New Zealand SXZ kat
I'm not sure which parts are still available new. Here's some SXZ part
numbers that may be helpful (that's if you haven't already got them):

- Intake cam 12711-45500
- Exhaust cam 12721-49201
- Carbs (x4) starting from lefthand side: 13201-49320, 13202-49320,
13203-49320, 13204-49320
- Wheel rim, front: 55211-49000 Original fitment 1.85-19 before wider rim
(2.15-19) supplied as homologated by NZACU for production racing purposes
- Wheel rim, rear: 65311-49200 Original fitment 2.50-18 before wider rim
(2.75-18) supplied as per above

 

[orangeback]

with a pic

 

[orangeback]

i also owed one of the J.C.W race bikes from Oze ex owned by warren walker, the previous owner of the helmet warehouse in yagoona in sydney, it croped up in new zealand as part odf a deccessed estate
im on my 5th -6th sz kat and had one pop up

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Orangeback, great to here from an other Kat owner and one with some detailed knowledge on the wire wheeled Kat as well!!! Thanks for posting the wire wheel race rim sizes that is great info to have as well as the part numbers you have listed. I remember the JCW Bananas when they were racing here as well as so many other Kats in proddy racing. How is it you have owned so many Katanas over the years, and some of the specials as well? Thanks for the info and hope to hear more from you about all things Katana, cheers mate.

 

[sharpy]

i also owed one of the J.C.W race bikes from Oze ex owned by warren walker, the previous owner of the helmet warehouse in yagoona in sydney, it croped up in new zealand as part odf a deccessed estate
im on my 5th -6th sz kat and had one pop up

Like this one?

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hey Sharpy I see you have a copy of Two Wheels June 1982, looks like you can't take the Katana out of some riders, thankfully, cheers.

 

[orangeback]

have that , mine had the wire wheels though.
there's a guy in north island in nz that worked and father owned the suzuki importation of suz back in the day, and was responsible for ordering all these bikes and has records for all the builds here, and think oze and SA, i have heard hes writing a book on them.
if you wish to check out 4 of my kats are on here http://www.bikepics.com/members/orangeback/

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi Roger, so is the Banana now back to silver or are there two different Kats in the group of five pics? The modified 20 Kats imported to NZ for Proddy racing were only for NZ and arranged through the Suzi Dealer you mentioned. Oz and S.A. didn't get any of these for the racing teams, some may have escaped NZ later after their racing days were over.

 

[orangeback]

Hi Roger, so is the Banana now back to silver or are there two different Kats in the group of five pics? The modified 20 Kats imported to NZ for Proddy racing were only for NZ and arranged through the Suzi Dealer you mentioned. Oz and S.A. didn't get any of these for the racing teams, some may have escaped NZ later after their racing days were over.

yes the jcw bike had no historic value here in nz, so i mod it with the 1135 engine and motard rims laced to it , and then the guy i sold it to painted it back to silver. ( i like to custom some, but like standard ones too)
info i recived in email, as im no expert on this but like to be well informed on these, as id like an sxz or black piper (1980/81 GSX1100T or GSX1100X "Black Pipe" models (Wire Wheel Castrol 6-Hour models). if i ever get a chance.
All 20 GSX1100SXZ E27 specification bikes came to New Zealand. Of those 20, I ( someone else ) have tracked down 12 that are still in NZ. Australia received E24 spec GSX1100SXZ's - that model did not have the engine, carb and exhaust mods that the NZ E27 spec model received.
Only 20 E27 spec bikes ever built (all came to NZ). Not to be confused with Australian E24 spec bikes which only received a set of wire wheels as the only difference to the standard alloy wheeled GSX1100SZ.
Final muffler centre outlet hole is 33mm as compared with 28mm for standard GSX1100SZ (alloy wheel pedestrian model)

If you like send me a private email and ill put you in contact with the source of all this if you like , would not suprise me if he's already in here just watching things.:-\\\