GSXR wheels on GS 1150 EF

[Dlindberg]

Have been back and forward a while on doing a wheel swap on my GS 1150 EF.

Did find a very useful guide on replacing the front even with stock front fork end (even though the complete front from the GSXR 1100 W could be transplanted and would probably be easier to do and handle better - but also a lot more expensive).

Now I have my eyes on a set of GSXR 750/ 1100 17 inch Wheels (3.5 X 17 and 5.5 X 17) up for sale here in Denmark.


Do anyone have tips on a GSXR 5.5 inch rear wheel swap (even front to) perhaps lenght of spacers, brake hangers, brake disc .. ?

Cheers

 

[T8erbug]

My advice is to make sure your components are all planned to work together. Don't make the mistake of just wanting a 17" inch wheel. Changing wheels alone changes your suspension geometry, so you'll have to do some calculation and correction. That's the crazy thing about motorcycles, the system must be designed as a whole and not one system at a time. In other words, every change you make will affect the other areas of the bike. If you fork swap, you just changed your rear geometry. If you wheel swap, you just changed everything. If you change ride height in the rear, you just changed your fork angle and trail.

So, my advise is to not just buy parts based on price/availability/fitment. Know the parts will work together for your end set of parameters. I don't want to sound patronizing at all! I've just made the mistake of building a bike around a set of wheels and it definitely changed my idea for an end result. In the end the bike looks good, but as a result of the nice wheels, I actually lost some key functionality (less lean angle because of the lower ride height and potential instability because of the new geometry and reduced trail.

You want trail for a safe bike so just don't forget, as you make changes, to account for your fork clamp offset (if you swap forks) and your head tube angle (as you change the front and rear ride heights)

Sorry if that went a different direction than you were hoping for. You may have already taken all of this into account, but I just figured I'd say what I wish I'd have known before I made similar changes to my bike.

 

[Dlindberg]

Thanks points taken
Have played with height and trail in dropping the Forks.
The wheels Will be wider but about the same hight, front versus rear(original is 16 inch front but the 17 inch with radial is almost same diameter) of course depending in the tyre you use.

But things will change, tyres Will be wider and that alone a big difference to turn-in i'm sure. Will propably feel heavier.

Much appreciated any who did the conversion to their GS 1150 ?

 

[posplayr]

Thanks points taken
Have played with height and trail in dropping the Forks.
The wheels Will be wider but about the same hight, front versus rear(original is 16 inch front but the 17 inch with radial is almost same diameter) of course depending in the tyre you use.

But things will change, tyres Will be wider and that alone a big difference to turn-in i'm sure. Will propably feel heavier.

Much appreciated any who did the conversion to their GS 1150 ?

Putting 17" wheels onto an 1150 is probably one of the easier GSXR conversions you can do. As you probably realize the 1150 forks are wide enough to fit the 3.5" wheels with the increased rotor sizes.

On the front you will have to make spacers to size up your 1150 axle (probably 15mm) to the 20mm bearing that are standard (unless you can find replacements for 15mm axles.) You will also need the correct spacers at teh same time.
I would assume you will also upgrade the front brake and probably go for the Nissan 4 pot calipers. This will require you to fabricate caliper adapter plates.

On the rear the 5/8" offset counter sprocket is pretty standard. I know the 1100E is tight and you even need to notch the frame for chain clearance. With a narrow 530 chain you are probably looking at 1-2mm clearance each side of the chain between frame and tire. Given teh 16" front wheel you are probably not going to loose much groudn clearance. The 1150 forks are very long.

 

[posplayr]

I'm pretty sure these pictures are of an 1100E with 1150 forks and 17" GSXR wheels.

 

[posplayr]

Sorry for the crappy little pictures, if you want higher resolution, PM me an email address to send the pics.

 

[dorkburger]

Jim that 1100 looks great. Never saw pics of that one.

GS1150Pilot has an 1150 with GSXR wheels, although the front is a complete fork swap.
There are a lot of heavily modded 1150s on the Old Skool Suzuki site.
http://oldskoolsuzuki.info/forums/index.php?/discover/

 

[posplayr]

Jim that 1100 looks great. Never saw pics of that one.

GS1150Pilot has an 1150 with GSXR wheels, although the front is a complete fork swap.
There are a lot of heavily modded 1150s on the Old Skool Suzuki site.
http://oldskoolsuzuki.info/forums/index.php?/discover/

Pilot bought the forks and 18" wheels I had on my bike.


It has been a while now but I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what conversion to do on my ED.

The same guy that owned those other two bikes also had this one. I always loved the way it looked. 1150 with USD

 

[80GS850GBob]

Complete front end swaps make the job easier, but you also asked about the back end.
As stated above, old sckool suzuki has all sorts of options and I've seen a few in the gixxer forums too.
I recently bought a reasonably priced 1100W front end sans brakes since I want spoked rims...their length sold me on the idea.
As far as I've seen, "most" gsx-r's ran 17" rims from '88 on...do your research before you buy and you'll be fine.
Some folks are using SV or TL rims too, just to give you some added options.

 

[Dlindberg]

Thanks guys very helpful.

I will try the old school Suzuki site. And already found a thread on the front wheel swap thats seems quite detailed. Could be done farely easy (IT seems)with changing bearings in gsxr wheel and shortening inner tube and a few more bits. Should be fine with 4 pot nissin and rotors off gsx600f /gsx750f (early ones).
Thanks on the offset sprocket: from what I've found so far could work with a 5/8 offset and perhaps carrier off GS 500 E.. but think rear will be more fiddling getting right event with brake hanger and torque arm...

 

[dorkburger]

A bit more info from an inactive member. Bike is an 82 1100e, but has an EF front end with a GSXR wheel. And another pic of the bike Jim posted is in there.....
http://www.civilrock.com/GS1100EZ/3

 

[Dlindberg]

Thanks great pictures! Confirmed what I hoped for in the front wheel. And 5/8 offset rear seems the way. And even ratio on sprockets seem right with a 530 compared to 630. Good pictures do a lot thanks