ok.. newb question... the cylinder attached to the new rear shock.. what is it?

and friggin beautiful work, btw. no only am i jealous, but i'm thinking of taking a grinder to mine now lol.. any way to shorten/reshepe the seat or maybe use a rear end from something else?

remote reservoir increases the oil capacity of the shock which aids in cooling shock fluid and provides consistent rebound valving under severe conditions.

you can take the vinyl off the seat and reshape the foam/plastic to your hearts content. Affixing a completely different rear end/rear seat is much more involved. Honestly i didn't want to dump the extra money for aesthetics when the rear part of the frame functions just fine.

sorry posted in the wrong thread so moved it,

Quote from: psyber_0ptix on May 23, 2009, 01:17:09 PM
A big thanks to Bob Broussard for being extremely helpful in pressing of stems and creating a burly spacer.

Notes:
There is a difference in gsxr forks ranging from 01-current. Different years have different brake mounts, different tube diameters, different rotor diameters etc etc. Take some time to coordinate yourself with the different BRAKE options and applicable wheel applications. if you are using standard caliper tabs; be careful which wheels you choose. 06+ wheels (05+ gsxr 1k) and after have a different rotor bolt pattern. 99-07 Hayabusa front wheels/rotors are the same, this gives you some cross compatability if you are shopping around and plan on using 320mm rotors. Radial calipers are by far easier to setup in terms of brake/rotor choice. You can use an 06 wheel with matching componentry or go for an older (cheaper) wheel with larger rotors and use of some spacers. Just familiarize yourself with your options and learn what can fit what.

What i ended up using were:
$150 - 2006 gsxr 600/750 forks
$  51 - 2006 gsxr radial calipers with master cylinder and brake lines*
$  35 - 2006 gsxr axle/spacer
$200 - 01-03 (k1-k3) gsxr wheel
$180 - 320mm Rotors (k1-k3 / hayabusa)
$  50 - 2006 gsxr clipons
$  25 - New GS500 steering bearings

Damage: $661  (ouch..what did i get myself into)

* this required a 5mm shim between the radial mounts and the calipers; Honda Part # 51497-MEL-D20 (x4)

good references (there are more but just search google)
http://www.gixxer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210354
http://forum.svrider.com/showthread.php?t=59000


Pre-swap:
I send the GSXR and gs triple to bob. He was able to press the GS stem into the GSXR triple and fab up a spacer to allow the upper clamp to bolt right on top of the GS stem. For this i am deeply grateful for his time and excellent communication throughout the whole process.



now for pictures....


Before:



Remove handlebars/clipons and headlights:


removed wheel and brakes:


after the wheel was removed, you just loosen the bearing nut and drop the forks out (being mindful to reroute all the wires and cables etc). Forks will come out easily. I replaced the steering bearings so i had to tap out the old outer race.

pressing in the new outer race (bottom)...I used threaded rod and some large "fender" washers, two nuts (jammed) and a threaded coupler. These can be had for 10 bux at the hardware store. Be sure to use the THICK washers (may require larger diameter rod) because the thin ones will bend and deflect under pressure; even if stacked.




Liberally apply grease to the bearings and install the triple tree



a close up of Bob's spacer; it fills up the larger diameter of the hole in the upper clamps while providing a tapered hole on the bottom to perfectly mate to the top of the GS stem


slide the fork tubes in place and adjust height till even; don't forget the clipons...i had to drop them down again to slip them in






THe wheels...
GS wheel on left, GSXR on right.



Test fitting the wheel and brake calipers




My brake rotors came in later that evening but i was at the Brown University - Campus Dance for a couple drinks and rubbing elbows with the big wigs.

I'll post more pictures when i finish the rotor and caliper install. as well as the clutch/throttle/brake cable routing and headlight bracket/mounting.

i still need to find a dremel to destroy the rivets holding the ignition cylinder on the old upper clamp. And i need to purchase a speedometer and figure out how to plug up the tach mechanism hole.

Buddha, i still have to ship the wheel out, i'm sorry, i've been caught up in this swap and having to organize my stuff to move out soon (as well as raise funds through selling some items)



you might ask WHY i decided to do this and i'll be honest...

I'm still a bit new to motorcycles... i still have a lot to learn. I loved mountain biking for over a decade. Tore them apart, rebuilt, upgrade etc. I bought my first car; autocrossed, changed the suspension and brakes, auto crossed some more. Sold it purchased a subaru; swapped the motor, changed suspension and brakes....autocross and rallycrossed. Decided i needed to go to university and sold my car, my mountian bikes, my trials bikes for tuition. all i had left was a single speed road bike but had to ride the bus an hour to and from school 5 days a week. Having wasted 380 hours per school year sitting on a bus, after three years i picked up my first motorcycle for $900 (last summer); felt at home on it. Again...i started modding. I think this is one of the last things i can do to the bike but it pretty much completes it for me. I had another thread started showing how i got my bike to what you see. The forks are probably the last thing i'd do to the bike. I was researching forks since i bought the bike. I've been torn between kat swaps, the old gsxr forks and the new gsxr forks. There are a lot of beautiful modded GS's from race bikes to just plain awesome street bikes. I wanted functionality, as well as aesthetics and decided to slowly research and slowly harvest parts. Everything you see above was done within a day since everything was collected and available. There's still a lot to be done...and as stated earlier,  i still have a lot to learn

First off, I am impressed with what you have done with your bike. I recently purchased a 1990 GS and I have to say that I am underwhelmed by the factory front end. I was considering installing Sonic Springs but I know that I won't be happy. I began looking for GSXR swaps and came across your thread and I said to myself, that's the way to go but I am confused about your front end swap. I see that you also used calipers, rotors and a wheel from other year and model Suzukis; is that necessary? If I had access to a whole 06 GSXR front end, wheel and brake setup, wouldn't that be easier/convenient?

If you have the whole kit and caboodle then it would definitely be easier. I just pieced it together and went with what I could make work with what i had. Because i had radially mounted calipers, it allowed for larger rotors with use of spacers. But 320mm rotors will only bolt up to rims of particular year. I couldnt afford k6+ wheels because they are really expensive so i made due with what i could.

But yes....if you buy an ENTIRE front end from tire to clipons it would be MUCH easier...and i highly recommend this. Check out O.C.D's winter build, it's pretty sick too

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50448.140;topicseen

If I could have bought an entire front end ready to go, I would not have used it, lol.  I am glad I pieced it together like Psyber.  It made the process more fun.  But if you are not wanting to hunt for the parts and you need it right away, a complete FE is an easy bolt on.

The more I look at these the more I feel like a front end swap would be a fun project and would really make me enjoy the gs more. I plan to clean up my tail swap this spring and repaint, and I'm planning on looking for an R6 shock soon. Now that I've got the newer style tank I think the bike would be an awesome project if I painted the frame black, swapped in a gsxr front end, and put on the katana rear wheel for a 160 tire. Either way I think I'd be looking at close to a grand for all the new parts, unless I did well shopping around. I feel like for the price if I wanted to have a really spruced up GS500, or a really ratty gsxr, I'd still just go for the gsxr though. It's technically Heather's bike, so I've gotta say I'm more comfortable with her riding on 40hp instead of 100, but I'd obviously be riding the thing all the time too. Maybe I'll just keep an eye on ebay and some bike junkyards long term and see what I came up with.

Psyber - what the heck kind of DID chain did you buy?  I cannot find a 0-ring in gold from DID.

Didn't update this in a long time, but last season I had picked up a nail in my rear tires. It sucked because it had less than 1500 miles on it total. In any event I replaced the rear with Conti SportAttack's and just wanted to comment that they are a much narrower 160 tire than the shinko's were. No clearance issues with the chain or the brake torque arm. (Shinko was barely rubbing the arm).

I took the bike out of hibernation, washed, cleaned air filter, tweak here and there....I'm going out to scrub the new tire in

Bike is looking great! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the back end when you get bored someday and decide to update it. You should do something simple and clean like a newer speed triple tail or something to keep the same look.

Quote from: psyber_0ptix on May 09, 2010, 08:42:01 AM
Didn't update this in a long time, but last season I had picked up a nail in my rear tires. It sucked because it had less than 1500 miles on it total. In any event I replaced the rear with Conti SportAttack's and just wanted to comment that they are a much narrower 160 tire than the shinko's were. No clearance issues with the chain or the brake torque arm. (Shinko was barely rubbing the arm).

I took the bike out of hibernation, washed, cleaned air filter, tweak here and there....I'm going out to scrub the new tire in

Opinions on the new tires? We have to narrow those chicken strips!

Quote from: tt_four on May 09, 2010, 01:24:53 PM
Bike is looking great! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the back end when you get bored someday and decide to update it. You should do something simple and clean like a newer speed triple tail or something to keep the same look.

The rear i haven't really thought about. Most of my mods stem from doing things as simply and bolton as possible (believe it or not). I'm not skilled enough to cut/weld even to my own standards. I'll be in germany for a year in september, and there isn't considerable interest for anyone to purchase the bike outright (it would break my heart too much to part it out)...it's going to be under the care of one of my friends who owns a shop (Wicked Innovation). He is an awesome fabricator and hasn't had a motorcycle to play with for a while. It'll be in good hands for sure.

On to other news....i recently lowsided at lowspeed on an onramp due to sand and 3 bumps. It was the strangest sensation, in a corner at about 30mph and then three raised cracks/bumps across the road made the bike oscillate just enough to start hopping the bike further and further to the outside of the corner. I any event, a broken mirror and slightly damaged headlight trim later, the bike is fine with nothing but a scratch on the case guard. No other damage that I could see.

I have been trying to build my bmw up ever so slowly so i haven't been able to purchase new gear to ride in this beautiful weather 

Ewwww, low-side - no bueno!

well for what it's worth, if you end up wanting to do something later my R6 tail is still on the stock subframe. I did a little bit of cutting at the very back to shorten it, but that was after the two bars were welded together so nothing needed rewelded. The whole thing could be done with a hacksaw, and a little bit of creativity to make some new light brackets and attach a seat. I used pop rivets on the tabs on my subframe to put the seat on, and bolted the taillight right into 2 holes I drilled in the subframe. It would be cleaned up a bit, but it's better than nothing.

I gotta agree with the others, I like this bike  (even though it is about the complete opposite as mine).



Even though I only have just over 3.5" clearance, I haven't hi-centered yet, except for pushing it up the ramp to put it in the back of my truck.  The only thing that hangs below the frame is the spring catch for the kick-stand.  I have scraped the pegs going around turns though.  I'm in the process of gradually grinding away at th pegs until they scrape just before the frame scrapes.

-SPiNNeR-

how much did you pay for that front brake master cylinder and reservoir? Im looking to upgrade to something of that kind, not the square box that gs comes with.

I got it with the whole front brake assembly. Not sure on the price or if it's compatible with the GS brake. You can always just search ebay for the Brembo single disk brake lever/reservoir.

I just wanted to tag this because i spent forever trying to find this thread again. I am inspired by your work and will be trying some modding on my own GS hopefully once I make some $$$. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

not a problem, there are many other awesome builds on this site as well. I wish i had the funds to do a tail conversion, but im happy with the way it rides now with the suspension setup. I dont spend much time staring at the bike...riding it is more fun.

Im interested in any progress you make so be sure to take pictures and photo-document everything.

thanks for digging this up.... Gonna book mark this post.