[GregW]

I see many of you doing some pretty major mods when you put on newer suspension. The bike I bought has what I think is 92 suspension on it. The place that built the bike had a whole 92 when they did the conversion so everything got put on the bike.

What concerns should I have about this upgrade. Is this suspension safe as is? Whay are some of you doing special machining and stuff.

The bike has 4k on the odomiter that I know is original because the bike spent its life sitting in a barn. Only complaint I have about the suspension is that the bars hit the fairing.

GregW

 

[roketscience]

a common complaint, your problem is with the lower tripple tree stop or the frame. check if you still have the stop tabs on the frame, if they are present, some where here I have a old road race lower that has a couple of holes tapped in it, toss in a couple of bolts and bolt it on. HOWEVER it will limit the turning less than stock, could have yours tapped in the center... but if the frame tabs are not present, kinda' limited on choices, a damper (not shure on a correct stop-to-stop distance) or have new ears welded back on. let me know.

 

[bcjohn]

I guess the one thing that is normally ignored with a lot of these swaps is that very HD forks and swingarms, with wide wheel capability are being installed on frames that were not initially designed to take the twisting and braking forces now being applied.

I'd suggest that anyone who has done this might want to have some subtle yet valuable gusseting done on the frame. Up by the steering head is fairly common, with some aluminum plate being welded to both the upper rail and the cast lower piece, leaving a much smaller hole to allow the wiring etc to pass through.

Around the swingarm pivot, a decent sized plate can be done around the bolt whole, limiting the twisting distortion transmitted from a tougher swingarm and much stickier tires.

Given that a number of engine mounts attach via the lower frame rails, some welding up of strips to alleviate bending should help. Stop and think what the motor is trying to do with respect to the other pieces and you can pretty much spot where additions will help and where they will just add weight.

If you get a chance to leaf through the UK mag 'Streetfighters', you'll quite often see examples of what I'm talking about.

The stock lower triple clamp of the 93 water pumper is inadequate for the braking forces available from its front end. Pretty much the same thing as 91/92. The magazines shit all over the frames for the brake judder where in actual fact it is the triple clamp at fault. For USD forks, a trip to a non-criminal machinist should allow you to wind up with a 3 bolt lower without breaking the bank. This will stick the braking judder up the journos asses.

Basically, whatever you choose to mod and mix, you need to prepare to get surprised. The bike is a complete system, and while stock is NEVER the correct formula

, you need to go around the circle of the system to predict where the next 'bump' will come from. Half the fun is in learning how this shit interacts.....or screaming hell

!!!

 

[roketscience]

my bad, I pulled out the lower tripple and it's off of a 86-87, I don't know if it will drop into 92 forks.

 

[twinner]

I'm not sure if your "bars hitting the fairing" is as a result of the clip-ons being mounted above the triple clamp or the clip-ons being angled farther forward than they need to be.

I recall Storz used to make a "Superbike Mount Kit" for the early gixxers. It was a kit that you had to drill the upper yoke and bolt on standard handle bar clamps to use a "normal" handle bar. The kit came with a template you would put on the upper of the fairing and the windscreen. then you would cut off almost a third of the fairing and relocate the mirrors either to the bars or more forward on what was left of the fairing.

In my USD I had to trim some metal from the lower yoke and the clip-on...if you look closely at the picture you can see a spot about the size of a stamp right nest to the steer head where the steer stop used to be...it's right next to the tab extending from the frame for the original steer stop...

I don't know if the '92 1100 yokes had the stop I'm pointing out...

Here's the views of my gixxer at full left turn and full right turn ...I don't run into any conflict with the fairing or frame/tank but that should be because I have the clip-ons mounted below the upper yoke.

 

[GregW]

Yeah, The bars are mounted on top. I will need to get a kit to go down on the forks a little lower.

I can tig weld fairly well, I made my own intercooler for my RX-7 and welded all the piping as well so this stuff will be pretty easy once I get a general idea of what I need to do.

What about the moving peices besides the swing arm down there. I think you guys call it a dog bone. Why all the mods there???

Thanks

Gregory

 

[twinner]

They're doing dog bone and spacer fabrication work prolly two reasons...

...the length of the dog bone relates to the length of the shock and the geometry involved in the range of motion of the swingarm (the sum of the parts involves the shock, cushion lever and the eccentric)
The older gixxers had this intricate linkage for the whole assembly. the next generation used dog bones as a point of mounting which was a change from the firts generation which has the cushion lever mounting point welded directly on the swingarm. When Mr Gixxer changed to the newer swingarm he had to fabricate the parts for the proper suspension geometry to return and function.

...the other reason for diddling with the dogbones is you can vary the ride hight/length of travel. Drag racers like the shorter (or is it longer?) bones to lower the back end. There are companies that make dog bones with nut&thread centers for more precise adjustment, or for an easy change from street lenght to drag length without removal of parts.

I hope I muddied the water up

 

[KJ1]

longer bones to drop ride height, shorter bones to raise it.....
-Karl
oh yeah I forgot, I have a complete 92 1100 tripple tree with a polished upper clamp for sale if yuo want it, I don't need it any more....

[ 03-07-2002, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: KJ1 ]