Considering an appropriate organ donor

Having now tuned in on the forums here for a while, I have seen a lot of great projects. I am now getting the itch to plan my own, so I thought I would take the opportunity to ask some advice from those who have actually finished some good work.

For certain I am going to dismantle and do paint and powdercoat in the off-season. I am starting to think that it may be possible for me to go whole hog (pardon the expression) and do a carb/swingarm/fork upgrade, putting the bike on 17 inch rubbers to give me better tire selection. It seems obvious to me that the best way to go about that would be to pick up a wrecked sportbike that I can pillage for parts. Thanks to the ever fast-moving squid population, there are lots of these to choose from My question is about what bikes work the best. I see lots of you using GSXR and ZRX parts - is there a reason for this? What about Ninja bits? I don't hear many stories about Honda or Yamaha swaps - are these bikes not using compatible parts?

Pardon my ignorance - this is the first bike I have ever worked on, so although I am a technical guy I don't have the technical knowledge about all the different bikes.

Post edited by: DrWhizBang, at: 2007/07/10 10:10

Congrats on finding us! My first word of advice is... research, research, research! (OK, that was three but its really still one word.)

Before I even started buying parts I did searches everywhere to get as much info as possible. I'm even a member on a Suzuki forum (shh! don't tell anyone) because my 1000 and the 900 I'm building have Suzuki suspension parts on them.

Normally the reason that Gsxr parts are used often is they don't require a lot of mods to make them fit and there are A LOT of Gsxr out there from 1986 to present day stuff.

Zrx swingarms are pretty easy to fit, allow some 180 or 190 tire sizes, let you keep the twin shocks and give you the nostalgic Eddie Lawson look.

There are fewer Honda and Yamaha sport bikes than Gsxr and generally you have to do more work to get the parts to fit.

If you have any questions that you can't find answers to after you research, just ask. I'll give you all the info I have or point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

Later, Doug

Thanks, Doug. This is the research in progress

I have primarily four goals:

- find a good set of carbs
- find an easy to fit front end (forks, triples, brakes, wheel)
- find an easy to fit rear end (swingarm, brake, wheel)
- find one bike that has all of these so I don't break the bank buying parts

Am I asking for much? I assume that fitting new suspension means just having proper sleeves/bushings machined, maybe grind off some extra bits as required. Am I overlooking anything here? Are there some bikes that would not have suitable parts? For example are the Honda or Yamaha parts a different style that would not work as well?

Concerning the rear shock, I definitely want to stick with dual shocks - I assume this means I can use a monshock swingarm and fab and weld on some bottom brackets. Does this also hold true?

Once this stuff is done, I can work out all the fiddly bits like mouting lights or rearsets. I am most concerned with the big stuff.

You could make anything work but generally the Gsxr parts take less work than a Honda or Yamaha part. But that doesn't mean to count out Honda/ Yamaha parts.

Take a look at the thread "My z1000 lives..again"

I have a Gsxr1100 arm with twin shocks. You might still be able to see the mono bracket at the bottom front of the arm.

You may try picking up a 600/750 Katana cheap. The forks should be quite easy to swap and the swingarms shouldn't be bad either.

Later, Doug

DrWhizBang wrote:

Thanks, Doug. This is the research in progress

I have primarily four goals:

- find a good set of carbs
- find an easy to fit front end (forks, triples, brakes, wheel)
- find an easy to fit rear end (swingarm, brake, wheel)
- find one bike that has all of these so I don't break the bank buying parts

Am I asking for much? I assume that fitting new suspension means just having proper sleeves/bushings machined, maybe grind off some extra bits as required. Am I overlooking anything here? Are there some bikes that would not have suitable parts? For example are the Honda or Yamaha parts a different style that would not work as well?

Concerning the rear shock, I definitely want to stick with dual shocks - I assume this means I can use a monshock swingarm and fab and weld on some bottom brackets. Does this also hold true?

Once this stuff is done, I can work out all the fiddly bits like mouting lights or rearsets. I am most concerned with the big stuff.

I think you'll find a GSXR will give you front and rear suspension fairly inexpensively, maybe carbs too, depending what year and amount of downdraft. I found the GSXR front end fairly easy to fit once I got it figured out, and from what I've read, the GSXR swingarm is very easy to adapt, even easier if you're planning on using twin shocks. Buying the complete front and rear end will make life a lot easier and less expensive. Do a search for how I fitted the GSXR front end, and search also for GSXR swingarms. Check Lorcan's site, 750turbo.com for a lot of suspension swap info. If you get stuck fitting the front end, if you go with a GSXR, message me and I can help out.