Mr. 7/11's GSX-R7/11F

Mr. 7/11's GSX-R7/11F

Somehow, after owning various motorcycles in ten years I found myself with the remains of a crashed Honda CH250 scooter and thought to myself "If this is where life ends then I'm not ready to die yet!".
The CH250 was a part-exchange on the old GSX1100S "real-" Katana I bought to create something special, inspired by an article in Performance Bikes Magazine (The Katana Frenzy). To be honest the Kat's engine was pretty worn-out, and when I needed the bike for every-day transport it had to go as I didn't fancy the idea of letting the winter and road-salt taking a big bite out of that classic. Before selling it I did think about fitting a GSX-R750 engine but couldn't afford it.

After a brief discussion with my wife we agreed on a budget of ten thousand guilders and a target date of July 29th, 2000... the day I will turn 32. As we all know by now I am way before schedule though it is hard to say when a project bike is finished (if it is possible to finish a project bike?).
There were two bikes high on my wish-list...

The Kawasaki ZZR-1100
The fastest production motorcycle at that time with a warp-drive propulsion instead of a normal engine.
...but no Suzuki!

The Suzuki GSX1100EFE
A very uninspiring bike to look at, but boyoboyoboy what an incredible engine... a powercurve like the Mount Everest and an even more incredible torque curve. Plus I like the design of the engine with it's crank on roller-bearings built to last and take some serious punishment.

...but suddenly, while browsing for "ZZR-1100" and "GSX" keywords in my collection of PB issues I stumbled upon a very interesting article in which they compared the performance of a GSX1100F-engined GSX-R750 to a standard ZZR-1100. The 7/11 beat the ZZR on acceleration and brute force while geared for the same topspeed.
It is very hard to beat the ZZR on topspeed because the RAM-Air system of the ZZR works so brilliantly well.

I read the article maybe hundred times and then the big decision was made... I wanted a 7/11... NO, I BADLY NEEDED a 7/11!
I read some more articles in PB about 7/11's and it all seemed very straightforward with not too many possible problems.

There aren't many bike-breakers in Holland and the ones there are ask rediculous prices for worn engines so I put out some adverts in which I requested a GSX1100F engine. After a few weeks someone called... "do you mean an engine from the one with the electric windscreen?... I have one right here with very low mileage on it."
We made an appointment to have a look at it.
When I got to the garage where the engine was laying with various other GSX1100F bits I first checked the engine for cosmetic damage and to my relief it looked like new. Then I removed the camcover as -to me- the surface of the cams is the best way to tell what kind of life the engine has had, and to check for engine damage I put my finger in one of the cavities inside the head filled with oil -yuk!- to see if there are any glistering metal particles in it. There weren't any and this convinced me the engine was a good buy even though I had never hear it run -all part of the excitement I guess.
The engine was a bit pricey, but because I also got all the electronics, the complete wiring loom and the left clutch handle with it I went home with a very good feeling... A start had been made! :-))))

I built a wooden rideable jig for the engine, cleaned it thorougly and put it in a safe and warm place in my house. I once had the unpleasant surprise after storing my Kat for the winter and removing the cam-cover afterwards to find the cam lobes had corroded!... That wasn't going to happen with this precious engine!

The next summer I went shopping for a suitable frame. This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought It'd be. The main reason for this is that bike-thieves make frames hot property because they use them to white-wash stolen bikes. So they not only do thieves make it very hard to find a frame on the market, they also make a dealer think you are one of them so they sell them for the same price as a complete second hand bike!!!... crazy situation. It makes you realise how bad thieves are for economy.

After doing some more thinking I reckoned It'd be a much better idea to buy a second-hand GSX-R750 and sell the parts I didn't need, though it conflicted with my original idea of building a 7/11 from the ground up without the hassle of trying to sell unneeded parts.

I

adapters for the RGV250 calipers

top yoke conversion and number plate

tuning