GS550 front end conversion

[johny]

H i every one  i have just bought a 1980 gs550 in need of a lot of work 

can anyone advise me on upgrading the front end it only has one brake calliper .

will a 600 bandit set up fit using the bandit top and bottom yokes 

i know the forks on the bandit are a larger diameter and slightly longer 

thanks john

[wraith]

The bandit bottom yoke stem is longer.

You can ever swap the stems or if you're looking at the MK1 front end, you can use the rf600 bottom yoke, I've got this set up on my gs1000, you will need to sort out the lock stops as well.

The other thing to look at,Vis your gs550 the one with rolli ball bearing or tapper bearings?

If it the ball bearing type life gets a bit more interesting.

Go to All ball racing and have a look at there chart.

[johny]

good morning  

with regards to rf600 bottom yoke and bandit forks  did you manage to fit the original wheel as ive found on Eblag a twin brake disk original gs550 wheel or do we have fit a bandit wheel  i already have the bandit wheel forks and the callipers..but not the rear wheel 

also the rear wheel will the bandit wheel fit in the stock swing arm 

[wraith]

12 hours ago, johny said:

good morning  

with regards to rf600 bottom yoke and bandit forks  did you manage to fit the original wheel as ive found on Eblag a twin brake disk original gs550 wheel or do we have fit a bandit wheel  i already have the bandit wheel forks and the callipers..but not the rear wheel 

also the rear wheel will the bandit wheel fit in the stock swing arm 

 why would you want to put the standard wheel in??

What's the point in putting more up to date forks in then go backwards and put the old wheel in.

You may as well get a gs750/850/1000 front end and put that in.

So the answer is NO.

The rf600 bottom yoke will only work with the MK1 b6, so if the mud guard is mounted via a plate across the wheel/forks and not bolted at the inner side it's a mk1

As for the back wheel, I don't know.

[TonyGee]

14 hours ago, johny said:

will the bandit wheel fit in the stock swing arm

I have a bandit 600 rear wheel in a 1983 GSX1100 swinger (on my GS750),  when the wheel is adjusted forward the tyre is very close to the inside of the  arm,  so I think you might have clearance problems ??????  

[johny]

Thanks  guys 

as usual very helpful stuff thanks 

[wraith]

I've used a b6 swing arm and welded mounts on the swingarm to make it into a twin shock set up.

You may need a sleeve for the bearings on the pivot spindle.

[Poldark]

Johny,

what is it you want to achieve in the end?  If you want to build a custom bike, go have a look through the projects section of the forum, or do a search for "GS550", and you can find examples of upgrading suspension, wheels, brakes.  If you just want to enjoy riding your motorcycle, fix what you have.  A properly set up and maintained single disc will stop you just fine.  If your single disc is capable of locking up your wheel, you're not going to be stopping any faster with dual discs.  Main advantage to dual discs is the ability to do more repeated braking before over overheating.  Brakes convert the kinetic energy of the machine and rider into thermal energy (heat).  Dual discs double the amount of rotor material to heat up, allowing them to share that burden between them, and there's double the amount of surface area to dissipate that heat to atmosphere.

[wraith]

if you want to upgrade the wheels but don't/haven't got the time or skills to swap swingarm etc

 I'd say look at the bandit 400 rear wheel it maybe easier to fit in the standard swingarm but if you're looking at putting a standard front wheel in bandit forks, I'm not 100% on what you are looking at doing?

[TonyGee]

maybe the intention is to upgrade the skinny forks for some beefier ones but keep the overall look ? 

[wraith]

7 minutes ago, TonyGee said:

maybe the intention is to upgrade the skinny forks for some beefier ones but keep the overall look ? 

Then, it would be easier to just get a front end off a bigger GS 

[johny]

youve all been amazing  .

what im going to do now is take the forks of my gs550 katana with twin brakes and put them on the gs55e to try and keep it fairly standard i think ???

and put the bandit forks in the cafe racer style katana (i had to cut the back end of as it was badly rotted through so thats not standard now anyway ) with the rf600 bottom yoke and bandit standard top yoke .( wraith suggested that thanks )

back to the current 1980 gs550e its coming appart relatively easy nothing major snapped yet but the carbs are all seized up.

under the metal box where the original air filter sytem is there is some electrical box secured to the underneath with about 5 or 6 wires coming out of it with a plug 

now this thing was not on the 1983 gs550m .and i dont know its required and cant remember if i unplugged it or not .

it has an up to date regulater rectifier and it between writing this i have just seen the part on Eblag there calling it an igniter box .

do i need this part and if not do i have to do any thing with the wires (plug) thats in the wiring loom ..

i hope i am not doing your heads in after a busy day.

thanks john

[wraith]

Yes you need this box, as this is part of the ignition system, so some of the wires will go to the ATU behind the Rh side cover the others will end up going to the coils, a very basic description.

Pictures always help as well 

No question is daft or stupid if you don't know what's what, so just ask away, if we think it's stupid we will tell you  but it's your bike 

[TonyGee]

yeah as wraith says, you won't go anywhere without the igniter box (CDI)  

[johny]

HI everyone another lovely sunny day this morning

 so now I have my mk1 600 bandit top yoke. 

Ignition switch on the bandit has 6 wires  gs550 has 4 wires and doesn't fit the bandit top yoke any ideas to which 2 wires were not needed on a bike 42 years ago.. 

There's a picture of my project. Thanks john

[Poldark]

Two extra wires:

On older bikes, the tachometer was normally cable driven off the engine.  On newer bikes, the tach is often electrically driven off the ignitor box.

The other wire could be a part of a safety interlock system.  Engine won't start or run without a certain combination of conditions being met between transmission, clutch, and side stand.

[Gixer1460]

4 minutes ago, Poldark said:

Two extra wires:

On older bikes, the tachometer was normally cable driven off the engine.  On newer bikes, the tach is often electrically driven off the ignitor box.

The other wire could be a part of a safety interlock system.  Engine won't start or run without a certain combination of conditions being met between transmission, clutch, and side stand.

Tacho wiring would be in the main loom bundle to clocks ie, not in Ign Switch. Don't know about the 600's but Bland 12's have a resistor in the Ign Switch to prevent hot wiring - maybe these two are the in and out for that?

[Poldark]

Doh, I should have read more carefully.  He's talking about wires on the ignition switch.  Earlier the question was about the ignition module.  

[TonyGee]

4 hours ago, johny said:

gs550 has 4 wires and doesn't fit the bandit top yoke any ideas to which 2 wires were not needed

does the 550 switch have a park position ? if so you won't need them 2 wires.  basically you have a live wire up to the ign switch and with the switch in the ON position you should have live coming out of the switch.   thats how my 750 is wired   

[johny]

It has a neutral light. So I guesss I just need to work which of the 2 coloured  wires from  The bandit ignition switch I don't need as tthe 550 only has a socket in the loom for 4 wires 

[Gixer1460]

1 hour ago, johny said:

It has a neutral light. So I guesss I just need to work which of the 2 coloured  wires from  The bandit ignition switch I don't need as tthe 550 only has a socket in the loom for 4 wires 

Ignore the neutral light - that is sourced / fed from the general loom.

I don't have a 600 Blandit loom schematic but the 1200 has the same 4 colours as a GS550 switch and they do the same things + 2 extra. The extra two are Orange / Yellow and Black / White. Black / White is generally an earth with Suzuki's and this wire is shared with other things so is an earth. The Orange / Yellow goes to the ignition module so this is likely the other side of the resistor mentioned above as when key is turned Red is connected to Orange, Brown connected to Grey and Orange / Yellow connects to Black / White. 

[wraith]

You just need to connect the red with the red, orange with the orange, gray with gray and brown with brown b6 switch to main harness (standard GS plug) blank off the other two wires but not together 

Did this the other way round years ago, bandit 600 harness to GS switch, worked just fine.

Put a build thread up in the members projects section with lots of pics, as we like pics 

[johny]

Hi there slight progress with my gs550. Frame is back from the powder coaters. New swing arm bearings fitted... I've fitted a gs500 wheel that looks the same the bandit front wheel with plenty of clearance all round  But I have bought a really good mk1 bandit front wheel and tyre. 

Now fitted the rf6oo bottom yoke. Bandit Top Yoke. 

But it looks like I have mk2 forks and a Mk1 wheel and it doesn't between the forks discs catching on the left side of the forks.. 

So now either need a mk2 wheel or mk 1 forks.... 

John

[TonyGee]

are you using a speedo drive ? it should fit ok !!!!  I did it the other way round (mk1 forks mk2 wheel)  

[johny]

Yes the mk1 front wheel  wheel catches on the nk2  forks. Its OK without the speedo drive.but then there's a large gap and no speedo drive. Looking around a mk 2 wheel is cheaper than M1 forks so I'll try that the the nk2 wheel have a different speedo drive.. This bike cost wise is getting out of control. 

Thanks