ground clearance after fitting alloys

[mpjbiker]

Hi,

Can anyone who's fitted alloys to their GS tell me if there are any ground clearance issues? I'm assuming that the bike is generally lower to the ground-does this mean that it decks out earlier? Does the gearing significantly change with the smaller wheels? I guess with the correct speedo drive the speedo is accurate? Sorry if all these questions have been asked before, but I've trawled through several pages already! Is the mod a worthwhile one? My bike handles superbly, but the spoked wheels are a p.i.t.a to keep clean!

Thanks, Martin

 

[MikeO]

Top tip - tell us which bike you have.

Mike

 

[mpjbiker]

Oops, sorry-what a tosser! It's a 2003 twinspark 1150-as most 1200s seem to have alloys anyway, I didn't realise there was a differance between the 1150/1100s (as regards ride height, obviously!).

 

[CoolCarbon]

The front drops by an inch-ish, the rear stays the same-ish.

Gearing is no different and once you change the speedo drive, the readings are the same-ish..

So to answer your question, unless you're a riding God, you wont find an issue with ground clearence...

CC

 

[Paul Young]

Can anyone who's fitted alloys to their GS tell me if there are any ground clearance issues? I'm assuming that the bike is generally lower to the ground-does this mean that it decks out earlier?

I've not found the limits yet, except when I went through a dip whilst cornering hard. The compression meant that the engine bar mounts under the sump decked out. No fault of the wheels, just the over soft/under damped state of the suspension at the time.

Does the gearing significantly change with the smaller wheels?

Depends on the wheels you choose. I've used an 18" rear from an R1100RT (it takes a 160 tyre which is wide enough but steers quickly) & the size means that the bike is barely geared down at all. The 17" wheel choices give you more choice of tyres, but gear the bike down a bit more.

I guess with the correct speedo drive the speedo is accurate?

Correct......A standrd GS speedo drive is 3:1 & marked as 3.0 but you can get one @ 2.875:1 marked as 2.9 which corrects the standard GS speedo. For an alloy wheel modded bike, the 2.6:1 speedo drive is more accurate, marked as 2.6

Is the mod a worthwhile one?

Abso-flippin-lutely!!!! Makes an awesome handling bike even more amazing. The limit ends up being what the engine can do, rather than how it handles. Keep the original wheels & put some TKC80's on for dedicated off-road use, but personally, I've not been off-road since I got the alloys.

HTH,

 

[DrAlf]

As stated above, the front end is a lot lower to the ground and as such there is more weight on the front wheel. The first few rides wil feel very strange indeed bu after a few hundred miles you'll get the hang of it and hopefully love it.

Did mine a few weeks ago and now love the 17" wheels - corners better, steers quicker and looks very cool indeed

I decked out the crash bars last weekend which is something that never happened on the 19" front - I was giving it the berries though and don't think that it will really be an issue.

Do it

 

[Den]

put a 1/4 inch spacer under the top suspension mounting and you will regain most of the ride height.

 

[ArgyBargy]

only issue is that it's a bit more of a heave to get it on the centre stand.

Quickens the steering which is tops as far as I'm concerned.

Lowers the seat a bit for you short arses out there