NOTE: The max size tire the GS can hold on a properly sized wheel is a 160 section tire. However, some 160 section tires will not fit the GS due to interference with the chain, caliper hanger, and various other parts. While the Sportec M-1 mentioned below has worked, the Dunlop D208s DO NOT work with the GS. To avoid this hassle it is reccomended to use strictly a 150 section rear tire with any wheel swap.

1998-2002 Katana rear wheel

Thanks to Turd Ferguson for the write up. This is by far the easiest swap availible.

Whether you frequent the race track or just enjoy the twisty back roads, swapping to a stickier tire is arguably the best modification you can make to your motorcycle. While there are a few good tires available to fit the GS500, most manufacturers only offer their stickiest tires in wider sizes. The factory GS500 wheel is 3.5” and can accept 130 or 140 rear tires. Some people have tried to fit 150 rear tires but most report that the handling doesn’t feel “balanced” and that the bike seems less stable in the corners. This is because the skinny rim pinches the tire, altering the tires profile and making the edge of the tire very steep.

The obvious solution to this situation is to buy a new bike. Kidding! Getting a wider rear wheel will allow the fitment of bigger tires. A 4.5” rear wheel will fit in the factory swing arm without serious modification and will allow the fitment of a 150 or 160 tire. Many have reported using the 1988-1989 GSX-R 750 rear wheel, but they are wider at the axle and the wheel bearings are the wrong size. While doable, this makes the installation a bit complicated.

In comes the 1998-2002 Suzuki Katana GSX600F and GSX750F. Both of these bikes have the same rear wheel and it measures 4.5” wide. Conveniently, nearly all dimensions of the wheel are the same as the factory GS500 rear wheel. The GS500 sprocket hub and cush drive fits perfectly into the Katana wheel. The axle on the Katana has the same diameter as the GS500 axle, so the bearings are the correct size. The axle width of the Katana wheel is also the exact same as the GS500 wheel.

Simply put, a 1998-2002 Katana rear wheel and brake rotor will directly swap into a GS500 with few modifications.

Unfortunately, the Katana wheels have a “straight spoke” design and the GS500 wheels are a “twisted spoke” design. This means that the front and rear wheels will not quite match if the Katana rear wheel is used. See the pictures at the end of this article and judge for yourself. Since much of the rear wheel can not be seen, it is very hard to see the difference and it’s really not an issue.

Since the GS500 brake rotor is a 4 bolt pattern and the Katana has a 5 bolt pattern, the Katana brake rotor must also be used. The rotor diameter is only a few millimeters smaller than the GS500 rotor so it will work with the GS500 caliper and caliper bracket. Keep an eye on your brake pads, over a few years you might see uneven wear. The pads should be replaced if the uneven wear becomes excessive.

There are a few minor issues with getting the tire to fit. I will now explain each step I took to fit the Katana wheel and a 160/60 ZR17 tire on my 2005 GS500F.

First, I found a 2002 Katana wheel and rotor on Ebay. I paid $140 shipped and the wheel included the wheel bearings and valve stem. Be sure to check the bearings before installing the wheel, mine were in bad shape and I had to replace them. Here is the Katana wheel installed to check clearance.

The brake torque rod connects the brake caliper to the swing arm and had to be bent. The rod would have interfered with the wider tire by nearly 1/4”.

The brake torque rod is made out of 3/4” steel square stock and is very strong. I had to heat it up with an oxy-acetylene torch and use a shop press to bend it. Before I did anything to it, I traced its shape onto a piece of paper because I did not have the bike with me to test fit. This gave me something to compare the bent rod to so I would know when I had bent it far enough. Naturally, the torch burned the paint off so I used Plasticote flat black engine enamel. The finish and color is surprisingly close to the factory paint. Here is a picture of the bent torque rod around the 160/60 ZR17 Metzeler Sportec M-1.

The next issue to address was the drive chain. According to my measurements, if everything was left in stock form the chain would clear the 160 tire by 1/16”. At least 1/8” clearance is needed on all sides of the tire for safety reasons, so this was not acceptable. To fix this problem, I decided to put washers between the sprocket and the sprocket hub to shim it out just under 1/8”. Any washer will work, I used 5 (one for each sprocket bolt) of the appropriate size and I measured each one with a caliper to ensure that they were close to the same thickness. I suggest bringing a sprocket bolt to the hardware store to help find the appropriate size.

The sprocket hub has a machined lip protruding out it that fits inside the center of the sprocket. This lip keeps the sprocket centered on the hub, and takes a good portion of the force exerted by chain tension. It is extremely important to note that if the sprocket is shimmed out too far, these two surfaces will not make sufficient contact and the sprocket bolts will be forced to carry all of the force exerted by the drive chain. They were likely not designed for this and this situation could cause catastrophic failure and is extremely dangerous.

The last step is to trim the chain guard. It only needs to be trimmed about 3/16”. I used a Dremel. I suggest saving this step until the wheel has been installed so that the guard is trimmed in the right location and the right amount.

Once the brake torque rod was bent and the sprocket was shimmed I installed everything into the swing arm using the GS500 sprocket hub, brake caliper bracket and all spacers. Everything fit great and I had well over 1/8” clearance on all sides of the tire. This picture is an attempt to show that the chain clearance was almost 1/4”.

Here is the trimmed chain guard. Please excuse the mess, the bike was in need of a good wash.

After a test drive and rechecking the torque on all bolts, all seemed well. In about 1 hour I had successfully mounted a 4.5” wheel and a 160/60 rear tire with no serious modifications.

I also changed the front tire to a Metzeler Sportec M-1. The factory GS500 tires are bias-ply and the M-1’s are radials. Never mix bias-ply and radials, it is highly dangerous. Here is the new front tire.

As stated before, the front and rear wheels are not quite the same design. Here is a picture that shows how close they are. No biggie, right?

Here is an attempt at a before and after shot.

Please perform all modifications safely. Consult a repair manual and do not hesitate to ask a professional if you are unsure of anything. Doing any kind of work on wheels and suspension can be extremely dangerous if not done correctly. Work smart and check your work many times. GStwins and the author of this article are not responsible for any injuries or property damage that may result from attempting to modify your motorcycle. This is not meant to be a complete guide for those that have never worked on motorcycle suspension and driveline, but rather an informational guide to those that have experience and knowledge of such systems.

Ride safe and ride smart. -Turd.

Bandit 400 rear wheel

From Pablo's Site

Swapping a Bandit 400 rear wheel allows you the use of wider tires. Much better, stickier race/sport radial tires are available approved for the 4" wheel width; you can run 150 and 160 width tires (many have run up to 150 series tires on stock GS rim but it changes the profile so you can't get to the edge of the tire). Note that the Bandit 400's were only imported into the USA in '92 and '93 so these wheels may be difficult to find here.

Replace the Bandit cush drive with the GS500 cush drive. This will make the hub assemble more narrow than stock so spacers have to be made to take up the slack. I used a 3 mm longer spacer inside the cush drive, and I have about 1 mm of chain clearance with a 150 tire. Make shims to put behind the sprocket so the chain will clear the wider tire. Add spacers to the sprocket side of the axle until the chain is aligned correctly and then take up any additional slack on the outside of the brake caliper bracket. You also need a 10 mm spacer on the right side, since the Bandit hub center is narrower than the GS. The other alternative is to machine the bandit cush drive down to fit in the GS swingarm. I prefer to make spacers. You will also have to fabricate a new caliper stay arm since the wider tire will not clear the stock one. You can use 0.25" by 1" aluminum stock for this. Another option is to fit a GSXR rear brake bar to the GS. The GSXR brake stay is aluminum, and 200 grams lighter than the GS steel one. It also has more of a bend in it to clear larger tires. I believe it is off a '97 750 ('96-'99 should all work). It popped right in. It is about 15 mm. shorter than the GS brake bar, but that doesn't seem to be a problem. The clevis at the front is a bit wider, but this can be fixed with a washer, and allows you to move it outboard more to give even more clearance. I had to enlarge one hole to work with the GS bolts.

Also check the GSXR rear wheel swap for a simpler solution.

Special thanks to Bob Broussard and Kevin Caldwell from GStwin.com

'88-'89 GSX-R750 rear wheel

From Pablo's Site

88-89 GSXR 750 rear wheel swaps easily and is 4.5"x17". Do not use a gsxr 1100 wheel-identifiable by having 6 instead of 5 cush drive slots.

D.I.Y. 1988-89 GSXR 750 rear wheel(4.5x17) onto a GS500E swap (Should take about 1 hour with hand tools!!!)

PARTS NEEDED:

    1    GS500E
    2    1988-89 GSXR 750 4.5x17 rear wheel with 150/60-17 tire installed,
           also with bearings installed and rear rotor
    3    one extra axle washer....about 1mm thick
    4    NEW rear wheel bearings....(for the anal people)

SPECIAL TOOLS NEEDED:

    1    Hacksaw
    2    File
    3    Caliper (or something to measure 10mm with)

PROCEDURE: 1. Remove the bearings from the GSXR wheel. Save the center bearing spacer and label it " GSXR ".

2 Remove rear wheel from GS500.

3 Remove bearings from the GS500 rear wheel.

NOTE: The center bearing spacer on the GS500 is 9mm shorter than the GSXR center spacer. Also, it is 17mm I.D. and the GSXR spacer is 20mm I.D.

This is the best way to install a 150 tire on a GS. A 160 is too wide for the chain/tire/brake stay clearance.

Stock GS alignment:

Spacer differences:

4 Remove the caliper bracket from the caliper and mark the inside with a marker to distinguish orientation. NOTE: If you accidentally cut the inside of the caliper bracket....You will be buying a NEW caliper bracket.

5 Mark a line 10mm from the OUTSIDE EDGE of the caliper bracket with a scribe/pen/pencil/nail

6 Cut along the the marked line on the bracket with the hacksaw. Cut deep enough to clear the swing arm when remounted.

gsxrwheel6.jpg

7 File the bracket smooth and as close to parallel (as possible) to the inside machined surface. 8 Install all parts into swing arm to check fit before installing GS500 bearings into GSXR wheel. Install in this order: Left spacer-GS500 cush hub-GS500 bearing-***GSXR center spacer*** -right bearing- right spacer-***~1mm washer***-modified caliper bracket (Note: I added the 1mm spacer later to help align the rotor in the caliper).

New alignment:

9 Install GS500 bearings into GSXR wheel ***USING THE GSXR CENTER SPACER!!!***. It is ok to use the GSXR center spacer even thought the diameter is bigger than the GS spacer. This is installed to prevent side loading the wheel bearings.

10 Install GSXR wheel into GS swing arm. NOTE: Remember to add the ~1mm washer between the right spacer and the caliper bracket to help center the rotor in the caliper.

Caliper:

11 Spin the wheel and check operation of the rear brake. This re-aligns the pistons in the caliper.

FINAL NOTES and COMMENTS:

1 The GSXR rotor is about 1 inch smaller in diameter than the GS500 rotor and about 1/2 of the GS brake pad comes in contact with the rotor. The brake pads will wear funny. Get over it.

2 The rear brake arm is NOT modified with a 150 tire and the clearance on both sides of the tire is acceptable. 160 tire...I do not know if it will fit.

3 I used a 1988-89 GSXR 750 wheel because the GS500 cush hub is a direct swap. This allows for perfect chain alignment or as good as a stock GS500.

4 A late model KATana 600/750, SV650, RF600, Bandit 600 might work.... I do not know. I have not had one in my hands to verify compatibility.

5 This is the proceedure I did...WITH HAND TOOLS!!!! I had to loosen the caliper from the the brake arm to bolt the caliper back on. I would have been finished in less than 1 hour, BUT, Srinath called so it took me about 1 hour and 20 minutes from start to finish ( including taking some measurements and pics for Ya'll)

6 This modification was performed at 10 pm on a Saturday in prep for a ride on Sunday with Srinath. This was typed up and sent by 1:30 am. Yes it actually took longer to explain how to convert the wheel than to actually convert the wheel.

Fightin-ry of gstwin.com also suggests a method of using a gsxr 1100 wheel by using a GT550 carrier (6 cush), instead of the gs500e sprocket carrier (5 cush), but it needs some machining to get chain alined and to make it narrow enough to fit. It will fit, just alittle more than an hours work.

bandit 600 4.5" rear wheel

modded by :hmmmnz:

right where do i start..... gear needed, 1x bandit back wheel, 1x gs500, 2xwheel bearings(depending on weather you use the gs axle or the bandit one) 1x caliper bracket (either gs or bandit bracket) 1x caliper(bandit if you want to mount it to the underside of the swing arm or gs if you want to mount it to the top) 1x gs cush drive complete with bearing(bearing will need to be changed to bandit one if you use bandit axle) 1x disc (you cant use the gs disc im afraid) 1xaxle either gs or bandit(if you use the bandit you will also have to get the bandit wheel adjusters)

step 1, tools, spanners for taking the wheel off and brake arm ect, hacksaw, screwdrivers, grinder, pencil, now that we have tools(all beit very few) its time for the bodging to begin step 2, put bike on its center stand, oh if like me you dont have one improvise

step 3, remove the back wheel, brake caliper, chain guard, foot rests, step 4, get the gs cush drive off the crappy gs wheel.

step 5, remove the bearings from the bandit wheel, (if you are using the gs axle) get some gs bearings from your local bike shop and chuck them in(the outside diameter is exactly the same and also the width is the same as oneanother its just the inner diameter thats different. the bandit is 20mm gs is 17mm) so now you have a bandit wheel thats ready to go on.

your next mission is the brake caliper bracket, you have a few choices here, 1 use the gs braket and have only half the caliper bracket, 2 use the bandit braket with the gs caliper and have 3/4 of the pad rubbing the disc or 3 use the bandit bracket and the bandit caliper and have all the pad touching the disc( if you choose this option it means that you have to get a tab welded on the bottom as its set up to be mounted on the bottom of the swing arm)

the one on the left is the cut down bandit braket, center is the standard bandit bracket and right is the gs bracket

if you have decided to use the bandit bracket and the gs axle you have to get a bush made(from 20o.s diameter to 17 i.s. diameter, i got a peice of brass 20mm pipe from an engineer and sanded the inside slightly and it worked a treat)

now that you have your bracket and caliper the next issue of the day is the torque arm,

bandit at the top and gs at the bottom. the bandit arm will just give you clearance( and i mean just, no really just)

so i'd get that bend a little just for prosperitys sake if nothing else,

right well now that thats all done its time to mount your fat new wheel.

and compared to the skinny gs one

and the side

right kids im done, i did some measuring and it looks like im bang on center, give or take half a mm, i don't know how that happened but im not complaining

mr green