SuzukiSavage.com - chain drive conversion

Hutch Serious Thumper Offline till death do us part Posts: 1035 Birch Run, MI. U.S.A. Gender:	Re: chain drive conversion Reply #285 - 03/19/07 at 12:29:05 Dynobob wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03: You might try Belray Super Clean. It's a better lube in my opinion and it will not fling. Thanks, I might have to run a different chain for each sprocket choice,not sure yet. If so ,I will try both and see which one I like the best.
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allan

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #286 - 03/19/07 at 14:02:48

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

Any plans for some method for correcting the speedo?

what about looking at changing front wheel with speedo drive, gs 250 gt250 from the early 80's
or maybe virago 250/535, I'm only offering thoughts here, not something I've looked at yet, I'm sure there is something out there.

well done Hutch looks good to me, will now give it a go on the 400 to see if I can get it up there with the 650,

allan.

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Savage_Greg

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #287 - 03/19/07 at 14:21:17

Allan wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

what about looking at changing front wheel with speedo drive, gs 250 gt250 from the early 80's
or maybe virago 250/535, I'm only offering thoughts here, not something I've looked at yet, I'm sure there is something out there.

well done Hutch looks good to me, will now give it a go on the 400 to see if I can get it up there with the 650,

allan.

Quite true...I guess there's a couple ways to do it.

I wonder how the speedo was driven on the GS550...since they had optional sprockets it might have been a front wheel drive speedo too.

But then you have to do something with the stock speedo since the cable might not connect easily. Are speedos and cables and drives standardized? I never really thought about it.

Either that, or I'm gonna have to get used to making mental corrections with the stock one...

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tbalam Full Member Offline I like my kids, but I love my bike ;) Posts: 172 Fac o' the Sn Gender:	Re: chain drive conversion Reply #288 - 03/19/07 at 14:26:53 In this case you could likely buy a speedo drive for a harley , yep i said it, and a speedo to match. JPcycles 2007 catolog pages 418 ish.
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Savage_Greg Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Don't go around your ass to reach your elbow... Posts: 7844 SW Washington State Gender:	Re: chain drive conversion Reply #289 - 03/19/07 at 14:36:44 tbalam wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03: In this case you could likely buy a speedo drive for a harley , yep i said it, and a speedo to match. JPcycles 2007 catolog pages 418 ish. Oh no. I'm not buying something that's likely to vibrate and fall off
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allan Ex Member	Re: chain drive conversion Reply #290 - 03/19/07 at 14:53:35 the wheel driven varities I've come across are all square ended cables, as is the savage speedo head so you just need a longer cable,I would think any Honda above 250 will do as they are mostly wheel driven possibly a magna or shadow ? allan.
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Hutch

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #291 - 03/19/07 at 15:54:22

I used to use my tach in the old hot rod days when the race rearend in my car thru the speedo off. I know that most everyone wants the correct speedo reading for mileage reasons, like oil change, when to fill up and the dreaded 5-0. I never could figure out why they did away with the front wheel speedo on most bikes. Unless you went to a different tire on the front, you could always know what your speed was. Sooner or later I plan to put a nice Barons chrome tach on ,but it would be nice to have a correct speedo. I'll let someone else figure this out. Spec-mo was a NO GO. Hutch

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Savage_Greg

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #292 - 03/19/07 at 22:16:59

Allan wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

the wheel driven varities I've come across are all square ended cables, as is the savage speedo head so you just need a longer cable,I would think any Honda above 250 will do as they are mostly wheel driven possibly a magna or shadow ?

allan.

The cable might be the same, but it's the ratio of the gears driving the cable that I wonder about...on ours it comes straight off the drive shaft.

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #293 - 03/19/07 at 22:42:43

Greg, I remember crossing parts to my 1983-4 Gs750.
If memory serves, the clutch plates, discs and springs swap.

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

Do you suppose that anything else is useful on the GS 550...like maybe the speedo drive on the countershaft or maybe the rear wheel size or maybe even the speedo too?

Might be able to upgrade this all the way. Might help Kropatchek with his new tank too Tongue

Anyway

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #294 - 03/20/07 at 03:37:39

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

Quite true...I guess there's a couple ways to do it.

I wonder how the speedo was driven on the GS550...since they had optional sprockets it might have been a front wheel drive speedo too.

But then you have to do something with the stock speedo since the cable might not connect easily. Are speedos and cables and drives standardized? I never really thought about it.

Either that, or I'm gonna have to get used to making mental corrections with the stock one...

The GS550 (like all old GS's) were driven off the front wheel. The GS spoke wheels were 19" fronts so they would cross right over other than the disc may take some work to bolt up. but hey why not change that out and bold up a 4 pot at that point! anyway the GS's ran 19" front spoked and 18" rear , the mag style had 18" mags front and 17" generally in the rear. The smaller GT's such as the 250 ran 18" spoked front and back. Not sure on the GT550 and larger I think those might have been 19" fronts.

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #295 - 03/20/07 at 04:18:33

A few details I almost forgot. The axle size is the same on all of them! They went to a larger axle when they went to the 3 spoke hollow cast mags in about '88.

The drive runs off a 90 deg drive that engages with wheel with either 2 or 4 tabs. I just checked and the savage rim does not have the ability to drop those in. That said I glanced over at my GS550 and the front brake is on the left side like the savage and although it is a dished disc rather than flat the spacing looks roughly the same. It may just slot in.

If anyone gets real serious about this I could try slipping my gs550 rim into my savage and let you know.

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Savage_Greg

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #296 - 03/20/07 at 08:57:30

smokin_blue wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

The GS550 (like all old GS's) were driven off the front wheel. The GS spoke wheels were 19" fronts so they would cross right over other than the disc may take some work to bolt up. but hey why not change that out and bold up a 4 pot at that point! anyway the GS's ran 19" front spoked and 18" rear , the mag style had 18" mags front and 17" generally in the rear. The smaller GT's such as the 250 ran 18" spoked front and back. Not sure on the GT550 and larger I think those might have been 19" fronts.

Well, since the rear pulley/sprocket change worked out so nicely, what's the chance that the disc brakes would match?

My info shows the 1978 550 had spokes and dual front disks. Reckon that the Savage master cylinder would operate those brakes?

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Savage_Greg

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #297 - 03/20/07 at 09:02:14

smokin_blue wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

A few details I almost forgot. The axle size is the same on all of them! They went to a larger axle when they went to the 3 spoke hollow cast mags in about '88.

The drive runs off a 90 deg drive that engages with wheel with either 2 or 4 tabs. I just checked and the savage rim does not have the ability to drop those in. That said I glanced over at my GS550 and the front brake is on the left side like the savage and although it is a dished disc rather than flat the spacing looks roughly the same. It may just slot in.

If anyone gets real serious about this I could try slipping my gs550 rim into my savage and let you know.

The axle size through the bearings? Or through the fork tube also?

I imagine that you might need the entire front end, if it fit in the steering head.

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Re: chain drive conversion
Reply #298 - 03/20/07 at 09:59:44

All the early GS550's were single disc. You didn't encounter the duals until the GS750 model and larger and then only on the E an possibly the L models but not on the spoked rims.

The bearings are the same. I would look at putting the GS550 wheel in place of the stock savage with the savage axle. The disc is dished versus flat but it might be in the same location vs centerline from eyeballing it. The hub definately looks different. The GS is the old mid size hub look and the savage has the spindle look of most crusiers.

I wouldn't suggest putting GS forks on them because I think they will be too short and they are much smaller in diameter.

Hard call on the axles unless I pulled both and laid them side by side. My thought is the most it might be would be a couple of spacer mods. But hey...I like spacers! Grin

With all the electronic spedo's these days I would be temped to keep it clean and go that route.

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PerrydaSavage Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Riding "The Rock"! Posts: 3522 Republic of Newfoundland Gender:	Re: chain drive conversion Reply #299 - 03/20/07 at 13:31:18 I've seen pics somewhere of a VZ800 Marauder front-end on a Savage ... and the 'Rauder has a bar-mtd. speedo ... is it run off of the front wheel?
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