verslagen1 wrote on 12/21/07 at 10:31:11:Isn't the "L" series shaft drive?
As they say...that depends. The standards (spoke wheels) were no letter, the E's were mags and chain with a slightly stepped seat, the L's were heavly stepped seat and leading axle forks for a psudo chopper look. Then the G's came out were shaft drives.
Now...
Most early L's were chain (GS750,550 and 1000) the later ones (650's,850s and 1100s were many times GLs which should be shafties but the L style.
A great resource I have found just recently and poke around a little bit is
http://www.thegsresources.com/It is dedicated to the old GS's only.
Here is an exerpt from that site:
Page
http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_modelchart.htm"
Along the top of the chart is a listing of model years followed by the designation that Suzuki gave for all bikes built during that year; i.e. 1981X.
Along the left side of the chart are the various models that Suzuki made between the years of 1977 and 1985. The letters following the engine size is used to tell the type of bike it was and/or what accessories came with it. These letters can be broken down as follows:
X - Basic model
S - Sport or Katana
G - Shaft drive
M - Katana
L - Cruiser
K - Fairing and Hardbags A - Automatic Transmission
To put together the "correct" full model designation for a specific bike, take the model (e.g. GS450TX) and add the year designation for the model year. (e.g. 1983D). The model designation would then be a GS450TXD - a basic 450cc model, with spoke wheels that was built in 1983"
The approach I usually take to this is to search Bike Bandit starting in 1977 through 1985 and see what you find. You can ususally find sizes as wheel as part numbers. The track the models that will work for you. If you find a GS550 that will work I have a '77 so I can see what the chain offset is. If you want me to PM me.