Please share survival bike styling ideas for a GSX1100G (but not VJ's bike)

A mate of mine has a GSX1100G which may come up for sale soon.

It's cosmetically tatty but it looks like it might be mechanically good, its mileage is low, which is a good sign.

I have to do long distance motorway riding to get from Scotland to Gloucs and Oxon where the ratbike events are held. A big shaft drive tourer would be a lot more suitable than my current method, which is 8 hours of thrashing the nuts off the GPZ500S engine which is in The Scream.

My question to you lot is: Which across the frame 4 cylinder survival bikes do you think look cool and suitably postapocalyptic. I have my own ideas, (aggressive, angular and fast styling) but I'm open to other opinions.

Remember that I am tall with long legs, so there needs to be a decent stretch between seat and footpegs. And it has to have a tank range of 160 miles minimum. And I don't want to clone VJs bike.

@VJ what is your opinion of the GSXG lump? any advice?

I really like this 90's AWoL styel of lowrider. A GSXG would be longer, and I'd want a bigger tank, or a 2nd tank under the seat to give range.

Yeah I like that one, saw it at Santa Pod a few years back on Nik's stand.

What tank capacity are you after? I think you can get up to about 19L in an OEM Harley tank off the right model.

You don't need a big tank, you need fuel efficiency!

Just noticed, it is ME in the background on that pic. Must be RnS in Tattingstone 2010, I guess.

The bike in the pic is Budgies legendary Gaspode, you should have seen it at R`n`S several times over the years, it`s been around a long, long time...

great long distance machines. rare as rocking horse shit. Engine wise they are the same as a gsx11f from the base gasket up, pretty solid engines. mine is on much shorter gearing than standard thanks to the xs1100 rear diff, im lucky to see 30mpg.

Id expect spares to be rocking horse shit unless they are matching to another OSS. i.e brake pads = piece of piss, new fuel tank if it needs one? no chance, then again i doubt youd be wanting to keep it stock anyways.


If it ever gets broken for spares give me a nudge. I no longer have a spare engine and the only one I see for sale is almost 700 sheets and is in germany. I bought the last set of gsxg cases in europe and built the current engine thats in the bike but next time I blow a crankcase open then shes dead.

esox wrote:The bike in the pic is Budgies legendary Gaspode, you should have seen it at R`n`S several times over the years, it`s been around a long, long time...

it's also not a GSX-G or even a Suzuki....

it's also not a GSX-G or even a Suzuki....[/quote]

I know it's gaspode and thus a kwak?, but its an across the frame 4cyl in style I like, and I know it has done serious distances. And i wouldn't call it a survival bike. But it starts a conversation

if you're going for something with a seat that low you'd be wanting forward controls otherwise your knees will be up round you ears and the survival thing doesn't lend itself to forwards
maybe jack the back end up, longer forks, longer flat seat, wide steel mx bars, the usual i guess, not sure about the tank but the stocker would at least give you range
being that its probably capable of 150mph i'd recommend ridiculously large brakes, bigger discs ( let chinabay be your friend ) 6 pot busa or zxr calipers with matching m/c, braided lines, sintered pads

I'm heading towards "scruffy musclebike" as a styling theme. THe GSXG tank is rotted out at the bottom, but maybe a massive angular tank from a GSX1100EFE or similar earlier generation of Suzuki may be a suitable alternative.

All this is immaterial, as I now have a van project which will consume my spare time and cash. And the mate who owns the bike has to actually dig it out of his shed and sell it to me....