Installing a Bandit 400 rear wheel

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.