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Swingarms

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:25 pm
by Falconihlist
Apart from the Mille and newer RSV swingarms, has there been any other swingarm conversions?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:28 pm
by Aladinsaneuk
Futura

Straight fit - only problem is working out how to do the speedo....

I did look at another swing arm - let's just say another aprilia with a twinspar swing arm - not feasible IMHO

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:31 pm
by Falconihlist
I reckon the Futura could probably be solved with an aftermarket dash and a bit of imagineering. Finding said swingarm is a different journey alltogether!

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:45 pm
by blinkey501
Has anyone ventured into fitting a swingarm from a different make of bike, ie honda firestorm, or perhaps a single sided arm from another honda? with the suzuki side stand mod someone had to try that to find out. street fighter bikes use "foreign" parts all the time.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:45 pm
by Nooj
Good streetfighter owners often have lots and lots of nice engineering tools and abilities.

If you have the right kit and knowledge it can be made to work. How are you at milling and welding ally castings?

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:51 pm
by Falconihlist
I can do a bit of armour, not quite the same thing though.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:01 pm
by Nooj
Mate had a Hornet600 with a VFR swingarm on it. He did most of the work himself, but had to get help in to cut the shock mount off the top of the swingarm and weld it back on somewhere else. That's a feckin' big lump of metal to re-position and you wouldn't want it coming off again afterwards!

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:23 am
by blinkey501
Nooj wrote:Good streetfighter owners often have lots and lots of nice engineering tools and abilities.

If you have the right kit and knowledge it can be made to work. How are you at milling and welding ally castings?
not bad to be honest, i looked on ebay this morning at the vfr 800 single swinger. i am not sure if the falco rear header would clear the swingarm has i am not sure about the vfr rear exsaust configuration, i think it could be a whole lot of heart ache but i am sure the results would look nice. :smt002

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:15 am
by Chabby
Yeah - I think the main problem would be finding a swinger with a hole in the right place for the rear header.

Other than that it would just be a case of trying to find a close match for the width between the frame and the approximate length.

My mates just put a bandit swingarm on his old Katana to take advantage of modern rubber. He had to make up the twin shock mounts and paid a local guy £30 to weld them on but it's a sweet job.

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:26 pm
by mangocrazy
Chabby wrote:Yeah - I think the main problem would be finding a swinger with a hole in the right place for the rear header.
Don't forget that the VFR swingarm only has to accomodate the shock. On the Falco it has to accomodate shock and rear header...

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:29 pm
by Falconihlist
If said Futura arm becomes available at the right price, I could be tempted, but with a different set of wheels too. I reckon I would probably have to go onto a Mille exhaust as well.

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:52 pm
by Aladinsaneuk
its not just the swing arm you need

you are talking rear wheel and the hub - I priced it up at around 500 quid recently - AND that was hoping the hun bearings were ok - if not, kiss goodbye to a large wedge of cash....

throw in an aftermarket set of clocks, and a speedo sensor and i do not think you would get any change from 750 quid....

I looked at it very hard - and had worked out what to do etc - but I could not justify it

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:59 pm
by Falconihlist
Have to agree with you Pete, and then throw in the cost of matching wheels to finish it off, I would could get myself a second bike (now there's a thought).

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:01 pm
by HowardQ
Exactly what I did! (the bought a second bike option)

Maybe I'm a bit sad, but why the F**K bother.
If you like the standard swingarm, like I do, it works just as well as the Mille swinger, so keep it.
If you want to be different, fit a Mille unit. that's fine! :smt023
The latter conversion is tried and tested and you can't really go wrong.

Why bother with something like a VFR single sider, costs a fortune and looks shit on the other side! (Futura is a different proposition and the only way to go single sided!)
There is so much to sort with a complete oddball and you may never get it fully sorted, so you also have an expensive worse handling bike at the end.
I'd rather keep my two bikes than this sort of conversion just for the sake of it.
Just my personal view.

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:15 pm
by Falconihlist
I was looking at streetfighters and just wondered if anyone had done something else. I am seriously thinking about a second bike, a second Falco would be my choice, to take a different styling route.