Tweety's RC51 swingarm swap
 

I'm in the middle of attaching a (RC51) SP2 swingarm to my VTR... So I thought I'd start a thread with pictures of my progress...

A note though... I don't move at the speed of lightning as truckinduc does... If you get one update a week, be happy about it... If not bugger of and read another thread until I get around to it...:D

Ok... Here is what we start with...

Attachment 29691

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And a sneak update to the stock part...

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BTW... Note the assortment of swingarms in the background of the first pic...:) Not all are featured... The SP2 and 954 is missing and the 929 is just halfway into the shot...

And this is what is going on instead of the above...

Attachment 29689

The new mount for the shock link was welded on... looks decent...

Attachment 29690

Somehow I managed to not take any pictures of the whole bike with the new swingarm in place... :banghead:

But, here is a few of the custom mount plate for my adjustable rearsets...

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Attachment 29688

More to follow once I get a new chuck for the tower drill... It decided to lock up for no apparent reason... So now I can't continue... :(

And before anyone comments on it... Yes, my chain is a mess... That's the result of my bout of abstinence 2 weeks ago... I thought I got is clean... now it's rusted and links are stuck...:( Road salts is aggressive... The rest of the bike I managed to get reasonably clean though...

Oh well... It's already removed and a new chain and sprockets are waiting to go on as the swingarm is mounted permanently...

well, I don't think anybody moves as fast as trucknduc........
its a big job, good luck on it. will be fun to watch. Its amazing the differences looking at the RC51 arm vs. the superhawk! the rc arm looks like it could support a small house.

HEY!.......you stole my arm!


looks good,did you follow my lead on arm?

if so thanks for the vote of confidence.


i decided to wait until my support payments are over before i continue.
should be able to get started again late this summer,road ready mid to late fall.

What is even more amazing is the fact that the OEM arm is actually the heaviest... :eek: Not by much... But it is...

Yeah I did follow your lead... Having mocked it up and looked at it from all angles once the arm and wheel was centered the mounts lined up perfectly...

With that and the fact that you had it mounted up (not road tested though) I decided that I'd rather have the option of two triangle plates that can be re-cut for fiddeling with the ratio than dealing with trying to mate the RC linkage and VTR linkage...

I looked at that and just trying to visualize it and doing the math for the ratio gave me a headache... This I can calculate to a reasonable degree and then some trial'n'error to get it finalized...

BTW I figured out what you meant with mixing the spacers...:) The small 9 mm collar from the VTR arm fits perfectly where the SP2 arm is "missing" one collar... All I need to do now in that respect is to cut two small inner collars to center the arm on the engine mount...

My measuring say's it's 2.5 mm each side... And that should center both wheel and arm... Can you verify or debunk this?

with the combination of spacers i came up with,i didnt need to cut any.

if i recall correctly it is a combo of rc and superhawk spacers.

my main concern and the reason i was reluctant to share info on swingarm
is the welded on suspension mount.
will it hold?

if it doesnt and someone gets hurt,i would feel terrible.

but yeah cutting flat plates is much easier,even if you have to do it several times.
im sure i will have to also.

its those concerns that intimidated me about modifying swingarms and structural parts that require modification from stock. I have confidence in the factory testing and development to believe its strong enough, but wouldn't trust my own decisions there. I freely admit its out of ignorance and familiarity with welding and having no background in engineering. So I personally just stay away from and watch in admiration for those of you with that experience to allow you to do it. I'm still just trying to find a JMC or other arm I can bolt on!

What is the benefit of the RC swingarm? Other than the weight difference you mentioned?

I'm guessing it would be stiffer so you'd get less lateral movement in the rear-end making the bike feel much more stable...RC

Nice work Tweety!

Well, the two above mentioned... Weight and stability...

And I personally see it as a positive, some see it as a negative... It's a bit longer than stock and moves more weight up front...

That should make the bike less wheelie prone and get the power down...

As for strength and possible failures... My own responsibility... None other involved... I know it and I live by it...

The guy welding this did a wery thoughout job of putting it in an x-ray machine and giving me a good estimate on the mechanical strenght of the weld he could perform on that material and thickness... also x-rayed the weld afterwards to look for imperfections in the weld... I ran the numbers and I'm trying it...

But... I have the same reservations as you... Anyone trying it is on there own as far as testing and safety... I'm giving no numbers, and no promises...

well.....wheres the ride report?

Um... I spent the afternoon trying to replicate your success with the spacers... So far all I got for my trouble was a headache...:(

Plus I broke my chaintool...:(

The new chuck seems to work though, but after breaking the grinder as well I decided that I'd better stay out of the garage for the day otherwise I'd probably end up breaking something really expensive...

Tomorrow I'll get a new chaintool and grinder and start over with the fabrication of my rearset mounts...

I love seeing work like this - a lot of fun to watch your progress.

As for increased strength - can this stress out the frame, seeing it's not as beefy as the SH frame?

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Got the mounts for the rearsets almost done...

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can you post some spec of your rear sets. I want to replace mine too.

Sure...:) But I'm not so sure it's going to help much...;)

The rearsets are for a CBR 1000RR (can anybody see a pattern here?!) And are actually cheap knock-offs from Thailand somewhere... I was prepared to get something rather simple for the money I was paying, but they are actually really solid, and light as a feather, high grade aluminium for sure... The bolts are high grade steel according to the markings, and the CNC work is top notch... Even the ball bearings are a reasonable quality it seems and are fully sealed...

But as you can see from the pictures I have made the mounting plates holding them myself... The reason being I can now quite easily use just about any CBR rearsets, OEM or otherwise as they have the same bolt pattern... There is a 2 mm difference from the 929/954 to the 1000RR/600RR, but the bolts are smaller then the actual hole, so I can wiggle it that much until I put a lock washer in there and torque them...

BTW I can't make up my mind...

Do I need the lower mount points for the pipes to the foot pegs? It's obviously going to reduce vibrations in the pegs if I'm not using them... But are they necessary for the pipes to stay put?

Are they used on aftermarket pipes?


And they are ugly... But If I cut them off, going back to stock footpegs isn't going to help, as they are missing then...

I'll probably wait with the actual cutting, I'd like to be able to swap everything back to stock, atleast until I have ridden the bike a while with the new swing and decided I'm keeping it this way...

Yeah I know... I'm a bit anal... I'm also stubborn...

Final result of my rearsets...

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/p...p/PICT1781.jpg

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Now I'm waiting for my banjobolt pressure switch for the rear brake and a new rear sprocket... 600RR's use a 6 bolt pattern... Not 5 like the VTR... Doh! :banghead:
Should have checked that before ordering...

Once I get that I can put the new chain on and get some rubber on the new wheel... Then I'm done... I think... :)

As for finish, nope... Not doing that... I'm gonna ride it for a while and decide... Then it's going to get blinged...;)

Very nice!

can you measure your rearsets for me? The width. from where the peg mounts to each side?

Seems kinda wide just cause you have a plate mounting on a plate.

Good looking work.

Im glad we took completely different directions on our own adjustable rearsets

http://i40.tinypic.com/34pynhk.jpg

I have forgotten to replace mine a few time (months) and had not problems nor did I actually notice any differernce in vibration.
Nice work so far can't wait to hear ride report.

I'll gladly do that in a few days when I get back to it...
Need to work on actually working too...:(

Oh... And I plan to put the stock arm on a scale to compare to you braced and my new one...

Actually the pegs are probably narrower than stock!
The reason I chose that arrangement was that the SP2 swing is actually more narrow across the pivot than the stock swing...
The bolt I'm using is the VTR wheel axle, which is about 20mm shorter (I think?!) And also I'm to lazy to tap thread in a bunch of holes... easier to use the existing plates...

To be able to use the stock pivot axle, I would have had to use at least 10 mm more material on each side...

Ok... that probably settles it then... If nothing is out of the ordinary once tested I'll probably just cut them away...

awesome.

I kept mine as narrow as possible. Whats the point in having a vtwin if its gonna be wide?

That swinger is gonna look great, but high mount cans would show it off.

rearsets outside to outside, 13 3/8"

http://i44.tinypic.com/1zlcifb.jpg

Footpegs outside to outside, 19 1/2"

http://i39.tinypic.com/ibc4jn.jpg

keeping it NARROW.

How about it looks fuckin' sick ;)

awesome looking bike Capt!