Zephyr swingarm on a Z650...?

I have a '78 Z650B and I'm rebuilding it as a Cafe Racer. I'd like a stiffer swingarm and fancy a Zephyr unit for the box section strength and also the wheel adjuster system. has anyone tried this? Do Zephyr 550s have the same dimensions as Zephyr 750s? Help!!

I´m running a Zephyr 750 swingarm with a GPz900R rear wheel on my 77 650. There are some slight differences between the Zephyr 550 arm and the Zephyr 750 arm, mostly in regard to the bracing around the pivot area, but I´m pretty sure they have the same dimensions, at least at the pivot. I know for a fact that both arms can be installed in a 650 frame - I installed the 750 arm and fellow member 7ripp3r installed the 550 arm. Both arms take a 17mm pivot bolt (stock 650 is 16mm), so you´ll either have to get a new sleeve fabbed or drill the frame, I did the latter.

Here´s a link to 7ripp3r´s original thread about it,unfortunately his pics are gone:

kzrider.com/archive/viewthread.php?tid=25242#pid219204

Here´s a link to a thread over at KZ650.info where you can see how I did, you may have to register there to see the pics,it´s perfectly safe.

forums.kz650.info/index.php?topic=333.0

Here´s a pic of my bike with the arm and wheel installed - I have some more detailed pics, but I´m not at my own computer right now:









Post edited by: OnkelB, at: 2007/04/17 15:27

man I like the look of that set up, in looking at the pic, how do you adj the chain? and what rear disc set up did you use?

The rear axle sits in two excentrics, you loosen the rear clamping bolts and rotate the excentrics to adjust the chain.

The brakes (disc, caliper and mc) are off a GPz900R, as is the wheel - however the GPz sprocket hub was too wide to get the wheel centered in the arm, so I used a sprocket hub from a 1000J, it fits right in the GPz cush drive.

OnkelB, many thanks for the help, much appreciated. My '78 650 has a rear disc instead of a drum, so I'm hoping to keep the rear wheel and brake components. Just need to find a swingarm now...