What swingarm to use?

Just bought some 2003 ZX-6 forks for my 76 KZ900. I'm trying to accumulate as many parts as possible so when it gets torn apart I will have less down time.

I was going to just put on a extended swingarm from D&G but after seeing OMR's bike and Larry C's bike on here I think I want a mono-shock swingarm.

Are there any that pose more problems than others or any that are much easier to convert?

Do I need to stay with ZX-6 if I want to use the same wheels front and back or does that not matter?

Buying all your parts at once and expecting them all to go together like you planned is not a great idea. Going ahead with out mocking it up several times along the way is going to result in problems and a lot of extra $ wasted.

The folks that design motorcycles for a living don't ever get everything right on the first go. Learn to appreciate things pissing you off and not working. Something as simple as mounting rear sets is not as straight forward as it first apprears.

I'm putting a GPZ750 turbo swingarm on and it just required a 1mm boring and a mm or two shaved off each side of the pivot.

The forks I bought have already been modified to fit a KZ.

I also understand that folks that design bikes for a living don't get things right on the first go....thus the reason for the post. I was kind of hoping to learn which swingarms to stay away from and maybe ones that may be a little easier from the folks on here that have already been through the process.

It sounds like you're saying I should not sell my 1980 shaft though....just to make sure I have something to ride during this whole ordeal. I have no illusions that I'm going to buy some parts and turn out a bike in a month. I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

I sort of had the illusion of turning it over in a month or two, now hopefully next spring. I did not mean to come off as condescending, it is just that no plan survives first contact.

GS1100 are suposedly the easiet, zx6 (somewhere I read the 7 flares out too much but I don't see where it would catch unless on the passenger pegs which I cut off), GPZ, zephyr, all those should be fairly easy swaps with a little light machine work. The Katana and GSXR box ones are common and I've seen a GPZ with a newer style GSXR swingarm so all those can feasable be made to work with a bit of ingenuity and $.

Splandman wrote:

Just bought some 2003 ZX-6 forks for my 76 KZ900. I'm trying to accumulate as many parts as possible so when it gets torn apart I will have less down time.

I was going to just put on a extended swingarm from D&G but after seeing OMR's bike and Larry C's bike on here I think I want a mono-shock swingarm.

Are there any that pose more problems than others or any that are much easier to convert?

Do I need to stay with ZX-6 if I want to use the same wheels front and back or does that not matter?

ZX7 arms are a ton of work. Find a zx6 arm if you can. Either way, hack off the extra tubing for the rear foot pegs. It cleans up the look of the frame & making new brackets to mount rear pegs is straight forward.

Wheels can be adjusted with spacer trimming, etc. But again, it's easier to get the wheels, arm and forks from the same model doner bike...


TAKE YOUR TIME WITH IT. It's about safety and how nice it is when finished. Good things take time.

larrycavan wrote:

Splandman wrote:

Just bought some 2003 ZX-6 forks for my 76 KZ900. I'm trying to accumulate as many parts as possible so when it gets torn apart I will have less down time.

I was going to just put on a extended swingarm from D&G but after seeing OMR's bike and Larry C's bike on here I think I want a mono-shock swingarm.

Are there any that pose more problems than others or any that are much easier to convert?

Do I need to stay with ZX-6 if I want to use the same wheels front and back or does that not matter?

ZX7 arms are a ton of work. Find a zx6 arm if you can. Either way, hack off the extra tubing for the rear foot pegs. It cleans up the look of the frame & making new brackets to mount rear pegs is straight forward.

Wheels can be adjusted with spacer trimming, etc. But again, it's easier to get the wheels, arm and forks from the same model doner bike...


TAKE YOUR TIME WITH IT. It's about safety and how nice it is when finished. Good things take time.

Actually your post in another thread about the ZX-7 arm is the main reason I started the thread. I believe you said it was "A Mutha" lol.

When the time comes I will be sending you my head.

Here's one I was looking at. My wife said to buy it cause the gold shock matched the forks I bought. lol I told her there may be other considerations.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...me=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

Thanks for the responses guys.

The main thing to consider with the swingarm swap is the width of the pivot everthing else is gonna be custom no matter what you choose. but if you can save some time and money and on the pivot youre that much further ahead. I have put a gsxr swingarm in my gpz750. I cheated though and started with a mono shock.