Swingarm conversion

I have a 77 KZ1000A and I want to convert the stock suspension to a streetfighter setup. Will a swingarm from a 1998 ZX11 fit with/without mods. If not, what will? Also what kind of frontend setup works works with the least amount of mods. Maybe a ZX setup works?

neil, a search will pull up a lot of useful info on this topic.

that being said, here is some basic info.

re: the front end. in the filebase section, there is a document that has a bunch of the bearing dimensions for the necks of various kawaskis. this will get you in the ballpark. stems will be the issue, both diameter, and overall length. lots of things will work, but there will be pros and cons of the different models.

re the swing arm: the pivot end of the arm is the main issue. generally, the width of these will have to either be machined down to fit, or shimmed to take up the slack. i wanna say the stocker is 9" wide, so something close to that will work. you will need to deal with the ID of the bolt for that arm, will most likely be larger than the stocker. so, a sleeve will have to be made for it.

brakes are an issue, but not a huge one. you may have to clearance the frame to get an arm in there that uses large cross section tubing. big aluminum sport bike arms in particular. footpeg brackets either need to be trimmed, or taken off altogether. the brake pedal mount will probably have to be clearanced as well.

longer chain, longer brake line, shock mounts welded to the arm, converted to mono-shock, wheels, and what have you.

like the man says, it all depends... 8^)

--r

Post edited by: solomrus, at: 2006/02/22 11:20

solomrus wrote:

dimensions for the necks of various kawaskis.

i couldn't resist, what's a kawaski?

I know a Kososki!

What I want to know is... what the heck is a streetfighter?


-Duck

Duck, As far a my interpretation of a streetfighter goes, its a classic bike like our KZs, with everything upgraded:) such as big bore kits, chassis mods, suspension off of new sport bikes, everything that could make an old bike work waaay better than it was ever intended to:) :evil:

Neil, I'm in the process of fitting some ZX stuff to my 650, I should have some updates and hopefully pics by early next week. also check out the "looking for diagram" , "how did you grind the frame for swingarm" , and the "ZX swingarm and shock" threads.

77KZ650 wrote:

Duck, As far a my interpretation of a streetfighter goes, its a classic bike like our KZs, with everything upgraded:) such as big bore kits, chassis mods, suspension off of new sport bikes, everything that could make an old bike work waaay better than it was ever intended to:) :evil:

Neil, I'm in the process of fitting some ZX stuff to my 650, I should have some updates and hopefully pics by early next week. also check out the "looking for diagram" , "how did you grind the frame for swingarm" , and the "ZX swingarm and shock" threads.

A good writing, but that's not really a streetfighter. Though you are building what I would consider to be a streetfighter influenced bike. I like the idea. That's why I'm in the midst of building one as well!

A streetfighter is quite literally the modern version of the bike builds based on the concepts of cafe racers of the 50's-70's.

You take a newer frame (usually custom for a really good streetfighter... Spondon, Harris, etc.), cram a really friggin big engine in it, lighten it up, add a few personal touches, and you have a streetfighter.

A few common things on them?

1) SINGLE PERSON
2) Superbike bars (on a sportbike front end)
3) A LOT of Gixxer based fighters
4) Kicked asses (high rear end)
5) Polished/Chromed parts
6) Wild paint jobs
7) Bug eye/MIG lamps
Color matching

It's basically a really modified sportbike with the aesthetic "oohs and ahhhs" of the chopper world.

Example:



This bike in specific is a very popular streetfighter. If I remember correctly the bike is called "Hans Stahl" and is owned by a guy in a streetfighter club in Germany. PERFECT example of a streetfighter.

NEIL:

There's a way to make anything work, you just need to figure it out. Keep an eye out on the forums and ask specific questions while you go and you can sort anything out

Oh, and Neil, keep in mind when you are doing this that you are changing the geometries.

The radius of your pivot in terms of rear axle in relation to the engine for example will stay the same, but the travel of the arc as you compress and decompress will be changed and can adjust the tension on the chain drastically in certain instances.

Just remember to take it slow, think of everything and address it all!

Post edited by: twowheeledterror, at: 2006/02/24 00:51

Twowheeledterror, thx for clearing that up, now I know:)

77KZ650 wrote:

Twowheeledterror, thx for clearing that up, now I know:)

Lemme know if you want more pix. I've only got like 500 of them!!! hahaha

Thats either a really big guy or those are some drastically small bike parts.
WAAAYY cool bike :woohoo:

Snakebyte wrote:

Thats either a really big guy or those are some drastically small bike parts.
WAAAYY cool bike :woohoo:

Combination. The stubbed tail makes the bike seems MUCH smaller... but I bet the dude is a pretty big guy too.

Got it.

So if I ever get the 'J' motor stuffed into the GPX
chassis, get a blower on it, upgrade the brakes, make her
street legal, then I'm pretty much there? Didn't know I
was working on one

Finally got a 24' stick of 1.25 tubing in. Wanted 0.095
but they shipped the next larger. Wanted ERW but they shipped
DOM. $60 delivered is a bit more than I wanted to pay but the stuff looks
really nice and it took so long to get here that I'm keeping it.

-Duck