Swingarm to brace or not to brace...

MacKrell17 · Post by **MacKrell17** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:16 pm

So, the sun is shining and I'm pottering about getting the bike back on the road and I realise I'm going to have to regrease the swing arm and pivot bearings. (2004 bike 35,000 miles - never been done)

. Anyway so it got me thinking

if I'm going to strip the back of the bike off anyway then how difficult would it be to use the existing swingarm to build a braced version. Then for a few quid extra I can get the whole thing powder coated and looking better than new. So I notice you can pick up a '93/94 Blade swingarm for Â£34 - Â£40, shouldn't be too hard to slice the bracing off and re-weld to the Storm arm and stick back on again .... but the question is, what am I not considering? What is going to be the spanner in the works that makes me wish I had never thought about it?

All comments as ever very welcome...

Neil

Kev L · Post by **Kev L** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:37 pm

Neil, I am in the process of doing this at the moment. I bought a second VTR arm for Â£12 and a 97 Blade arm for Â£15. Angle grind/Dremel the brace off the blade arm then trim to fit the vtr arm. Only needs minor adjustments.
You need to consider the rear brake mounting point. I have decided to use a blade rear caliper and mounting bracket. You need to knock off the original vtr mounting lug on the inside of the right arm, just grind down the welds and it comes off easy. Remove the mounting lug from the blade arm and tidy it up on a grinding wheel.
As a bonus if you remove the blocks on the end of the blade arm, the bits the chain adjuster bolts go through, they can be welded to the bottom of the arm to give bobbin mounting points.
My next bit is to find a welder happy to perform the task.
Good luck mate.

MacKrell17 · Post by **MacKrell17** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:57 pm

Kev, that's brilliant. I take it the blade therefore has the same diameter disc etc ... so it's just a caliper and bracket change with no other issues?

I did wonder about turning the VTR caliper upside down as the lug seems to be in the centre of the arm. I'll have to do some measurements to find out.

Neil

Kev L · Post by **Kev L** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:23 pm

I thought about that but surely if you turn the mounting bracket usd the locating lug on it will be pointing in the opposite direction? Or am I being dim???
There is the option of making a new securing arm from rod & rose joints and getting a new locating point put on. If you do a search on braced swinging arm in the search facility there are a couple of completed examples, one using an R1 brace, one with a seperate fabricated tie rod.
I can take some snaps of where I am at and the various components if you like.
:beer:

MacKrell17 · Post by **MacKrell17** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:42 pm

DOH! You're right

The bracket would be the wrong way round.

I'll check the forum. Pictures would be great though.

Neil

Kev L · Post by **Kev L** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 5:37 pm

OK mate here we go then. I bought a VTR swinger so I can do this over a period of time and still enjoy the bike. It's mostly for aesthetics rather than additional strength. Particularly because I am fitting high level pipes and the VTR swinger is a little skinny. Anyway I took a grinder and Dremel to the arm and cut off the chain guard brackets and the rear caliper bracket securing point. Cut off the brace from the blade arm using the grinder/Dremel, hacksaw & occasional use of a big (ish) hammer. Ended up with this -

I then cut the blade bracket securing point off the arm and cleaned it up on the grinding wheel -

The lug will need fixing to the point indicated -

This will fix the blade caliper bracket as shown, giving the rear caliper sufficient clearance -

If you try to use the VTR caliper bracket it ends up like this with the caliper mounting points fouling the brace -

The paddock stand bobbin mounts I cut from the ends of the old blade arm, shaped the alloy and intend to get it welded on when the rest is done -

I have just bought an Abba stand for the bike, but want to add the bobbins for things like the workshop days etc. More options and all that.
Once the swinger is sorted I have this sitting in the corner waiting to be fitted -

Not in any great rush to do the fitting at the moment, enjoying the rush overtaking everything in sight on a wave of torque. Love it, and very different to my old Yamaha.

benny hedges · Post by **benny hedges** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:07 pm

Kev L wrote: Once the swinger is sorted I have this sitting in the corner waiting to be fitted -

i quite like the idea of spoked wheels but do you not think the tyre is a bit skinny?

Kev L · Post by **Kev L** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:11 pm

Sorry mate I should have moved the motorbike forks out of the way. I just like the pink skinny forks and offroad tyre. Do you think it would speed up or slow down the turn in????
You are just a very silly boy. Go and stand in the corner.

MacKrell17 · Post by **MacKrell17** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:15 pm

Kev
Thanks for the photos, I think I'll be following the same route - so it's time to start cruising ebay. Get the point about the caliper and anyone doing the welding I guess you need to trust as being a pro. So before I start parting with the hard earned I guess this is the easiest way to get a braced unit? (I'm also doing this for the look rather than the strength / stiffness etc...). When I searched the forum someone mentioned fitting an SP1 unit with different linkages? Or do they mean a set of custom made linkages which would be more problematic...
Anyway thanks again for the photos and good luck.
Neil

tony.mon · Post by **tony.mon** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:00 pm

Since finishing fitting the reground cams to my engine this weekend the swing arm brace is the next thing on the horizon, along with getting a spare subframe painted or powder coated, not sure which yet.
I've got the brace from a Blade already sitting on the bench, the Blade mounting bracket as well, but will the Storm caliper not fit directly?
Hole centre are ok, looks like it will line up with the disc......

And I have two welders to choose from, I'll post progress in a separate thread.
I fitted a R&G shock tube today which means that I'm not too fussed about finding a hugger to fit, but I would have though that a Blade hugger would go on ok.

And I have a standard Storm chain guard to bodge on if necessary, although my bike currently carries a carbon combined chainguard/hugger.

Which will be up for grabs to cover the cost of the welding.....

And yes, purely cosmetic, I don't anticipate noticing a difference, and after all it will be heavier, so any stiffness improvement will be offset by the extra unsprung weight.

Kev L · Post by **Kev L** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 4:19 pm

So guys & girls just a quick update on the swingarm brace project. I got the welded arm back today from the engineering shop that welded it up for me and, bless their cotton socks, they didn't want to charge me for the work as they took longer to complete than they quoted. Anyway after I give it a bit of a tidy up it will be off to be blasted and powder coated down at Maldon powdercoating.

The next couple show the new hugger and repainted/rebuilt rear caliper and bracket in situ.

lloydie · Post by **lloydie** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 6:52 pm

Where's the pics gone ?

Sent from lloyds iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

mik_str · Post by **mik_str** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 11:59 pm

Nice job Kev! That hugger is the icing on the cake

rob's red storm · Post by **rob's red storm** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 12:26 am

I can't see the pics either...iPhone problem?

Sent from my iPhone 4 using Tapatalk

Kev L · Post by **Kev L** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:22 am

Thanks Mik, got a way to go to get to your level of tinkering.
With regard to the photos I can see them when viewing on I Pod so it may be just an I Phone issue.

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