Swingarm swap. FLIGHT inspired (darn you DUCK-STEW)

[Speeddog]

MH and SC were *designed* to have a single shock mounted on the left side of the swingarm and the frame.

SS and Monster were not designed for that.

[greenmonster]

I would go through this mod a couple of times more before I`d do it.
You`re dead sure of what you`re modding?
Seems pretty risky to change a dual shock design to a mono.

[Drunken Monkey]

was everybody this concerned when flight cycles did a mono shock on the "monster bobber"?

That swingarm is Aluminum right? Well, the bobber's was steel.

Steel bends and flexes and it's pretty 'plastic' in that it can deform and return to it's original shape pretty easily without suffering permanent harm.

Aluminum, on the flip side, if subjected to the same stresses, will eventually decide to crack.

One's brittle, the other is not.

Also, the rake, trail, ground clearance and skinniness of the bobber's tires meant it was never going to be riding close to the same limits that a 'normal' sport bike would be. So folks were far less worried about the torsional flex that bike might have on it's back end.

Basically everyone is saying you're going to be adversely affecting the handling of your bike by going to a mono shock on one side. Also they think it might mess up the pivot bearings, so you might have to change those frequently.

And potentially your swingarm might break and if you're really unlucky it might kill you.

My advice: There are guys who know this stuff far better than an armchair nervous nellie like me. You should talk with one of them before doing this mod because... well because this is a pretty important part of your bike.

[Duck-Stew]

The Coup D'Etat (Monster Bobber) had 2" of suspension travel...  BEFORE you sat on it!  That got reduced to about 1 1/4" when sitting on it.  It also had a 140/90 rear tire on it which I ran at about 25psi...  In other words: it was never meant to really handle the loads required on a motorcycle designed to actually handle well.  It just had to be something slightly better than a full rigid rear suspension was all...

The SC (single shock) and MH swingarms are designed to distribute the loads into the one shock located on the one side.  In addition, the frames of those bikes were designed to receive those loads on that one side...  Neither the SS swingarm nor the Monster frame were designed for those loads to be carried on one side...

SS swingarm with the stock SS upper location adapted to a Monster frame will work, but you've changed your designs since our early PM's....  I really think you ought to reconsider the single shock on one side of the frame idea...  My $.02.

[Düb Lüv]

ohhh how much i hate to admit this, but the mono SC might be a little risky.

there ya'll happy now. i guess i'm not going to even mention my lexan engine case.

i went back and looked at stew's m1000ss, soiled myself. i just didn't want to jock his style.

[greenmonster]

We`re all just tryin to be helpful here...

Go on w the next crazy idea! 

[Düb Lüv]

glad you didn't take the lexan engine case serious. since the internet means business.

does anybody know what the sag should be on a SS without a rider?

[Travman]

i love the pic from the rear.

It does look good from the rear.  Looks tough.

I know you liked the look of the single shock, but I think a shock on each side would look good too.  If you go with those Sport Classic dual shocks your bike would definitely be unique.

Another idea would be to find a swingarm from a GT1000 or a Sport 1000 with dual shocks.  I'm pretty sure that swingarm would bolt right up to your engine.  Then you would only have to worry about welding attachments for the shocks to the frame and not the swingarm too.  Plus the roundness of the Sport Classic swingarm would look good with the Monster frame.

If you use the SS swingarm, consider painting or powder coating it to match the gold frame. 

[Düb Lüv]

i found a guy who had a paul smart(mono shock) swing arm. but he sold it before i got to it. somebody paid $500 for it. if i can find one for a good price in the future, it might happen. one turn off i did find about the mono shock, is that there are hardly any stock shock FS. you know just to get bye with, and aftermarket shocks where slim.

If you use the SS swingarm, consider painting or powder coating it to match the gold frame. 

you mean to tell me you don't like the faux-aluminum color?

[Düb Lüv]

i got a AL ss swing a couple weeks ago. what's even better is that the seller included the entire rear floating caliper set-up at no additional charge.

Steel


10.6 lbs


Aluminum


8.2 lbs

[Düb Lüv]

i went back through this thread and removed the ideas of doing the mono shock. i didn't like how the thread seemed confusing jumping from one idea to another.

since the ss swingarm was lying dormant in the garage for a couple months, i dug it out and cleaned it off and found something bad. i found a hairline crack that was more than halfway around one of the swingarm pivots.

BEFORE


AFTER.it's all fixed now.


it only cost me $20, and i'm talking with paypal cause i brought it to the seller attention and is now ignoring me.

i picked up something else up for a killer deal. as of now, i have all the parts i needed/wanted and hopefully i can schedule with the fabricator to mod my frame.

[Düb Lüv]

my killer deal came in today. ohlins ss shock w/ Ti spring and new oe spring.


ohlins w/ ti spring 5lbs
showa 8lbs
those are digi bathroom scale weights

i guess it pays to be patient.i really can't wait.

[Spidey]

Sweet!     Give me a holler if you need me to take more pics of my frame set-up with the SS swingarm for your fabricator.  I assume you're not going to try for a side mounted shock.

[Düb Lüv]

yeah i canned the mono SC set-up. i found everything to do the swap, but found one trouble some piece. where the shock mounts to the frame, would be a lot wider than how the monster frame was designed.

if you have some pics you wouldn't mind sharing, i'd love to see. you can post or email them. if you email, the address on my profile is good.

thanks spidey