What did you do today?

[MadDuck]

one of these days I might actually *gasp* put something ON the bike!

That'd be cool. You know you have an instant support crew if & when you decide to embark on such an ambitious project

[teddy037.2]

That'd be cool. You know you have an instant support crew if & when you decide to embark on such an ambitious project

thanks, man.  one thing I just realised... if the Al arm is meant for a 5.5 rear, will there be an issue w/my 4.5?

[eltristo]

[snip]
one of these days I might actually *gasp* put something ON the bike!

Like yer butt?

[MadDuck]

thanks, man.  one thing I just realised... if the Al arm is meant for a 5.5 rear, will there be an issue w/my 4.5?

I dunno. That may be something we find out in the middle of bolting it up. 

[teddy037.2]

Like yer butt?

shoosh, you! I need a tire, at the very least... well, there's always the option for pre-new tire burnout shenanigans...

I dunno. That may be something we find out in the middle of bolting it up. 

ok, so 4.5 needs a spacer fab'd. or I buy 5.5.

[teddy037.2]

I am so freakin' bored right now...

[MadDuck]

shoosh, you! I need a tire, at the very least... well, there's always the option for pre-new tire burnout shenanigans...

ok, so 4.5 needs a spacer fab'd. or I buy 5.5.

Maybe, maybe not.  I imagine that you'd have to consider these:

Rear axle bolt diameter size & length (distance between the ends of the arms),

Spacing of the rear sprocket so that it's in line with the countersprocket,

Compatibility of the rear brake caliper mounting to the existing rear wheel when mounted,

Front mounting bolt diameter & length,

Shock absorber mounting bolt & location,

That sort of stuff.

Wait until Ben's front end stuff gets here. I bet we have fun with that modification too.

[teddy037.2]

I got some FHE that the Al arm won't work w/a 4.5 rear on the 02+ monsters....

[DRKWNG]

Maybe, maybe not.  I imagine that you'd have to consider these:

Rear axle bolt diameter size & length (distance between the ends of the arms),

Spacing of the rear sprocket so that it's in line with the countersprocket,

Compatibility of the rear brake caliper mounting to the existing rear wheel when mounted,

Front mounting bolt diameter & length,

Shock absorber mounting bolt & location,

That sort of stuff.

Gee Rick, always the optimist. 

Wait until Ben's front end stuff gets here. I bet we have fun with that modification too.

Hopefully mine won't be too bad, but it will be VERY time consuming!

[MadDuck]

I got some FHE that the Al arm won't work w/a 4.5 rear on the 02+ monsters....

Why / how is that?

[MadDuck]

Gee Rick, always the optimist. 

Optimism, schmoptimism. I just calls it like I sees it. Hey, All I wanted to do was to put some risers on the clip-ons and mount them below the top triples. I'm still not done. I still don't know if it will result in the desired change and even if it does I will have to fabricate whole new fairing mounts. Ain't modding wonderful?? 

And I can't wait to get a new bike so I can start all over again

[teddy037.2]

Why / how is that?

talking to a guy that did the same swap... well, on a 800ie. I guess maybe all the S bikes went to 5.5? where the 620 and 800 were 4.5 on the steel arm?

maybe the 5.5 on the steel arm would be a closer fit, but there's more room for the 5.5 on the al?

[MadDuck]

talking to a guy that did the same swap... well, on a 800ie. I guess maybe all the S bikes went to 5.5? where the 620 and 800 were 4.5 on the steel arm?

maybe the 5.5 on the steel arm would be a closer fit, but there's more room for the 5.5 on the al?

I certainly don't pretend to know all there is to know about this swap but the only thing that I can imagine the the 5.5 rim has is the proper spacing at the rear axle. The actual 4.5 rim width out at the tire shouldn't be a factor for the Al swingarm since it's already set for the wider tire. Running a narrower tire would be no problem fitment wise. The main concern would be lining up the sprocket and the brake properly.

If worse came to worse you might have to buy a 5.5 rear wheel & axle. That'd be par for the course on these slippery mod slopes.

[teddy037.2]

If worse came to worse you might have to buy a 5.5 rear wheel & axle. That'd be par for the course on these slippery mod slopes.

yeah, that's what I'm worried about

[MadDuck]

Last week I started installing the riser sections for my clip-ons, which meant dropping the forks out of the top triples in order to put the bar mounts under the top triples. True to form nothing really goes simply & "like its supposed to".
The actual fork tube drop & reinsert was easy enough but then I found that the riser brackets hit the fairing mount brackets so out came the mounting brackets, i.e. no fairing to be installed at this time. Then the Allen bolt heads that came with the brackets wouldn't fit into the clip-on bars themselves. OK they were swapped into the top triple for clamps. Then the risers still interfered with the top triple and the clip-on bars couldn't rotate far enough forward to be rideable. Had to come up with some spacers to make that work. Then, since the bar mounting Allen bolts didn't fit and had to be used elsewhere I had to come up with four new bolts to mount the bars. Finally got everything squared away but ran out of time to properly set the brake & clutch levers & reservoirs.

That last bit got done yesterday and after a bit more adjusting I got to ride it today. The initial report seems positive. It steers good and doesn't seem to have to have that front end slight shake. Then again I didn't get to push it as hard as I can but still......

There's still a few adjustments that I want to make as far as bar position goes. Then I'll have to fabricate new fairing mounts. Yippee kay ay.