single sided swingarms

[pencil shavings]

hi,
i saw a sv with a duke single sided swinging arm and damb!! :twisted: did that look good! does anyone have any experience of mating ducati or honda single sided swing arms to sv's or bandits (as they are the moded more!) How difficult is it to do this relativly? Thanks for your help!

[BURNER]

Best go over to www.svrider.com for more info. Loads of peeps there have done it. H*nda arm from mid 90's being the easiest but it's not a thing I'd do.

[northwind]

Looks brilliant, doesn't it We were off on an Ecosse rideout one day and someone rode past the whole line of SVs in Aberfeldy on a bright orange naked SV with a single sided swinger, didn't even slow down- the git!

Most folk use VFR swingarms- Duke parts are more expensive natcherly, and are apparently harder to match up. If you're thinking of doing it yourself there's a load of cutting and welding, and you'd better be confident in your welding skills or your back wheel might drop off unexpectedly...

I'd love to get one for mine, but there's no way I could even attempt to do it myself and having a pro do it would probably be stupidly expensive.

As an alternative, you could get some fake bracing welded on... Powdercoat the arm, and it looks like you've got a custom made one :)

[Junior]

I think it would ruin the handling of the bike. JMO

[pencil shavings]

shouldnt the handling be inproved rather than not, unsprug weight includes the swing arm does it not?
Im not thinking of doing it myself, im not confident enough, but i should be able to get a mate to do it, the entire job should cost about £500 (using a honda arm)
Ill go to svrider and see what they have to say on the matter.
Thanks guys

[Grinch]

I think I'll stick to a braced arm from JMC, would love to have my bike shaft drive though. Make life a lot easier.

Swingarm Info: 1999 - 2002 (X, Y, K1, K2)
Arm Price: £259.57
Bracing: £34.05
Polishing: £0.00
Post & Packing: £0.00
VAT: £0.00

Total: £293.62

Would look a bit like this:
http://www.swingarm.com/images/WHITE_SUZ_GSF600_2001_BTM_ECC.jpg

Mhhh...

[northwind]

shouldnt the handling be inproved rather than not, unsprug weight includes the swing arm does it not?

Aye, but there's no guarantee a single sider'll be lighter. Plus you'd need to be careful to keep the exact same dimensions, and you might lose some stiffness. It could go either way I think.

IF JMC did one it'd be on my shopping list, put it that way :)

[pencil shavings]

yeah, if someone (JCM, harris) could make one esspecialy for us like minded individuals at a price similar to thir 'normal' swinging arms (£300) they would be on to a winner for sure!
Oh well, we can dream :D

[rictus01]

Always liked the look of the single swinger, the Bros 650 I had looked sweet as far as that was concerned.

looked into doing it on the SV, but couldn't really justify the cost when so much else could be done for the money.

Still sort of worked out in the long run as the speed triple comes with one anyway :D

Cheers Mark.

[northwind]

TRAITOR! ETC!

[Junior]

shouldnt the handling be inproved rather than not, unsprug weight includes the swing arm does it not?
Im not thinking of doing it myself, im not confident enough, but i should be able to get a mate to do it, the entire job should cost about £500 (using a honda arm)
Ill go to svrider and see what they have to say on the matter.
Thanks guys


True, but there are rigidity factors to consider. Actually, there is one with the mod done in the immages section on the main site. (Chris Baker's MVSV hybrid). I am curious to know how it works out for you. Please post youre results, and best of luck to you. :D

[TSM]

Is it quite normal for single side swingarms to be much weaker in crashes?

I have seen several photos where single sides have snapped where a normal swingarm would most likley have not.

[northwind]

Yup, seems likely. Although tbh, any crash that'd break a single sider would probably mangle a twin, just wouldn't snap it.

Since this thread was last alive, it turned out Speedfab would do the work, they reckon it'd be approximately £200-£300 plus the parts- he wouldn't be any more precise since they've never done an SV one before. Arms and wheels aren't too expensive either.

[sv650s_guy]

i ask jhs about this a while back and they said it would be a grand all in they use a vfr750 swing arm for the conversion as is most simular duke ones are alot harder as shock position is different and so are a couple of other things.

[northwind]

It's not a job you'd really take to JHS though, any more than you'd ask JMC to put new cams in your SV. That sort of thing's really for specialists. Adverts in Streetfighters mainly.

[jambo]

shouldnt the handling be inproved rather than not, unsprug weight includes the swing arm does it not?

Single sided swing arms need to be made much stronger in some ways than double sided items as they have to deal with all forces from only one side. This means they often end up weiging more than double sided items (Ducati ditched the single sider from the 916/996/998 for the 999 for this reason) Still never seemed to slow the WSB ducatis down much!

[haggis]

Yup, that's true. There are much more torsional forces exerted on SSS-arms which is why they are mega beefy at the point where the pivot extends backwards. Not to mention one really big wheel bearing versus two tiny ones.

In fact the single sider was designed (by H*nda ISTR) not because it's flash or better handling at all, but for endurance racing where absolute minimum weight was sacrificed for quicker tyre changes.


Doesn't alter the fact I'd want one if money were no object. And I only race for a few minutes at a time (officer). :wink:

[carelesschucca]

It's not a job you'd really take to JHS though, any more than you'd ask JMC to put new cams in your SV. That sort of thing's really for specialists. Adverts in Streetfighters mainly.

he's gonna start hunting you again, I feel a courtroom appearance coming up for northy, You gotta stop talking about you pals like that!!!

[northwind]

;) True though. If he's said it'll cost a grand he's obviously not all that interested in doing it either.

[sv650s_guy]

told me he had done a few when i asked

[Sid Squid]

I think it would ruin the handling of the bike. JMO

Why?

In fact the single sider was designed (by H*nda ISTR) not because it's flash or better handling at all, but for endurance racing where absolute minimum weight was sacrificed for quicker tyre changes.

In the now known form, it was first seen on the Elf Honda GP bikes, making it's way to the endurance bikes shortly after. The tyre change benefits were a spin-off, and have been overstated, with appropriate design captive drive and brake parts can allow a twin sided swingarm to have it's wheel replaced equally as quickly.