Swingarm equal length?

Hello everyone!

As a christmas gift for my beloved SV, i bought her a new set of Metzeler Z6 for next summer When i put back the wheels on the bike yesterday i got a little idea i wanted to check with the experts here:
Since i don´t trust the markings on the swingarm for getting the rear wheel aligned, i wanted to find out some better way to get it straight. Isn´t it possible to just measure the distance from center of rear axle to the end of the swingarms, or are the swingarms different length on left and right side? It would be very nice if it was possible to do so, since the measurement would be both easy and very accurate.

edit: Forgot, it is a -03 SV650S (Pointy)

I take my measurement from the swing arm pivot center to the center of the spindle.

Originally Posted by Zopilote

Hello everyone!

As a christmas gift for my beloved SV, i bought her a new set of Metzeler Z6 for next summer When i put back the wheels on the bike yesterday i got a little idea i wanted to check with the experts here:
Since i don´t trust the markings on the swingarm for getting the rear wheel aligned, i wanted to find out some better way to get it straight. Isn´t it possible to just measure the distance from center of rear axle to the end of the swingarms, or are the swingarms different length on left and right side? It would be very nice if it was possible to do so, since the measurement would be both easy and very accurate.

edit: Forgot, it is a -03 SV650S (Pointy)

This alignment is to ensure that the front and rear wheels are in line.

The blue print way to do it is to align the rear and front wheels, because that is what the alignment is all about. I used straight edges(two lenghths of aluminium angle from B&Q ), clamped to the back wheel. Then adjusted the rear wheel aligment until the distances from the straight edges to the front wheel were the same. You have to measure distances from the front and rear of the front wheel to the straight edge to make sure the alighment is correct. I got the technique out of Haynes,

John