Kawi2strokes.com Forum

I may JB weld and paint the swingarm......my ten year old is now the official aesthetics designer and it is up to him. I will have it welded if he decides I should polish it. I have moved to plan "B" for the frame. The FZR arm will lengthen the wheel base but I am having the headstock cut/welded to lessen rake. Taking it up to Randy Illg tomorrow for the final say on how to get the old boy to work in the corners.

It will be interesting what he says, they do know their stuff. One reason I don't de-rake the 500 frames, is that ground clearance is minimal to start with. Jacking up the back reduces the rake and trail and gives much needed ground clearance. Plus, you can always shorten the AL swinger.......

Just for comparison, I called Dave Crussell one time to measure the distace from the bottom frame rail to the ground on his H1R, he said, "already did, it's a foot"...........

_________________
Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

Randy knows his stuff and its rare that I am within driving distance of anyone who does since I live in the big cornfields. Of course, its good for some people that they live in the desert far away from me. FrameCrafters will be featured in soon to be airing episodes of CafeRacer. I figured I better get the frame up there before the world discovers them What I am really looking forward to is seeing the projects there that people with big checkbooks are funding unlike my bush league attempt. Ground clearance will be a topic as pipes will be the "odd man" out.....if it gets to low to the ground I'm not sure what I would do because I'm not sure what to do now

You can get it a little shorter without to much work, but to get it to anywhere around the numbers you like moo it needs a lot cutting and welding. That was one of the reasons I sold the fzr swinger that I had. I am trusting you though moo on the 54" wheelbase, the current swingarm I am working on required a ton of work to get there(mostly on my own doing ) and hopefully my measurements are all correct. BTW moo, what is the lenght of the swingarm on your bike from the center of the pivot to the center of the axle?

It's right at 17" to the center of the slot......

_________________
Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

My daughter and I made the trek today, met Randy and Karsten and dropped off the bones. Saturday is the day they work on their own race bikes and were doing just that in prep for next weekend at Gingerman. When I showed up Randy stopped working and gave 100% attention to me and what I wanted to do. Listened to what I had to say completely and then went from there. It would have been easy for me to feel like I was taking away his time on their bikes but he went out of his way to make it known that wasn't the case. I don't know how many of you have read the book "Shop Class as Soulcraft" but talking to Randy was much like the book......I enjoyed immensely meeting a couple "real" craftsman who get things done and enjoy it. There's many of you like that on the boards who I hope to meet someday as well.

Of course he paid attention to you, I sent him the "video"........

_________________
Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........

That would explain why he looked at us funny when we pulled up in the Windstar

Got the bodywork today from John My ten year old has the paint scheme nailed to his satisfaction. He has a friend over now for dinner and he has verified Sam's pick is "way cool".

She is going to look sharp! Glad it all got there ok!

_________________
Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........