Single side swing arm conversion. Should I?

[Liany]

I have the chance to buy a complete rear end of a crashed Multistrada 1000 and it made me think on a swing arm conversion to my M1000S from conventional swing arm to a single side swing arm. It won't come cheap, but I'll have it all - wheel, brake caliper, disk, and so.

The question is, will the benefit I get from it is well worth the cost, the effort and losing the original shape of the bike?

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b306/kobiliany/20130429_172258.jpg

[Black Bob]

No.






.

[Reaperman]

From what I understand you won't benefit from a single sided swingarm and there is alot of cutting and work involved to get one to fit. But if your after a very individual looking bike a single sided one is the way to go.

[Dukedesmo]

You may want to do for aesthetics, which is fine but the only tangible 'benefit' would be ease of wheel change & chain adjustment. Downsides would be a lot of work and expense and almost certainly add weight.

[Albie]

It wont add weight but will be pleasing to the eye and cost you the exhaust. Done it and loved doing it and its up to you.

[Nickj]

If you did that the monsters going to be a bit more exclusive, if you can get more exclusive than being the only one in the country.

[Dirty]

Do it do it, and post pictures as you go please :)

[Trent]

The Multistrada has it's swingarm bearings in the swingarm, where the Monster has them in the engine case - as Reaperman said, there's quite a lot of work (machining, welding etc) involved in fitting a swing arm like that.

If you use the Monster single sider, it's basically a bolt on job.

Also, don't forget the speedo... the "normal" Monster has 6x bolts for the speedo pickup, where the Single Sider models only have 4. That will cause your current speedo to read incorrectly.

[Liany]

That's too much for me at this moment.
Ill keep is as it is for now.
The visual part is in second place. I'm into handling and if it is not sure to have a positive effect, ill try to go to a different direction - ohlins rear shock for example.

[DrD]

Surprised no-one chimed in with this...
get a better double sided swing arm - set the link up correctly (i.e. trued) with new bearings..
arms from http://www.metmachex.net/p3_10_0.htm

[Funkatronic]

would have thought a better shock is better investment than single sider if you looking to improve handling

dont think the single sider offers any real handling benefit tbh (other than making the rear wheel a 1 min job to change)

someone more knowledgeable please enlighten me if im wrong

[utopia]

The way I see it is that it must be easier, in engineering terms, to create a rigid mounting for the rear wheel, if it is supported on both sides rather than just one.
Also, it must be easier to create a swingarm which has consistent flex/rigidity in all directions if it is symmetrical.
That isn't to say that a single sider cannot be made sufficiently rigid in these respects, but in order to achieve this it will need to be a much more complicated design.
I would say that its also very likely to be heavier as a result. This could possibly be offset by using more specialised materials such as magnesium alloy, but then the comparison would not be a fair one because the double sided arm would also benefit from the use of such materials.
Bottom line ....you don't see single siders on motoGP bikes, only on superbike race machines which have to follow the design of the road bikes from which they are developed.

My first memories of single siders come from endurance racing, where they were introduced because of the need for repeated rear wheel changes.
This is the only practical benefit that I can think of ...as others have stated.

However, once you get into the area of aesthetics, I have to admit that the visual simplicity of a single sider does clean up the lines of the rear end and does perhaps add to the simple, purposeful look of the monster package ....plumbing excepted.
But for me, this is just an illusion as the double sider is actually the simplest in engineering terms.
But some folks like that illusion, and fair do's, it can look very good.

Personally, I think that the alloy double sider that you already have is a far better system, and I will probably be changing my steel swingarm for one of those.

I would say that you'd see far more performance gains by spending your money on such things as lighter wheels or upgraded suspension tailored to your body weight.

Oh, and hi and welcome along ...I think I failed to respond to your original intro thread.

Also, apologies to Albie as I seem to have refuted your claim that there will be little weight difference between the two systems.
I have no figures to support my reasoning, and I don't doubt your experience. Maybe its down to the exotic materials ...?

[DrD]

as above like this: http://i1275.photobucket.com/albums/y455/davegfour/Shares/DSC000623_zps21c07e09.jpg

[slob]

An Ohlins, Wilbers or Nitron etc. Shock will cost way less than a custom swingarm and have a far more noticeable effect.

[DrD]

An Ohlins, Wilbers or Nitron etc. Shock will cost way less than a custom swingarm and have a far more noticeable effect.
This is true - I went for a Hyperpro (it also matches my M900 colours of black and gold)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/8899904045_de35f6f06d_z.jpg
But I mentioned the arms as an alternative to the single sided jobbie.

[Albie]

If it looks only fine. There's no gain in anything . Trick suspension costs less for something good.

[Dukedesmo]

Bottom line ....you don't see single siders on motoGP bikes, only on superbike race machines which have to follow the design of the road bikes from which they are developed.



Indeed and in the days of 916/996 racing Ducati tested a dual-sided arm for better rigidity. I think the results were inconclusive and so they continued with style over substance, but that 916 swingarm is a heavy beast.

The 999 that followed was a better race bike, partly due to the swingarm design and they only returned to the single-sider for the 1098 onwards due to people wanting the style, (and disappointing sales of the 999 range), although the new design made it considerably lighter than the old 916 arm.

I have a 916 and it is a great bike that I will never sell but there is no doubt in my mind that the single-sided arm is more 'Gucci' than 'Corse'.

That said, wheel removal, chain adjustment and swapping sprockets is so much easier and quicker on the 916 than the Monster...

[Funkatronic]

unless its an s2/s4r of course

[Dirty]

Don't you guys know if it looks good it goes faster, simple physics :cool:

That's why they invented racing stripes :dizzy:

[gary tompkins]

Custom single siders can look awesome when done properly

http://www.speedolympix.com/gallery/albums/Dirk_Behlau/Dirk_Behlau_56.jpg

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9665/kimiraikonenbike16.jpg