Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125841
t -.l- - - I ; , , .' _ ... ..1... . I The locatio n of the rear ax le in the adjuster slot afects the rear wheel travell (_. ~ 7RI/II£L -!1:trf , , Percent increase in travel ... [~iL Travel m in (a)Clli forwardl • T shock This is onl y an aprox imation but Trave l max lax le back ) ~ Tsho ck ( -b.:.r. :~1 ' close with in a few percent . AL L % increase 0 27 53 modific ation s on a lm ost Tmin Tm3x (inc hes) [inehesl 3.9 4 .5 5 .0 5 .7 6.0 6 .9 a ny (i nch es l (inches) 15 .7 0 12.2 3.5 10 .2 5 .5 Trying to figure it all out motocrosser . As v o u can sec: from the diagrams, this modification docs require a little more th an j us t cha nging the shock absorber mounting po siti on o n the: swing arm . The: frame also needs to be reworked, s o if you a r e n 't experienced in welding and don 't have access to a co m plete machine shop. yo u had bes t st rip d own yo ur fra me and send it off to Bryan. Some bikes like Husqvarna can get by with only havi ng the swing arm m od i f ie d , What you will have to det erm ine is if yo u can get the rear wheel travel yo u want withou t having to Maico did a lot o f exp erimenti ng with j ust how much t ra vel t hey co uld pu t into th e rear suspensio n with out t h e handlin g being ad versely affected . There is a po int of too much rear wh eel travel be c au s e: co m p ression o f the rear suspe nsio n with ou t the fron t suspen sio n also being co m presse d . a situation mo st o f ten occuring in turns with the power on . will induce to o much rake in to the front forks and hi nder ha ndl ing. They found th at abo ut i inc hes of travel at the rear wheel in best, at least for Maicos. For other brands of bikes with different front end geome try it might be a litt le different. but not m uch more so . 7 inches of travel should be used as your maximu m limit in any mo difications to the rear suspension. One other thing to kee p in mind is t hat you want your swing arm to be parall el to t he gro und . mi d-way through its tr avel. If yo u arc goi ng to have 7 inches of rear travel, then at 3 1/ 2 inc hes into comp ressio n t he rea r swing arm will be paralle l to t he ground. Th is is the average po int where yo ur swi ng arm will be spe nd ing t he majori ty of its wor ki ng time . T he diagra m in this article. along with t he ac com pany ing for m u las and reference table , sho uld give you a good idea of how yo u' ll have to repositio n yo ur shocks to attain th e rear wheel travel you wa nt, before you do any cutting or rewelding. _ rewo rk the: rear fra m e section on your bi ke. Still, the fra me portion that the rear fen der bolts to may have to be heat ed and bent up to allow for the increased w heel travel. T he two deciding fact or s o n whether or no t you can get b y with o nly modifying the swi ng arm arc tr avel and shock ang le. If you already have 4 inches of swi ng arm travel and want 5 inc hes, and ca n do it by changi ng t he shock posit ion on th e swing ar m to give yo u 1/ 2 inch m or e travel at th e end of th e ar c the swing arm t ravels th rough , t hen you're OK . With shock angle yo u don ' t wan t more th an 90 degrees between t he swing arm pivo t and the upper shock moun t with the a pex of the ang le at the shock mount o n the swing ar m . Anything more tha n 90 degrees an d the shocks rnigh t bend. he POPULAR HONDA B KE These are the necessary brackets used by Suzuki and Ma ico which will fit most bikes. t:::=-----;0 - - - --- J 1 ±" SWINGING ARM BRACKET rr I \%" I ~ -- .~ CONTACT TOUR DWEll FOR INFORMAnON DR SEND $1.D0 FDa CATALOC .. OUR NEW BIKE DECALS. We also make Piston Rings for the Hondas and other bikes. Not a ll sizes available. no. 11 gauge steel . - 9 ~ ., SWINGING ARM BRACKET MOUNTING ! -""-.. ~---r==----_ 1 0 _ ...... _ "-- !- I -1(:. 2.1' UPPER FRAME BRACKET (IOnl!r) -r- - 5 ~" -- - , V L no . 14 gaugesreet r UPPER FRAME BRACKET tou tl!r) / 3 1" j::===-~-=== ' 2160 CHERRY INDUSTRIAL CIRCLE LONG BEACH, CAL IFORN IA 90805 TELEPHONE 213-636-9329 • DEPT. F Tired of t he Same Shit ? Trv AMERICAN RIDER S S UPPLY Co m pe titio n Sales & Service MAleO MONARK Open 10 .13 d a ilv 12131 835-615 0 22022 S . Main, Carso n , ,,, ---- -------.~, Frwv I, McFadden at the Newport YAMAHA/HUSQVARNA ~, es - Service - Parts ·A=_.,. I ~ Cal ifo,"ia ' , _ 2 100 E. McF adden Santa Ana I I J Cvcle _ ~~ _ _ ~~ ~ ~ 5~; 58 11