My XR650L conversion

[69HemiGTX]

I've missed a lot by being away for almost a year. You have one really sweet ride. Out of curiosity, I searched for Oklahoma's definition of a motorcycle and was pleased to find this:

A motorcycle is any motor vehicle having:

1. A seat or saddle for the use of each rider;

2. Not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, but excluding a tractor; and

3. A combustion engine with a piston or rotor displacement of one hundred fifty cubic centimeters (150 cu cm) or greater.

47 O.S. § 1-135

[redsox]

that suuuuuuuuuucks john. without too much monday morning quarterbacking, i gotta say, it did look a little lightly built in the swinger. whats the weight on that rig? anyway,,, no matter. i'm sure you and the mad scientist will overbuild one that will look better, last longer, and improve performance. but hurry up. summer is ripping by WOT.

[fabiodriven]

Everything happens for a reason Dan and yes, it was a bit skimpy. The bike is really not that heavy and again you are correct as over building will be the plan. I am far more concerned with strength as opposed to weight. It will be back together when the bike is ready, it will let me know when that is, but in the meantime the Buell will suffice. :-)

[DohcBikes]

I've been thinking about this since I first read about the issues in your Trikefest post. Certainly don't want the 230ex-r to end up with a cracking swingarm from the rigors of street riding, but I also think damage over time will be tough to avoid.

This has me leaning away from the option of the high psi, low profile 18 inch tires. Although not technically road legal, the kenda speed racer fronts that are mounted now will give sufficiently, so that the swingarm and frame don't take the full abuse from the intense pressure that can be exerted during certain maneuvers on the street. I can drift it rather easily with these tires when I want to, and to be honest they have been great in the dirt as well.

Keep in mind that once you make that swingarm super rigid, the next place to take the force is going to be a motorcycle frame that was not designed to handle the kind of twisting our bikes endure from having so much width and traction on the street.

[fabiodriven]

I was already going to be looking at the frame, thank you.

The dirt riding is what caused the breakage, not the street. I can assure you that you will never exert the forces on the road that you will off road on that swing arm. If it held up in the dirt, it will hold up in the street.

I can also assure you that although small diameter, high pressure tires will transmit more jolts, larger diameter, low pressure tires are not what I want on the street. They will make it harder to steer (I.E. harder on the axle bearings) and give a lot of undesirable wobble. Just about anyone that has ridden a regular trike on the road can attest to that. I'll continue carving corners.

I went by the steel place today to order some material. Apparently chromoly is a brand name and not a type of metal? I didn't want to start an argument with the guy as I really didn't have any facts to back up my thinking, and he's the guy at the steel place that does this every day. You do learn something every day and that was my lesson for today. So I ended up ordering some 1.5" x 3" rectangular stock with a 3/16ths thickness. I looked at the 1/8th inch and was fairly certain it would work, but over building was my objective so I opted for the 3/16ths. I can always lighten that if I have to but I can't make 1/8th heavier.

[DohcBikes]

The impact on the swingarm from street riding is completely different that what it experiences on the trail. You are probably right about seeing more abuse off-road, but it is designed to take that abuse. You may also be right about it being the dirt that broke it, or the cracks may have started before the dirt riding. Either way, my main point is that the stronger you make the swingarm, the more likely the frame is to crack.

Of course the street is harder on axle bearings, but there is no way you will convince me that harder tires are easier on them. My tires in no way make it harder to steer, in fact it was way too easy to steer before I adjusted the frontend. They don't wobble even a tiny bit at any speed.

I'm glad our bikes are not close to the same, I don't like having the same thing as others. Thats why I built mine the way I did. Knowing that I can stand beside mine and fairly easily pick the entire bike up off the ground, I'm sure the super light weight helps mine perform well with speed racers.

Your bike probably would not handle as well with soft tires, I agree. It wasn't a recommendation to you. I know better than that.

Oh hey your steel guy is full of shlt. Chromium Molybdenum steel is definitely not a brand name. It's an alloy.

[fabiodriven]

I appreciate the advice but there are quite a few things I am way ahead of you on. Don't let me prevent you from sharing knowledge, I'm all for that, but don't think you're teaching me everything. Don't forget who's building this bike.

I haven't researched the cromoly thing yet, but I tend to agree with you.

I'm glad our bikes are not close to the same,

This I will wholeheartedly agree with you on!
Don't take that the wrong way, everyone has different opinions. That's what makes us all beautiful. You better believe we'd be going for trike rides on the road together if we lived closer, but my bike is my personality in mechanical form. I'm amazed I didn't build it myself. I did manifest it however. 230cc's would get old to me quick. I was just trying to think of how I could make mine faster without losing reliability. I don't think I'll mess with it. My (mostly) stock bikes always run like Swiss watches and 650cc's is OK for now I guess.

[DohcBikes]

I appreciate the advice but there are quite a few things I am way ahead of you on. Don't let me prevent you from sharing knowledge, I'm all for that, but don't think you're teaching me everything. Don't forget who's building this bike.

I really dont know where the miscommunication is here. I'm not giving you advice. I'm participating in a discussion and giving my opinion. Your interpretation of my input is beyond my control, but interesting nonetheless.

Obviously a different animal than the 650 altogether, but this 230cc will surprise anybody that rides it, that is no doubt. It's really, really light. Also, my bike is getting a 30+hp 250cc DOHC motor sometime soon, because i also like to go fast.

I hope at least once someday we do take a ride down the street!

Looking forward to the swingarm build.

[fabiodriven]

Thanks again! It's just that sometimes too much information (from those not seeing this first hand) might lead to the misinterpretation of my thoughts and thread. Again, I do appreciate suggestions and we are very much on the same page. I am not picking up the steel until Monday so I wanted to sleep on the swing arm thickness as I can also call and get it changed to 1/8th. I also wanted to look at the frame again when I got home. The guy kind of rushed me out of there which didn't leave me much time to think. That should tell you how much alike we are thinking. I just didn't realize someone else was going to be writing my thoughts, haha.

[fabiodriven]

After talking to Steve last night and sleeping on it I'm changing my order to 1/8th today.

[fabiodriven]

I've had more people than I can even remember asking me about swing arms to do this conversion as that is the major component that the average Joe would have a little trouble maybe. I can fab and I've extended swing arms. I also have some measuring equipment. I went over the process in my head however, and I came to the conclusion that I could not make a swing arm true without more help and equipment. Steve and I are going to put our heads together which will be more than enough brain power to make this happen, I'm not concerned at all about that. We're obviously going to have to make a jig, which brings me to my original point.

We're going to make at least two swing arms. One for myself and one for Steve. We touched on it a bit and depending on how they come together, if Steve feels like it, there may be a chance he might make some more. The rest of the fab work on the bike is chicken, so this would be the major component to get the ball rolling. Obviously if you have the equipment and know how you could just make one yourself which is fine, have at it. I can't speak for Steve whether or not he'll even want to make more, but for the people that have been asking me just keep your eyes open. We could call it a Fabcrasher or or Dirtdriven or something stupid.

[atc007]

I know if it were me. I would be Begging for the input of guys like Kasey and Billy Golightly ,to name a couple lol. I'm Sure it will turn out just great. But those fellers have been around this track a couple times

[fabiodriven]

That's right Bill, you would be. :-)

This is very much within our capabilities, very much.

[Billy Golightly]

I was considering seeing if I could bother you to borrow it while it was off so I could make a jig or make adapter for it to use in one of mine...lol. You guys got it under control though it sounds like.

[jays375]

I have no doubt it will be fine.Both you and Steve will have no problem with it.Glad you switched to 1/8 wall material.The 3/16 was a little over kill.