cafe build — crazy T350 swingarm suggestions???

[jabcb]

Being a little creative during a cold snap.

For the T350 & 2012-2019 TU250X, caster & trail are close, and the TU250X wheelbase is ~ 3” longer.
T350: 63 degrees / 3.74” / 51.2”
TU250X: 25 degrees 55 minutes / 3.62” / 54.1”

For the GT250, Suzuki eliminated the steering damper & slowed down the steering.
GT250: 62 degrees / 4” / 51.6”

Building a T350 cafe racer that eliminates the batter box, oil tank, etc …
If you add ~ 3” to the T350 swingarm , you have a bike that perhaps handles like a TU250X???

And you could get creative with the rear suspension with that extra room?
Laydown shocks or monoshock?
Would any stock Suzuki swingarms be a good starting point?
Any dirt bike swingarms (TS250, RM250, …)?
Any GS or GSX swingarms?

TU250X info:
http://www.suzukicycles.org/TU-series/i ... l~isoraami

[Alan H]

I fitted a gs550 swing arm to my gt550 without mods - just take the bolt out, old out, new in and refit the same bolt. I have 13" shocks on for a bit more clearance, never did measure the shock mounts to frame bolt on either swinger.
Used the gs swinger so I could use alloy wheels and a rear disc, plus twin discs on the front too, but you probably won't need 3 discs on a 350......
Pics & details here (again!) - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11247&hilit=Earwig
You probably don't need a hydraulic operated clutch either - neither did I, but it annoys the purists, so why not?

[jabcb]

Useful tip for those wanting to use a disc on the back of a triple.
I have Redzone, which is a GT550 built by former member Coyote. It also has 3 discs. Definitely a nice bike.

Our GT250 & T500 cafe builds have a modern twin-piston front caliper & modern Nissin master cylinder. Both have stock swing arms & T500 drum rear brake.
GT250 has stock forks, Ninja caliper & modern EBC disc.
T500 has GT500 triple tree, GS750 forks, VX800 caliper & modern EBC disc.

Found some info on T20 racing. The T20 is a predecessor to the T250/T350.
Was common to add 2 inches to the swing arm length to improve handling.
So it looks like my thought process is headed in the right direction.

For the maybe-I’ll-do-it-some-day T350 build, my current thought its:
Forks from a small GS with a 2LS drum similar to the T500’s.
Longer swing arm with a T500 drum.

The 4-cylinder GS550 & 3-cylinder GT550 motors/frames are a lot wider than the T series’s. Am a bit surprised that the GS550 swing arm is a direct fit for a GT550.
There is a lot of info out there on swapping forks, but pretty much nothing useful on swapping swing arms for a narrow-framed T350.

[jabcb]

It’s -1 degrees F. Am sipping coffee & looking at crazy ideas online. And bingo I found…

Markos’ GT250K build with a 79-80 RM/PE250 swing arm swap.
https://markosworkshop.blogspot.com/sea ... #PageNo=19

[jabcb]

And closer to what I was thinking, Marco used a T500 swingarm on a T250J.
Lengths axle to axle: T250 is 385mm & T500 is 505mm. That’s 120mm longer, 4.7” longer. That makes for a 55.9” wheelbase — about 2” more than what I was thinking about.
https://markosworkshop.blogspot.com/201 ... -swap.html

[dollydog]

jab, if you're thinking of going the monoshock route, try the yzf125r like i used. see my reed valve 250 thread a bit further down. it's a lot of work, but it suits the bike and it was great fun figuring it all out
cheers, dd.

[jabcb]

Interesting & impressive project. How does your reed valve GT250 motor perform?
Found your topic: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=14340&p=177243&hilit=gt250#p177243

I think you have a much better selection of donor parts in the UK. I don’t think they ever imported the really small monoshock sportbikes like that YFZ125R.

The T250/T350/T500 have a pretty narrow swingarm pivot width.
Apparently doing swingarm swaps is popular enough that lists of pivot widths have been compiled. Here is one.
https://oldskoolsuzuki.info/forums/topi ... -swingarm/

I think the easiest solution is to take a T500 swingarm to a frame shop & have them shorten it.

Had forgoten about it, but some years ago I saw a T500 monoshock conversion. Was at the 2015 Cafe Racer magazine bike show.
My pics are here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=11645&p=167181#p167181
The red 75 GT550 is Redzone.

[jabcb]

The monoshock T500 swingarm looks to be shorter than stock.

Any ideas on the swingarm donor bike?

CRM_2015-08-23_T500swingarm by jabcb, on Flickr

[jabcb]

Think I found it.
1982 Yamaha XS400 Seca. From the XS400 forum:
http://www.xs400.com/threads/bratstyle-1982-seca.16055/