Horseman swingarm mod--------- 215 --------

Horseman swingarm mod


215/65R15 on a stock rim!

Do this at your own risk , a Hammer is involved

NOTE: do NOT heat the swingarm , if you use heat it will take some of the strenght out and you will have to reheat the arm and temper it, to get the strenght back. ---- added after an email ---

This is the mod to put 215/65/15 tire on a stock 1300c , but the same should work for an 1800 swingarm
This is the tire I chose , it is the Nexen 215 65r 15 and I call it the "Directional Donut"
it is 26.2 inches high,



As you can see it is about an inch higher and a lot wider, the tread is just over 7" and an over all
width of 8.6 but once mounted to the rim it was just 8.3





Use a good bike lift and strap your bike down, you are going to be doing some
pounding on it so you had better strap it down tight .

Remove the rear wheel according to the manual.

Change the tire on the rim, this means bead seated, aired up and ready to
install then set it to one side.


this photo shows the swing arm before any mods.




measure back from swingarm boltplate 2.5in and mark and again at 6in








mark the front right and left corners of the inside swingarm , only needs just a little bit





Mark the tips of the inside fender horns that are sticking inward,
I didn't just cut them off but just ground them flat.




here are the tools you are going to need , safety glases, wet rag
( yes a wet rag protects better then a dry one)
a marker , I used a white paint marker, a 4 to 4.5 in angle grinder, black paint,
hammer ,, OK a realy big hammer, and a draft.



the draft is a 3/4in pipe 16in long with a 3/4in to 1/2in reducer




please be careful not to hit anything but the end of the pipe, the rag should
protect the muffler, dish in between the marks on the left swingarm , I took my
time and went slow and dished in about 3/8in








now grind just a little off the inside front of the swingarms that you marked
earlier, maybe a quarter inch at most and smooth off.





next grind the fender tabs just enough to make them a little flatter







now paint everything that you pounded on or ground on to keep them from rusting.





a good dish but didn't bend the swingarm



you can see a 1/4in to 5/16 gap between the tire and the swingarm















A tight fit but the "Directional Donut" rides like a dream and is smooth and quiet.
I put 60 miles on it today I had it on yesterday but I was called into w@&k and couldn't
get this posted untill now .

be careful have fun , your friend , Horseman8m
oh just call me Horse P.S. now my speedometer is only 3mph high

Looks like a nice round profile, good looking tire. I was wondering when someone was going to a 215.

I see they moved your post on the VTXCAFE web site, Why would they move it and where did they move it to?????????

thay sent it to "Upgrades/Modifications" and i know i am going to get trols for that one on that website

Excellent writeup , thanks for sharing .

Horse
Excellent post, pics (for Muntz) and a great write up.

Thanks for sharing

See you out there
Smokey

horseman8m wrote:thay sent it to "Upgrades/Modifications" and i know i am going to get trols for that one on that website

Ok I know absolutly nothing, not a thing about car tires and motorcycle tires and the softer or harder rubber or how much lean or all the arguments that seem to keep going back and forth on this other site, but as I was reading and I am copying and pasting this gentlemans quote

"OK, fair enough. I wasn't aware that the discussion was about performance rated cage tires.

What you say about the reasons for faster wear on bike tires is absolutely true. It is also true that, compared to the average cage tire, the compound used for bike tires is softer. Compared to some cage tires, it is a LOT softer.

So, lets compare apples to apples. I contend that of tires in the same general class, the bike tire will always have a softer compound. I have no proof of that, just a gut feeling and 40 years of experience."

Now I do not have 40 years experience but my take is he has 40 years experience on a motorcycle tire and zero years experience on a car tire so what gives him a right to think he can judge anyone for running a car tire??? I am just curious about these close minded folks who want to judge others with no knowledge of how the concept works and as everyone else likes to say JMHO
Hell the world may never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop either but until someone actually does it how the hell they know if you can or cant, Im gonna go get me a tootsie roll pop peace

Mrssmokey it looks like you have something you can sink your teeth into.......

Great job on the write up and the mods Horse.....
Keep us posted on it...

Jerry

smokey2255 wrote:Horse
Excellent post, pics (for Muntz) and a great write up.

Thanks for sharing

See you out there
Smokey

Thanks for the pics and the writeup. I work better with pics.

your are all welcome anytime , I was thinking of going to a 225 whet do you think???

I drove the bike into the driveway tonight. The volkswagen tire has performed flawlessly. I know it is hard finding volkwagen tires here and others have put on different sizes.

Saying all of this, does your 215 ride better than that 165 volks tire? I just might do the same thing even after looking at your thread.

Rich

i never tried the volks tire , and i had an old Honda CB360 back on the farm in the early 70's that i put an old ford manure spreader tire on when the MC tire went out it worked about a year until i could afford a new tire .
With the VTX 1300C of mine i just did the mods and it worked, and when i get the money to do the foots mod I'm going to the 225 tire.
Horse

I know this is an old post, but I was wondering....once mounted, how much higher off the ground are you than with stock. I have the 165 and like the way I can reach the ground, but I would like a wider tire and this sounds hot.

about 1/2" to 3/4" higher when seated and feet on the ground, but you can find tires the same height as your tire.
if you are going to go with the swing arm mod i would also do the foots mod at the same time.
I am trying to find the 1800C wheel so i can do the foots mod myself.
Good luck Kermit,
Horseman8m

kermit wrote:I know this is an old post, but I was wondering....once mounted, how much higher off the ground are you than with stock. I have the 165 and like the way I can reach the ground, but I would like a wider tire and this sounds hot.

Kermit,

I think with your legs length, you might not want one with that tall of side walls...JMO! I know I am to fond of the taller height on my bike!


.......................bobby

for those who haven't seen it.

It's been over a year and over 5000 miles and it is still a great ride , the tire looks like new and such a smooth ride.

Bump