I’m most of the way back to where I was on Bultakenstein, but now using the new swingarm. First, I got the rear wheel centered in the frame. Here you can see my laser line. I was smart to mark a bunch of centerline reference points on the frame when I had it in the jig, so I didn’t have to haul that cumbersome thing out of storage.
Since my rear axle is now a bunch wider than the swingarm, I made up some alloy spools to work as paddock stand bobbins. (The bike has no center or side stand right now.)
I’d previously verified the bolt and pivot shaft centers on my rear engine bracket design were correct, but I still had to work out the spacers that locate the engine correctly side-to-side. In this photo, I have the spacers installed and I am checking that the chain run is properly aligned with a piece of square tube c-clamped to the rear sprocket.
It is a satisfying milestone to have everything correctly bolted up. However, I still need to swap out some parts for their final iteration. I ordered another set of rear bracket plates from SendCutSend in 0.188″ thick 1008 mild steel. I splurged and tried their black zinc plating for the first time. They look gorgeous, and cost me a whopping $16 for the pair. I’m constantly impressed by what SCS does.
Also, I’ll be replacing the thin-wall tube spacer between the plates with a length of 16mm ID / 24mm OD alloy. So basically, the stuff that’s steel will be replaced with aluminum, and the stuff that’s alloy will get replaced with steel. Got it?
Just as a comparison, here’s the difference in weight between my original rubber-damped, side-mount rear engine mount and the new center-mount version. Going with a more appropriate swingarm design makes a huge difference.
