'78 KZ1000 makeover

That's awesome Leon, you're ok in my book. I don't care what they say about you :laugh: :whistle: Nice to see you around too camaroguy. Are you still selling your bike?

No decided to keep it.I did get its younger cousin though

I ran into the same problem as you with the chain and sprockets. I was looking at a 1 & 1/4" offset sprocket. Then I realized I could invert the R1 rear sprocket since it had a positive offset in the rear and that seems to have put me in the 1/2" range for the counter shaft sprocket now. If you didnt have and offset rear sprocket in my 5/8th's sprocket thread page two there was an easier solution than you having to use the large counter shaft sprocket. Unless you had to clear something more that I'm unaware of.

Hmmmm, You've got me a little confused Hollywood, but to be fair, my swingarm installation is mostly documented in a seperate thread. If you hadn't read that thread through, then you might not have a clear picture of everything involved in my particular swingarm swap. I think I've got the jist of what you're trying to say. I am curious about your offset rear sprocket, now that you mention it. Does it really have .75" of offset to it? If it does, then SWEET! If not, you may want to recheck either your math or your measurements. I would hate for you to have to buy a second sprocket like I did because you got it wrong the first time (yeah, that really happened). In the end, I used a low tech string line against the rear sprocket to figure out my offset needed.

I do not have the luxury of flipping my rear sprocket as you can see:



In this pic you can see how much offset is required (thats the stock CSS up front):



My swingarm is a svelt 285mm at the pivot, thats why I have to jump through so many hoops

porchev914 wrote: Hmmmm, You've got me a little confused Hollywood, but to be fair, my swingarm installation is mostly documented in a seperate thread. If you hadn't read that thread through, then you might not have a clear picture of everything involved in my particular swingarm swap. I think I've got the jist of what you're trying to say. I am curious about your offset rear sprocket, now that you mention it. Does it really have .75" of offset to it? If it does, then SWEET! If not, you may want to recheck either your math or your measurements. I would hate for you to have to buy a second sprocket like I did because you got it wrong the first time (yeah, that really happened). In the end, I used a low tech string line against the rear sprocket to figure out my offset needed.

I do not have the luxury of flipping my rear sprocket as you can see:

In this pic you can see how much offset is required (thats the stock CSS up front):

My swingarm is a svelt 285mm at the pivot, thats why I have to jump through so many hoops

I'll look for the thread tonight so I understand the situation better. Looking at yours from the back mine seemed pretty close to be as bad yours though because the laser went past the case guard and yours looks to be close to pointing to the same spot.

Ok I looked at it, page one had your sprocket answer. You need to take advantage of a two piece rear sprocket just like what I posted in my offset thread. In pic 1 below this setup has a negative offset rear sprocket.



Upon further examination, you already have a two piece sprocket setup below, just setup with a positive offset rear. This is what I would do. Copy what I did!! :side: :woohoo:

If your combine your sprocket and sprocket mount you actually have a positive offset rear sprocket. You could try mounting the sprocket on the back side of the mounting plate but it looks like it will rub or at least the chain might on the swing arm. So that then gives you a couple options;


1. Measure to see if a 520 chain and sprocket would fit, I can help you with that if you do some measurements.
2. Machine the outside of the sprocket holder so the chain and sprocket wont rub, then put washers on the positive side for the bolts to make up the difference.
3. Grind the swingarm where the sprocket and chain would rub so it doesn't.

I bet if you flip it so you have a negative offset rear you will barely need a counter shaft front sprocket at all!

Thanks for the in depth response Hollywood So bottom line is you're suggesting I put my sprocket on the other side of the carrier?

porchev914 wrote: Thanks for the in depth response Hollywood So bottom line is you're suggesting I put my sprocket on the other side of the carrier?

Yes sir! The second pic you will have to test to see if makes it too negative of an offset. If it does that you would to machine the inside (I said outside earlier my mistake in option 2, I meant inside).

Have a look, much better than a huge CS front. :whistle:

I know this is from many moons ago but the other day I saw a UPS truck in Chicago hit a bump and door in back went up and I chased the dude down and all the while HE thought I was the crazy one. He waved out the door at me and proceeded to drive on to the highway with all the cargo on the edge hanging over precariously close to causing a major accident. I drove around all these other knuckleheads who are obvious oblivious to everything in the world except "ME ME ME" and while they honked at me driving around them not a sound or attempt was made to stop this careless driver from spilling everyone's packages all over the highway. Now as I am still honking and my wife is shouting out the window this guy still does not have a clue so as I was on the left side of him and already in the lane of traffic I forced him over and on to the emergency lane. THEN and only then did he have a clue. Several boxes were already teetering ready to fall off. lol
No need to thank me for going out of my way to look out for everyone. lol

porchev914 wrote: Soooo, minor setback last night. I had loaded a bunch of tools (including my welder) into my truck and headed out to my fathers old place to fix a few things. It was a long day and I didn't pack everything back into the bed as carefully as I should have. I was 80 miles into my return trip home at 11:30 pm and this guy pulls up beside me on the freeway and starts honking and pointing at the ground. I think he's a nut and ignore him. I've got my wife and 3 girls sleeping, and I'm leary of a stranger honking and telling me to pull over at midnight on a SoCal freeway. Eventually, I roll down my window (he was persistant) and he yells that I have a hose hanging down and sparking behind my truck. I knew right then what had happened. This is what happens when you don't pack your tools up right

This is whats left of my mig gun So my work will slow until I can get it replaced...Those RS34's need to be cleaned and rebuilt..

That was very cool of you to be so persistant Saxjonz. I'm sure the UPS driver was extremely grateful when he realized what you were doing

Hollywood, I took a closer look at your proposed solution. I can honestly say I never even saw it as a possibility until you pointed it out. That said, I do not believe it would be an economical way to go. Using parts as is (stock 530 chain, stock Triumph sprocket) placing the sprocket on the inside of the flange would put the chain .1" into the tire. I'd have to have .2" machined off the inside of the drive hub, which would only leave me with .25" of material to bolt it to. In this scenario, I might be able to buy an off the shelf 530 offset sprocket, but I would still need a .639" offset. A 520 chain would lessen the amount of machining required and effect a smaller offset still, but it would also necessitate the manufactuing of a custom rear sprocket as well as have another custom front sprocket made. Of course none of this takes into account that I would have to disassemble the entire hub just to R&R the sprocket. With the first option I am still on the fence of needing an outboard support plate.

I think that at this stage, I will stay with my current configuration. I have a counter sprocket that matches the chain line, the bearing support has been fit and mounts welded in, and I don't have to do any surgury on the SSSA hub, wich I am a little reluctant to do. The business end of my swingarm has alot going on in a small space :lol:

Man, Pandora's box. My thinking, I wonder that when you are able to finally fit everything, you think the frame won't flex a bit?
I think the single swingers are really cool looking but wonder about the functionality. I saw a race where one had a failure. Now I know it was probably a fluke but still.

saxjonz wrote: Man, Pandora's box. My thinking, I wonder that when you are able to finally fit everything, you think the frame won't flex a bit?
I think the single swingers are really cool looking but wonder about the functionality. I saw a race where one had a failure. Now I know it was probably a fluke but still.

I'm not worried in the least about the swingarm failing: If I didn't break the stock swingarm then I definitely won't break this one. Frame flex is absolutely a concern, but I have a fair amount of bracing in the frame in addition to utilizing the Triumph 25mm pivot bolt and 2" chromoly pivot bushings which should help with rigidity. Functionality is no different than a standard swingarm, and probably heavier to boot! But it looks cool (to me) and vastly fewer people attempt it, so those are some of the reasons this particular swap appealed to me. I cannot argue though, it is absolutely Pandoras box! :silly: