great white
Well-Known Member
I have a 1200 Venture and I'm in the process of doing a 17" radial swap. I'm grafting the venture center hub in to a ZX7 rim and am at the very early stages. Unlike most Venture touring bikes, mine spends a fair amount of time on twisty fast roads and I like draggin' aluminum and steel in the corners. I also have converted nearly every bias ply bike I've ever owned to radials and have always been very happy with the results.
But I'm running into issues during the mock up with getting a 17/5.50 rim with a 170/70R17 tire to clear and be on center track.
The venture has a "notch" in it from the factory:
But it's not enough to clear the 170 or the 17" rim and ends up being roughly 1/2" offset. Most of it was the notch not going back far enough to clear the 17" rim and that part was easily dealt with, but the 170 was also a bit wide and required a deeper notch by about 1/4" to eliminate the rest of the offset.
So here's where I am with it now:
Looks like I cut out a lot, but it was a pretty small slice:
Problem is, with the factory notch it's close to the driveshaft. With the 1/4" more it's probably going to be uncomfortably close once plated back in. I have to install the diff and driveshaft to know how close it will actually be. That's the next step.
So a couple questions:
1. Is the Vmax swingarm that much different than the Venture's other than the monoshock design? The Vmax notched swingarms don't look nearly as notched as even a stock Venture notch. Maybe someone has had them side by side (probably not many of those guys out there) and can comment. I;m just wondering if I'm missing a method of getting the wheel centered to track and not notching the swingarm.
2. I see guys talking about how they can get a 170/180 with just a washer swap. Are they just accepting a large rear wheel offset or again, am I missing a trick?
3. Lastly, does anyone know how much the driveshaft deflects under load? Accel or decel? Basically, how close can I get the swingarm tube to the driveshaft without risking contact?
Asking on the Venture boards is kinda pointless as they don't really get into this type of modifications and don't have any real interest anyways (mostly interested in radios, tires or "farkles"). I thought I'd ask on a VMax board as it's not an uncommon modification here and there are some close family ties between the Venture and the VMax so there might be method or two I'm missing that might work on the Venture.
The bike is going to be pretty much Vmax from airbox to final drive (Vboost, heads, rear diff, etc) when done and I want a wheel and tire that can keep up. A slightly smaller wheel diameter isn't a problem either (loosing a little less than an inch in overall diameter), it's getting a 2002 Royal Star Venture transmission which is pretty much the deep 5th overdrive some shops offer. If it's still too low geared, I'll just swap the Venture rear diff back in.
Converting the rear of this bike is a major PITA. Hopefully the front will go easier.
But I'm running into issues during the mock up with getting a 17/5.50 rim with a 170/70R17 tire to clear and be on center track.
The venture has a "notch" in it from the factory:
But it's not enough to clear the 170 or the 17" rim and ends up being roughly 1/2" offset. Most of it was the notch not going back far enough to clear the 17" rim and that part was easily dealt with, but the 170 was also a bit wide and required a deeper notch by about 1/4" to eliminate the rest of the offset.
So here's where I am with it now:
Looks like I cut out a lot, but it was a pretty small slice:
Problem is, with the factory notch it's close to the driveshaft. With the 1/4" more it's probably going to be uncomfortably close once plated back in. I have to install the diff and driveshaft to know how close it will actually be. That's the next step.
So a couple questions:
1. Is the Vmax swingarm that much different than the Venture's other than the monoshock design? The Vmax notched swingarms don't look nearly as notched as even a stock Venture notch. Maybe someone has had them side by side (probably not many of those guys out there) and can comment. I;m just wondering if I'm missing a method of getting the wheel centered to track and not notching the swingarm.
2. I see guys talking about how they can get a 170/180 with just a washer swap. Are they just accepting a large rear wheel offset or again, am I missing a trick?
3. Lastly, does anyone know how much the driveshaft deflects under load? Accel or decel? Basically, how close can I get the swingarm tube to the driveshaft without risking contact?
Asking on the Venture boards is kinda pointless as they don't really get into this type of modifications and don't have any real interest anyways (mostly interested in radios, tires or "farkles"). I thought I'd ask on a VMax board as it's not an uncommon modification here and there are some close family ties between the Venture and the VMax so there might be method or two I'm missing that might work on the Venture.
The bike is going to be pretty much Vmax from airbox to final drive (Vboost, heads, rear diff, etc) when done and I want a wheel and tire that can keep up. A slightly smaller wheel diameter isn't a problem either (loosing a little less than an inch in overall diameter), it's getting a 2002 Royal Star Venture transmission which is pretty much the deep 5th overdrive some shops offer. If it's still too low geared, I'll just swap the Venture rear diff back in.
Converting the rear of this bike is a major PITA. Hopefully the front will go easier.