Someone asked me the other day about converting their street FZR600 to 17" rear wheel. Whats the easiest/ best/ cheapest solution? Thanks in advance
The YZF600 rear swingarm swap is pretty much bolt up, but by doing so you lengthen the wheelbase and add weight to the rear end. There are various 17" wheel conversions that allow you to retain the stock swingarm and in some cases can drop a decent amount of weight at the same time. Steve at Speedwerks would be my next call for advice on this one.
Chuck, just because I'm curious, will the 1/2 wider F3 rear wheel fit as well, even with a 170 rear tire, rather than the F2 160? The hub is pretty much the same, though it uses different spacers, but I was just curious about swingarm clearance for the slightly wider tire you could employ for street use.
Just yesterday I tried fitting the F3 rear (currently running the F2 rear but I don't like the profile I get with the 165 Bridgestone) on my FZR and it went with no issues, plenty of swingarm clearance, chain, the only place I was a little concerned was the rear brake stay arm, but I think it will be fine.
I have a complete YZF600 rear for sale; swingarm wheel axle caliper spacers shock $225 shipped anywhere in continental US
This is your least expensive option for what you are trying to do. The only thing you have to do is mill down the width at the swing arm pivot. I have heard of people using hack saws or a dremmel. If you then want to shorten the wheel base you can grind out the forward portion of the slots in the swng arm.
Superhawk sprocket carrier(which keeps the chain aligned without machining).F2 rear rim and change the bearings to match I.D. of the FZR axle.You will need a new inner bearing tube for inside the rim.A length of handle bar stock was perfect inner diameter for the FZR axle,and If I recall,the proper length was 4-29/32".There are a couple of custom spacers to turn,but I cant explain it exactly off hand.Some guys had issues using the FZR brake calipers hanger,but I made it work fine.The spacers were the tricky bit,but I did mine right next to my lathe so I could pop it in and out as I was checking it.
I should have said easiest and least expensive. Unless you have your own lathe of course. The next easiest is to contact Steve at Speedwerks, he has a kit that uses an SV650 rear wheel. I think you have to supply the wheel and it runs just north of $300 for the kit.
Regarding using the stock Swingarm: I measured mine up doing the conversion, and comparing similar tires (150 width - BT014 in 18" to BT016 in 17", I know apples to oranges, but best I could do) you lose about 16mm in diameter overall, so about 8mm ride height right off the top. It's a challenge to lengthen a shock and have it clear the stock 88 Swingarm, the 90 Deltabox doesn't look much better from what I can tell, and has less tire clearance from what I hear. I did manage to stuff on a 160/60-17 Pilot Power on and get ride height back, and it fits in the swingarm on my 4" wide rim. I've seen reference to using an R6 Swingarm, anybody seen this getup? I'm thinking it's probably pretty long...
