Softail to hardtail cheap

[gusjustgus]

Looking to turn my softail ridged on the cheap. This winter i will break it down, cut the frame and weld it up right. For this summer i think i can get away with drilling and bolting the swing arm and the frame together.
I can drop in a support block in place of the shock just incase.
Looked into just replacing the shock, but the brackets will not support a rigid strut assembly, will crack fast.
Anyone seen this done?
Anyone see problems I'm over looking?
Don't want the to do a frame swap, cops already bust my balls, numbers on the motor and not the neck could screw me.

[KG]

Chop it!

[garystaven88]

I know out in Japan the "Softail Rigid Scene" is kinda big. SHIX MC comes to mind. They use 2 rigid struts in place of the shocks. I dont think any are sold so they will need to be fabbed up. Someone here I know has pictures of them. Shouldnt be too hard to do.

Temporary to get ya by. Long term definitely loose the heavy ass softail section and weld on a rear rigid section...

[JBinNC]

Just put struts in place of the shocks just like you would do on a swingarm bike. Adjustable for ride height would be best so you could play around with it. No need to (try to) drill through the frame.

Jim

[gusjustgus]

Looked into doing that, it was the way i first thought, but the brackets that hold the shocks cannot take the abuse of a rigid strut. But I figure for large bolts, will probably be able to take the abuse. And running a block in the shock assembly has a Fail-Safe to just get home if they can't.

[JBinNC]

Looked into doing that, it was the way i first thought, but the brackets that hold the shocks cannot take the abuse of a rigid strut.

Yes they can. The frame is very robust. If you lower it to the max, the swingarm will be bearing against the bump stops anyway.

Jim

[garystaven88]

Yes they can. The frame is very robust.
Jim

The softail section is also heavy as shit. It may be in this link posted below but somewhere someone weighed the softail swingarm during a hardtail conversion and it was like 50lbs or something crazy

https://www.hotbikeweb.com/softy-goe...gazine#page-26

[gusjustgus]

A lot of guys posted pics of the bracket cracked bad. The roads in my area are terrible, so the extra support is needed.
It may be overkill, but it should hold no?

[Dragstews]

.../// https://www.hotbikeweb.com/softy-goe...gazine#page-26 \\\...

[Sugarcubes]

if you are handy with a welder you can just buy a cheap vtwin weld-on hardtail made for shovels. I think you need to cut off your old transmission mounts and weld them into the new tail. Bit of faffing but its been done plenty times before.

I toyed with the idea but i spent 10 years on a rigid and the potholes in my city aren't forgiving. I kept my shocks but ran em low on some aftermarket bolts. Let us know how this turns out

[gusjustgus]

That is my plan for the winter time. Also got a 4-speed transmission I got to rebuild which I'm dropping in at the same time. But this summer I'm hoping to be able to get away with bolting up the swing arm assembly.

[farmall]

Doing it that way and putting some miles on it will tell you if you want suspension or not.

If your local roads are bad you are likely to ride that bike a LOT less than you may imagine but this way you can "try before you buy".

[farmall]

Doing it that way and putting some miles on it will tell you if you want suspension or not.

If your local roads are bad you are likely to ride that bike a LOT less than you may imagine but this way you can "try before you buy". If it's not your only motorcycle than it doesn't need to be functional. If it is you'll be making an informed choice. A few hundred miles should tell all.

BTW leftover Softail swingarms make decent wheel truing stands if ya weld on a base plate. I've not done my yet because I run mags but another Chop Culter had the idea. I don't remember the link.

[gusjustgus]

That's actually me with my current chop in my profile pic. Got years of riding rigid under my belt, it's a shorter front end I want to see if I'm happy with, and i really can't stand having a bike down in sunny weather.

Honestly I never even thought about use of the swingarm after I cut the frame, wheelstand sounds like a great idea.