Extended Swingarm?

[rooster300ex]

Does a longer swingarm give you less rear wheel horse power/torque?? I know quite a bit about quads, i'm still learning though.

Longer I'm meaning 2in to 5in longer then stock.

[deathman53]

longer/shorter swingarms have no effect on the power, just percieved power. With a longer swingarm the weight bias to toward the front, you would want this if you have a bad wheelie problem. A +1 foward front end and -1 swingarm will still have the same wheel base, but the bike will be very wheelie happy as the weight will be baised to the rear end, this makes a good mx setup for on-the-dime turning. Now there is differences to this with every model quad. Also the placement of the footpegs has a effect on the weght bias. Ex: 86/87 trx250r, very good woods bike, stable and predictable, not wheelie happy, but the racers didn't like it, as it wasn't very nimble and took some effert to turn, in 88/89 honda changed it to have a +1 forward front end, -1 swingarm and moved the footpegs 1" forward. This made for a nimble bike, that turned on the dime and would allow the rear wheels to grab traction, where the 86/87 would just spin. The footpegs were moved up to control the wheelies.
Another (sorry not a 4 wheeler, but 3 wheeler), 85 atc250r, great bike, turned on a dime, very wheelie happy, but the front end tended to wander on high speeds, in 86 honda lowered the pegs 1", changed the rake to a lesser degree, now this made the bike turn more predictably, grab more traction on the back tires, and the increased rake made it wander less on high speed.
This just 2 models, but you can kinda see how the swingarm, footpeg and a forward front end will effect how a bike handles. Alot of 400ex and 450r guys use +1 front end and +1.25 swingarm, this is to keep the nimble handling while reducing the wheelie happiness of the bike.

[Scro]

Originally posted by deathman53
longer/shorter swingarms have no effect on the power, just percieved power. With a longer swingarm the weight bias to toward the front, you would want this if you have a bad wheelie problem. A +1 foward front end and -1 swingarm will still have the same wheel base, but the bike will be very wheelie happy as the weight will be baised to the rear end, this makes a good mx setup for on-the-dime turning. Now there is differences to this with every model quad. Also the placement of the footpegs has a effect on the weght bias. Ex: 86/87 trx250r, very good woods bike, stable and predictable, not wheelie happy, but the racers didn't like it, as it wasn't very nimble and took some effert to turn, in 88/89 honda changed it to have a +1 forward front end, -1 swingarm and moved the footpegs 1" forward. This made for a nimble bike, that turned on the dime and would allow the rear wheels to grab traction, where the 86/87 would just spin. The footpegs were moved up to control the wheelies.
Another (sorry not a 4 wheeler, but 3 wheeler), 85 atc250r, great bike, turned on a dime, very wheelie happy, but the front end tended to wander on high speeds, in 86 honda lowered the pegs 1", changed the rake to a lesser degree, now this made the bike turn more predictably, grab more traction on the back tires, and the increased rake made it wander less on high speed.
This just 2 models, but you can kinda see how the swingarm, footpeg and a forward front end will effect how a bike handles. Alot of 400ex and 450r guys use +1 front end and +1.25 swingarm, this is to keep the nimble handling while reducing the wheelie happiness of the bike.

Good info:macho

[rooster300ex]

I was gonna put a 250r engine in my quad, but I don't wanna hack up a perfectly good 85atc250r. So Next time I rebuilt I want a 385ex. The one that uses a 400ex sleeve. What i'm getting to is if I will need a longer swingarm with a 385ex full blown modded motor. I'm wanting a +3. I like the look of a longer swingarm and I wanna be able to control the wheeling of the quad.