I'm in the process of building a new Banshee-framed bike with a 12-14" over swingarm. I've seen literally dozens of new styles of thin, round chromoly tubed swingarms, and am wondering about their strength and durability.
Have any of you tried one of these trick looking tubular swingarms? And if so, are you happy with its durability and does it flex?

-Mike
phx, az
'94 Banshee
'86 trx 250R

 

I have a minus 2 inch tubular swing arm on my 87 Quadzilla. i have not had a problem with the design. an older company called max racing made it years ago they are out of business now

 

ok, i have a +8 and it is very strong for what i do, drag race and hillshoot, it is made of chromoly so i mean it is pretty damm strong, lonestar makes a good one, also hy-tech racing has a nice one for a lil cheaper

 

More specificly the swing arm you are reffering to is the Aerotube swing arm. They are indeed made of chrommolly, and weigh less than 10lbs. They are strong, but not intended to be used for jumping. They are only for drag racing an hillshooting. Lonestar and hytech make the same arm, but hytech is cheaper. Why do you need a +14? You are going to have lots of wheel spin unless you have a monster motor. For most banshe application, hilshooting and drag racing 6-8 is plenty.

 

Thanks for responding guys...I am now thinking more along the lines of a square-tubed chromoly swingarm for strength reasons ( I do more than just sand drag), but the look of the aerotube style arm is certainly trick.
Brandon, the motor is a turbocharged CBR 900RR, and I am thinking that I will need all the swingarm I can get, even though it would give up some traction. Any suggestions?

 

With that kind of motor you will probably need all of those 14 inches! On a small engine you will loose allot of traction, however, on large engines not as much traction is lost due too more revolutions of the tire. The more the tires spins, the more sand it slings, and the more sand you sling the faster you are going to go! Check out lonestar or hytech they both have square tube arms that are strong and lightweight and cheaper than the aerotube. Its going to be hard to do much more than drag ace with this bike. That engine weight is going to limit you a bunch. It should be fast though!

 

brandon pretty muched said what i was goin to say, with a huge power motor like that one, i dont think it can be used to jump, or race motocross, heh...the only applications i can see that motor for is streetlegal quad use, hillshooting or straight out drag racing. also if u dont mind what material the swingarm is made of, Vito's Performance out of dirtwheels sells a nice steel square tubed swingarm for about 290bucks, it doesnt come chrome but u can get it chromed for about 85bucks