Parker Unveils Another Radd Idea

PARKER UNVEILS ANOTHER RADD IDEA

JAMES PARKER, THE NEW Mexican engineer who designed the forkless front suspension used on Yamaha’s GTS1000, is set to strike again, this time with a single-sided rear swingarm he says is superior to designs currently being marketed by Honda and Aprilia.

Parker says his design is lighter and cheaper to produce than Honda’s Pro-Arm. It is different from the Honda design in that his RADD arm runs outside the rear sprocket, instead of curving in between the sprocket and disc brake. Parker says this is cheaper to manufacture, and allows linear, instead of eccentric, chain adjustment.

“The axle and other parts don’t need to be of transmission quality, which saves weight and expense,” he said. Parker, who has fitted a Yamaha FZR600 with a prototype of his arm, says the RADD set-up would be between 20 and 25 percent lighter than Honda’s Pro-Arm, and that its weight and production cost would be very close to that of a standard swingarm.

As well as providing clean looks and quick wheel changing, Parker says, his system makes wheel-alignment problems a thing of the past. He says, “There’s all sorts of motorcycles going down the road with their wheels out of line. With this system, you can’t do that. I’m confident this is the way to go.”

Parker is looking for a manufacturer that agrees, and is considering fitting his singlesided rear swingarm to a Yamaha GTS to help persuade Yamaha to build a bike with front and rear single-sided swingarms.

Roland Brown