Never Ending Z Swap Build

Once upon a time a ruckus and a zuma 125 fell in love. It was a magical, passionate, warm love. Then one day. Bam They decided to have a child, and so the z ruck was born. Niceeee

ok so I’m not sure who did it first, I know there are quite a few zuma swaps out there but this one is going to be mine and I’m super stoked about it. Shout out to Ton for making the facebook page for zruckswaps. It’s awesome and super informative.

My build starts with the zuma,
I was going to sell this bike. I had it posted a few times then eventually parted it out. One good dude came along and got most of the items in one take which was great.


It lived through a fair amount of color changes. it was a friends bike that was stock i build for him and bought back years later. (other thread on that is on the z board)

I kept the motor, harness, ecu relays ect. wheels and hubs.
Then I finally got a slightly clapped ruckus, In Western NY stock is limited and prices are insane.


peep those handle bars, the stem was facing the rider, shit made you want to crash when you road it.

Here is everything stripped down and ready for assembly.

The bike at this point is together for mockup, but its a complete mess


I almost have the tank finished.

Reused the stock fuel pump, it is at a slight angle in back so that the filter is as low to the bottom as possible, along with a baffle before the pump so it doesnt slosh to death. Not sure if the stock ruckus cap is vented. Im guessing it is, but any input on that would be great.
The battery box is coming along. I need to clean the brackets and powder coat them. but its getting there. Not my favorite part.


This is my awesome super solid cardboard suspension. road legal and DOT approved.
Actually this is what I’m most excited about.
My goal for the build is to keep it super clean.
So one check list was to keep the carb rear facing and see what I could do suspension wise.
I had a race bros shock from a grom build I wanted to use and I got after it with the saw so there’s no turning back.
I beefed up and moved the cross pipe back from where the stock shock mounts. That was too far back for a center shock even with my shorty yss let alone the race bros. So i decided to try a cantilever system.

After test fitting with cardboard I 3d printed the mockups to make sure everything fits, looking like it will. Im having my neighbor weld it in after the cut pieces come in.


this is a rough draft for printing, the real cant its self will be 6061 and have a bearing on the pivot.

The the current ratio its about 1 to 1.1 for rear up to shock compression.
Hopefully this doesnt take me 10 years to actually get together.

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Looks great so far! I like that fuel tank, any estimation on its capacity? The cantilever suspension is an interesting idea. ComposiMo built something like that many moons ago.

Not exactly the same but similar.

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Thanks! Wow that’s cool. A different take for sure.
As for the tank when I was bending it up I figured it would be around 1.5 gallons but when you factor in the pump space and a jog i have in the other side to clear I’m sure it’s no much over a gallon. Motor supposedly gets 89mpg though.

Any updates on the Z Swap?

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