What to do?

[hollywoodxs1100]

About a year ago, I got in a pretty bad accident on my bike, a '79 Special. The lady who caused the accident didn't have insurance, so all I got from her was around $650 to fix my bike. I replaced the guages, the forks, signals, headlight assembly, the handlebars and front master cylinder. The crash bars and full hardbags were totalled, but not necessary to get her back on the road. Also, I broke my arm.

Flash forward to last September: Riding home from work, i noticed my handlebars seemed to be "bouncing" with each bump in the road. I pulled over under a streetlight to find my lower frame tubes broken just below the steering bearing. All the way across. I drove slowly and carefully home and parked the bike.

Last month, I secured a garage space (I live in an apartment, so no garage) to tear the bike down for welding or perhaps a frame transplant. I decided to ride the bike to the garage, again slowly and carefully, 7 miles away. It was scary, but I made it to a friend's house 1 mile from the garage and stopped for a while. When I got the bike off the side stand and started it, it simply collapsed on itself right there underneath me. Needless to say, I was quite surprised, having just ridden the 7 miles to that spot.

The bike now stands in my friend's driveway, and between the broken arm, the broken frame, and another motorcycle being stolen, i've all but given up on motorcycling for the time being. What do I do with the bike? Part it out? Find a frame? I don't know that I'd trust having this one welded. It just fell apart from fatigue. Would anybody want it as a parts bike? IT's complete and everything is there and functional. Starts great, runs great, no smoke, 94k miles.

[mason79]

learning, thought, patience, time, work, effort, persistence, planning, bugeting, skill, coordinating...

the endless repository of info and support you will have here.

xs's aren't expensive as a hobby, it just everything else.but eveything else turns into money.

ask yourself, do you give up? are you gonna quit? the choice is yours and yours alone.

that said, you will always be able to part it here or on ebay.

[HobbyMan]

Frames can be welded. I know a guy who stripped his down just to have all the welds redone and everything beefed up. Stick with it. Even if it takes time, you don't have to work on it every day. Since it sounds like you already got the garage space, go ahead and get the bike there if it is still at your friends house. Rent a small trailer or find a friend with one. you may just get another frame and swap everything. We trust that you will find the right thing to do, whatever it is

[hollywoodxs1100]

But can a frame be welded after it has split in 2 due to metal fatigue? would all of you trust it?

I love the bike. It's the most reliable vehicle I've ever owned. It has never failed to start on me. It got me where I needed to go, and was quick about it.

My problem is that I have no truck or friend with truck, and the tow company won't touch it
. I guess I could dissasemble it where it sits. Is anybody on this board a frame expert and also in Los Angeles? That would be really great.

[mason79]

send some pictures, you know how to right?, i live in los angeles south pasadena, but i just get my cues from the real masters here,

pictures would illustrate the extent of the damage to someone in the know.

frames are avalible all the time, i say swap it out , i think top cat has a bent downtube and is living with it...

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Hollywood,

IF it was just bent, then rewelding would be an option. AudiJunky recently posted a link about how to LOWER a bike by cutting the down tubes and putting/welding extensions into them, by just cutting them, bouncing on the seat to stretch and bend the upper tubes at the steering neck, with the Engine in the frame to steady the downtubes, etc.!

The frames are made of mild steel. After the accident which caused a bend, it then probably cracked the OEM weld joints, which then lead to the failure. There is a lot of stress at those joints.

Mason is right in that I had an incident some 20 years ago which caused my steering neck to get bent in towards the engine reducing my trail/rake angle. Recently I noted some mild rust along the weld seams, and plan on investigating it further, possibly removing the outer flat plates that cover the steering neck backbone and down tubes joints. I plan on doing some rewelding and adding some reinforcement braces to the neck area and other points on the frame to help stiffen it up!

It's been suggested to me to replace my frame, but I LIKE The easier steering angle I've gotten from the incident. The MC racing Machine shop that did the cylinder boring of my engine told me there shouldn't be any problems with rewelding or reinforcing my frame. The owner is Larry McBride, the Spiderman, fastest guy on a top fuel type drag bike for many a year, so I tend to believe him, he build his race frames, etc.!

My concern with yours is that it is broken at the neck, not just sawed in two several inches below the neck, so getting the neck properly aligned so that the front end is in straight line with the rear wheel could be a little difficult, not impossible though!

A recent thread has also been posted about how to verify the tracking of the front wheel with the rear. So...what I'm saying is that it might be worth it to attempt to weld it, adding some additional bracing while you're at it. But, if it doesn't ride or track right, then you can look for a donor frame to swap the parts into!?

T.C.

[planedick]

Moving it...

I wonder if you could move it with one of those car dollies? Just drag the front of the engine up on it and tie it down good, letting the rear wheel run behind and roll it to the garage for repairs. I also live in the LA area and have facilities for repairs and since I do machine repairs, I have connections for those things one can't do without special equipment.

[ZXDavid]

You can have someone come over and weld it with a welding rig on a truck. Guys that work in the oilfield do this. May find someone in the phone book under welders. A good welder can check it out for you and tell you if its doable or whatever.

[trbig]

U-haul trucks are pretty cheap... 29.95 plus 28 cents a mile or something, and they have a nice loading ramp. Let's see.... 2 miles... sounds affordable to me! lol.

Just my 2 cents... if it isn't broken into the collar, and is just broken at the welds... if you get someone who knows how to weld pretty decent, it will be stronger than factory. Beef it up a bit and put a little extra plating in there if it makes you feel better. You trust your life every day to welds... on your car, on bridges, etc. I broke my hand years ago, and where it repaired itself, it built a thicker bone around where the breaks happened. Doc said I'd never break it there again... He has been right so far!.. lol.

Anyway... same principle. If there's something there to weld to and it was just the tubes.... and it was mine..... it still would be. Even with a broken back, your bike got you safely where you needed to go... Know any other bikes that would have??


Tod