Opinion on frame damage

[Gone in 60]

Backing up for a minute, the discussion of what's next for your bike assumes that you have the bike in your garage, and that it currently is not in a repair shop, correct?
If not, and it is in a repair shop, good chance that they have already contacted your insurance company to have them come to reinspect the bike.

[MxHansen_imp]

Backing up for a minute, the discussion of what's next for your bike assumes that you have the bike in your garage, and that it currently is not in a repair shop, correct?
If not, and it is in a repair shop, good chance that they have already contacted your insurance company to have them come to reinspect the bike.

Bike is in the garage, I took it home before I removed the crash bars. The adjuster seemed like a decent guy, was open to the notion that I didn't want it totaled out, but suggested to me that I remove the crash bars and inspect the mounts before we finalized the claim.

Hello Mx, there are many shades of gray, and your frame is one of them. Many useful comments have already been made. But there is still one aspect which hasn't been worked out. You do not want to invest into this work without 100% insurance that a) the fix will last and b) the symmetry of the frame is preserved after the work is done.
My take, the bike's frame has to be striped of all other parts (that is expensive or time-consuming), another cradle (frame) needs to be build which allows to hold the bike's frame while welding AND allows sub-millimeter measurements of the position of a number of critical points on the frame. Whether your welder tells you this same story (or not) is one way for you to tell about his seriousness.

That crack looks like it's on a weld (middle photo). Is that the case? If so, it's probably compromised now, but maybe a welding shop could repair it. However, if that is indeed the case, your insurance company may elect to just total the bike based on a cracked weld on the frame, while they could see a scrape and minor dent as a cosmetic issue.

That crack is *right on* the weld unfortunately. The crash bar compressed the tube, kinda makes me wonder....what is the point of the crash bar if its just going to thrash the frame. Oh well, I walked away from the crash, grateful for that.

Thank you for the reply.
Mx

Thanks for pointing this out, so far I have been unable to find a welding shop that will even look at the bike, let alone consider what the work would entail.
Mx


*Update*

FWIW, my local chopper shop (read heavily tattooed HD enthusiasts) assure me this is no big deal, and that they can TIG weld this back up so that it is stronger than original build. Should take them maybe an hour, and no need to remove electronic components from bike.?.?

Lots to consider, I appreciate all the help from this forum...sometimes I wish I didn't love this bike so d@mned much. I am the second owner, the original owner only put 300 miles on it and purchased it from a dealer in 2018 who still had it unassembled in the crate at that time.

Thanks again guys.
Mx

[Gone in 60]

Sounds like you've got someone who can fix it. Good news if that's how you'd like to go!

[j3gq_imp]

Hopefully this means that the damage is less substantial than I thought. Good luck!

[Lord Popgun]

I would at least unplug the ECU. They are expensive. There is still an arc with TIG and MIG welding.

[MxHansen_imp]

I would at least unplug the ECU. They are expensive. There is still an arc with TIG and MIG welding.

Thank you, I will absolutely do this if I decide to get it fixed.

Hopefully this means that the damage is less substantial than I thought. Good luck!

I hope so, its kinda hard to say, I just showed them the same pics I posted here...so...

[Whoops]

I would at least unplug the ECU. They are expensive. There is still an arc with TIG and MIG welding.

Have you seen the price on the gauge cluster? It is all circuit board from the looks of it on the fiche. As such I suspect it is pretty sensitive to high currents. I would try and disconnect more than the ECU if possible.

[andyferd_imp]

I welded some small brackets to the frame when I was modifying the rear fender and nothing got fried. I didn't disconnect anything on the bike. From my experience, you should be fine welding it up, but it never hurts to be safe!

[Lord Popgun]

Good call on the gauge cluster!

[GoldOxide_imp]

I would at least unplug the ECU. They are expensive. There is still an arc with TIG and MIG welding.

(+1) Good call Popgun.