Need some support and knowledge after an accident.

[qaczek]

Hi everyone, this is my first post, although I visit the forum often. Unfortunately some time ago I had an accident, and if it wasn't for a snickering car from the opposite direction much wouldn't have happened, but unfortunately - it did. Slightly scratched the frame, front forks completely destroyed, and the rest is already cosmetics that I can get over - plastics/polishing the lamp (by the way, I was amazed that so much damage - the speed was a legal ~50kmh, and the damage as if I knocked 100 against the wall; me, fortunately, without the slightest scratch, clothes, helmet also). Due to the fact that I had nowhere to put the moto, nor the time to embrace some garage I gave the frame measurement. I came up with the assumption that if nothing happened and it's straight I'll give it to a mechanic to do it on the spot, and if not, I've already ridden too much during the season anyway, so I can devote the rest to learning/repairing. Unfortunately - the frame has been slightly misaligned with respect to each other (in the FZ it is built of two halves), which can be seen at the joint where the head tube is located. I didn't see any crack, and I watched very carefully. The Moto came out crooked - is it a lot? I don't know. 0.8 degrees twisted (the norm to 0.3), 9mm shortened (the norm to 4mm). To be honest, I don't know how it will behave, but I don't have much to lose anyway - anything I buy for repair I will practically be able to sell on later, if the moto turns out to be totally unusable. For such a moto I will not get much, and I think that for the city, commuting 5km to work I will not find much better - for next season I will buy something for long routes. And here's a question for you - when it comes to inserting the headtube bearing race into a minimally cropped frame - is it at all possible, or does it need to be adjusted first? How to go about it at all?

P.S it's possible that a little bit my message is incoherent, but I'll try to clarify everything if necessary - I guess I just need to talk to someone about what to do with it next, one mechanic tells me that he wouldn't fix it, another that it's safe to drive, many post-purchase and imported machines look like this - similar on Facebook forums, and I still don't know where the truth is . Here I read some threads about people welding frames, straightening these frames etc. I don't believe that every motorcycle here is straight as from factory, maybe someone can share his experiance.

Here's a link to pictures of the damage, if attachments mess up: imgur

 

[bryancraftyhands]

I don't know that anyone here can give you true advice and knowledge on this. Is anyone here actually a mechanic?
Suggestions and based on experience advice is plentiful I'm sure.
My own for instance:
Maybe loosen the bolts that hold the two halves and try to straighten out.
I don't have any pics of any of the times I had my head bearings in view for comparison, but I can offer these:


That was about 30,000 miles ago. I'm guessing my impact was at about 40mph or less since I didn't get thrown forward, but I couldn't have been going very slow since the forks snapped back, breaking one, crushing my headers and damaging my radiator. Forks and headers are not made of thin weak steel.
I'm sure the height of the Stupid Useless Vehicle also had something to do with stopping my being thrown forward as well but all of that is another story.
My point here is that I got the bike ready for the road before I was. I gave it a makeover in the process. The silver one in my avatar is the same bike. I haven't had any problems with it handling until I recently changed the fork seals a few weeks ago and concluded my oil level needs adjusting.
I posted 2 pics. I'm not sure if the second one loaded.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Is anyone here actually a mechanic?

yes.

 

[qaczek]

Probably here on a forum there are few mechanics, but none can give 100% sure opinion, without any inspection. I’m aware of it. And I’m here mainly for guys who went through similiar situation, to share experience and suggestions and get some serious advices how to get over it. Thanks a lot @bryancraftyhands, your post means a lot to me, really. At least I know that I should try repairing. Still waiting on some advices how to go with this headtube bearing. Does anyone know size, torque etc. for frame halves bolts? They are kinda specific since there are security torx, and thread is aluminium - torque is important in my opinion Down here are mine ”after crash” photos

 

[Gary in NJ]

Not being able to measure anything makes for a difficult assessment. It would appear that the bearing race mount is cracked. If that is the case then that part needs to be replaced. The race mount is an interference fit that has a tolerance measured in mills - as in millionths - so a repair is not advisable and would most likely crack again upon insertion of the race.

 

[qaczek]

Well, thats what I expect, but set of bearings is not that expensive. I will try it anyway, maybe some miracle happen or whatever. Just would love to hear some tips how to do it the best way and gently. My first tought was to loosen bolts holding two halves together, then try somehow to adjust the difference between them (yet don't know how). If the halves somehow adjust to eachother, It's good. If not, ill try to put the race in its mount with loosen bolts - maybe that will help maybe not. That's all I made up for this time - if You have any suggestion what (and how) to do it better, or what not to do - I'm here to listen

 

[qaczek]

Not being able to measure anything makes for a difficult assessment. It would appear that the bearing race mount is cracked. If that is the case then that part needs to be replaced. The race mount is an interference fit that has a tolerance measured in mills - as in millionths - so a repair is not advisable and would most likely crack again upon insertion of the race.

And by replacing element, you mean to replace whole frame, since it is all integral? Previous bearing race wasn’t broken when It was being extracted, thats what give me some faith

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Any updates?


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