my frame curved because of oily road ;(
 

hy, I'm Picco from hungary.

i need some help/advice from motorcycle gurus.
i've bought my xt660r in mai, with 16k kilometers in it, it was in perfect condition. i've been on small and long tour with it, never let me down.
in a sunny day(sept 11), me and my mate was going to the local mountain.
we used to going almost every day of the summer, we know every single corners, everything about it. and that day the disaster happened, 150m long oil strip, started in big right curve. (about 80-90km/h) in 1 sec we slammed to a drainage ditch. (oher bike was a 2005 cb600f hornet)

insurer, road maintainer isnt paying anything :(
my motor had serious damage (his name is warthog:) )
thank god my forks, and my swingarm is ok, but my frame suffered a pretty big curve in the back :092:

my big question is: how can i make it straight? it isnt broken, the paint in it is ok, the welding point's looking fine to.
here is some pictures about the accident(i prefer say disaster:( ) http://img195.imageshack.us/g/120920091764.jpg/

mod: since that, i 've rided about 1500-2000km with it, and absolutley no problem with it.
sorry for my english, i can understand every single word, but when the time comes that i have to write, its pretty hard. :blush:

Hi

If its the main frame, the one under the tank that is bent/curved then it would be a replace it with a newer one, but frome the looks of it its only the rear frame/sub frame.

I would take all the plastics off the bike, unscrew all the bent parts and then rebend/heat them into shape and maybe weld them up a bit more in the weak areas.

the main frame is fine thank god. the "straight run" is good too. i think here that i've speed up about 100km/h in straight line on the road, get my hands off the handlebar, and the motor goes straight adhead :)

now my lil warthog looks like that: http://img40.imageshack.us/g/20091208323.jpg/
in hungary, the part's is so expensive in yamaha salon's, that i had to order the pieces different country-s or ebay :(

but i don't care, to spring it will be looks like new/except headlamp, i think its not too nice/

thank you Maxwell the answer, i appreciate it :headbang:

Glad that you were not seriously hurt. Thats one hell of an oil spill. They say that accidents are most likely to happen on roads we think we know. Could of happened to any of us and hope the repairs go well.

thank you DickyC! :)

the truth is, that we are made withouth a scratch :)
i think we have a damn good angel up there!

They say that accidents are most likely to happen on roads we think we know. - thats so true!

Glad you are ok mate.

By the looks of your photos your bike should be able to be fixed.

thanks for the quick reply Kev.

can this frame straightened without heat? or it must be heated?

Heat would be better.

Problem being is, if you've bent metal like that then you've work hardened it and therefore it becomes harder but brittle.

Ideally, you wan't to heat it up untill it glows brightly then bend it back and then allow it to cool in air. Don't quench it because you will only make it harder! By allowing it to cool in air, the metal grains will normalise and -should- return to its normal strength.

dazmatic: then that's the plan :) i knew it has to be chill out normally, without cold water or anything. i hope we could do this next week, if everything will go fine, i will be soo happy :) when the accident happened, we get the li'l hog out from the ditch, i've felt like crying...it was so sad :/

anyway,thank you dazmatic :)