Hmm, crash damage assessment...

jaypro55

Member
Aug 6, 2001
417
0
Hey everyone, I haven't been posting too much lately, mainly cause I haven't been riding too much. Football and school take up all of my time and even on weekends when I do have free time, I usually don't have enough of a chunk to take a good ride. Anyway I did take a ride last week, and had a pretty bad crash.

I was at a friend's house riding on these new jumps he has. The one I wrecked on was like a big step up, you jump over a trail and land on an uphill section of grass. So we were all hitting it and I hit a different line then they were, because it was starting to rut up and boy I should have known better. The section of jump that I hit wasn't as smooth as the other, it was a lot steeper and shorter, so it kicked you pretty hard. If it was a regular jump I might have been able to save it, but because it was a step up with an uphill landing, my front tire hit and my momentum carried the back over. OUCH, 200 lbs of machine smacked me pretty hard, but I only got a few scrapes.

But my bike wasn't as lucky. The first thing I noticed was my brake lever, bent really bad, but still in one piece (however today when I tried to bend it back, it snapped so I'll have to drop $10 for that). I didn't really notice anything else until I got it all cleaned up today. First off, when I took it out of the garage, it took a good amount of force to turn the bars from all the way to left to straight ahead. So I kept doing that (turning them to the left all the way and back) and I noticed it felt like a sticking point there when it was locked to the left, almost like magnet. The other side easily releases from the locked position to the right. It doesn't stick anywhere else in between, and doesn't move up in down but I wonder if it's a bent stem?

The other thing in question is my subframe. Perhaps it's because the fender is bent a little, and that's playing with my eyes, but things seems strange with the subframe. When I stripped it down to just the subframe, I noticed the bar on the right side of the bike with the silencer goes back at a steeper angle up then it does on the left side. I never really paid much attention before so I don't know if that's the way it is or not. But nothing else seems out of whack. And the metal shows no signs of stress or any visible bends. I'm sorta confused there, I sat a straight edge across the top bars and they both touched flushly, but I don't really have any way of telling if it's bent. I'm kinda worried because it sucks to have gotten all this damage on one of the last rides of the year.

I'm always paranoid about my things, so I easily see things that aren't there, and make it seem like everything is worse off than it really is. But I want to make sure everything is alright, mainly so I know what to save up my money for since winter is coming and it's time to fix things up. So if you could help me out I'd really appreciate it.
 
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MCP486

~SPONSOR~
Dec 26, 2001
37
0
As long as the subframe isn't broken or severely bent, and everything lines up well, I wouldn't worry about it too much. As far as the bars feeling like a magnet, look where the stop on the triple clamp hits the frame. There is probably a small indentation in the frame caused by the force of the crash. You can probably remove a small amount of material to fix it. Hope I have been helpful.

Matt
 

jaypro55

Member
Aug 6, 2001
417
0
Thanks a lot MCP, I'll check this out tomorrow probably. Nothing is bent bad enough to notice, I don't see how it could have bent without major damage to any of the surrounding plastic, pipe, airbox, etc, and without any stress marks on the metal. Everything lines up perfectly so I think maybe just the bent fender is playing tricks on me. As for the steering, I'll have to look. Today I thought it might be a cable pinching and sticking in there, but I couldn't tell. I'll have to look.
 

jaypro55

Member
Aug 6, 2001
417
0
Well things are looking up. I am still not sure about my subframe and if it's bent or not. But as MCP suggested, my bars were sticking because when I crashed, they must have been thrown hard to the left, and the piece of metal used to stop the bars from rotating indented a little further into the frame than the other side. So I dabbed a little grease into it and it's back to normal, no major problem there. I'll probably pick up a lever the next time I get around the bike shop...but first I'll probably try to bum one ;) . If I took some pictures of the subframe would that help?
 

MCP486

~SPONSOR~
Dec 26, 2001
37
0
Glad I was helpful. With the subframe, a bent rear fender can be decieving. Remove the rear fender, and place the bike on a center stand (so it is straight up). From there, you can eyeball the back of the subframe to see if one of the sides is lower than the other. A small bend is not a big deal, but if it bothers you, there are companies that make levers to straighten them. I have never used one, so I am not sure about how well they work. New subframes are very expensive, around $275.

Matt
 

jaypro55

Member
Aug 6, 2001
417
0
The next time I get some time to tinker with it, I'm going to strip the plastic and fender off again and I'm going to take a picture so you guys can help me judge if something is messed up. The way it looked to me yesterday is that the bolt holes for both sides are the same...but the bar coming up and back on the right side of the bike with the silencer had a different angle. And at the top you can see it's a different weld, so I'll take a few pictures of that.
 

Moto Squid

~SPONSOR~
Jul 22, 2002
853
0
If you have to second guess your self about the sub being bent don't even mess with it, they are more of a pain to bend back for such a slight misalignment. When it's bent, not tweaked like yours may be, you'll know it. After a few gnarly crashes my cr does the same thing with sticking in the full left/right position. I took everything apart just to make sure the bearings weren't screwed up. As long as it turns smoothly everywhere else you're fine.

Actually my 02 sub has had a slight twist to it since new...
 

jaypro55

Member
Aug 6, 2001
417
0
Yeah mine could have a tweak, I just wish I had something to compare it to, a picture or someone else's bike. Unfortunately I'm the only one who Rides Red around here. But in terms of steering it's smooth everywhere else, but it's a noticeable indent in the frame compared to the other side. Could I sand off the edges to help even it out, or is it not worth worrying about? I really wanna check into this subframe deal so I want to see if getting a picture of it can help you guys set me straight over this.
 

darringer

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Dec 2, 2001
1,029
0
Just a quick note on the subframe issue. I read your post, Jaypro, and I believe your subframe is basically the same as mine. The diagonal sections that connect from the seat base and bolt to the lower frame area are not symmetrical. They bolt to different parts of the frame. It really looks like the subframe is bent even though it isn't. I center stand the bike with the seat on and no rear fender and I can tell if the seat is straight. Hope this helps.
Darringer
 

jaypro55

Member
Aug 6, 2001
417
0
Darringer that's a big help. I thought it was made like that too because of the way the bolts were set up. It would have to be differnent. I keep trying to get my fender back to straight but I can't seem to get it right. It won't hold if I try to bend it when it's on the bike, and I can't seem to get it right when it's not on the bike.
 
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