So a mate of mine Back home in Canada decided to share some pictures of a shop fixing a kawi. they plan on selling this to some one in the public after it is done. Thoughts on the Great welding job lol
well ,, maybe not quite so quick to condemn,,, on an over all view,, the Lincoln welding machines are good machines , a good sign , shows that they know something,,, the fit up looks pretty good, lines are true,, chopped and rewelded in oriinal places,,, photos don't show any prep on weld butts which should be " Veed " and could have been done before welding,,,, so tbf and hon, if the welder was as good as the set up then it should be OK..
i know the guy hes a backyard mechanic at most. Honestly hes a hack job and lawsuit waiting to happen. half of the equipment in his shop is probably stolen or to sell. on top of that e will never tell the person who bought the bike it was chopped and welded
If the welding is that bad then anybody will be able to see the " repair "... ( not trying to be argumentative here ) his mechanical abilities , in this instance, are less important than his welding skills,, which are two diferent things,,, but I don't know the guy,, you do.... I don't think I would want the bike, but may be ok for racing or something, I would be concerned about the frame being true ( straight ) after the welding and the accident which looks to have pretty hefty !!
I wouldn want it for track or road.if your after an insurance write off then there are plenty of bikes with cosmetic damage only.that type of repair in my view should be illegal across the board . im sure the shop carrying this out is ok but I wouldn want to ride it.
Its junk,plain and simple.Would be a write off here in the UK.With obvious serious damage to the frame why would you not put another,undamaged frame on it?Its not like they are expensive.
I was watching on sky i think it was channel 524? they have a series called Born to ride its all about the Arlen ness family and Arlen himself cut the head stock off a big fat Harley and welded a piece in and changed the rake, finished the build and of it went in the distance :Wideyed:
bit different when a world famous builder, who build frames as well as putting parts together, does it V some backstreet hack
Yes i agree, Arlen's one was also a box section frame cut both side's but i still wouldn't buy it or trust it and i couldn't afford it,
Apart from all the above, it would be imperative to strip the frame completely and heat it up in an oven for stress relief. Failure to do this will result in the frame failing maybe in a different place. Some stuff about it here. Aluminum Welding FAQs
Just in the process of putting a box of bits back together of some sort of Harley. I've never had to work on one of these things before and find it a bizarre mix of good but over-engineering and plain awful bodge-engineering.... and it's not been 'customised' either. I'm astonished that anyone buys these things as they are the epitome of style over substance.... but people do and therein lies a story. The frame is just horrible. A weird mix of bent square section girder, massive forgings and multiple diameter bits of tubing welded together. The L/H/R foot-peg is a monstrosity ! One can see why there is a thriving custom-frame market in the USA and even the engine is an abortion, hence the market in replacement engines, too. If it was in my remit, I wouldn't bother to repair it if it needed repairing...... just bin it and buy something, anything else. But it isn't, and my job is to put the stupid thing back on the road for some deluded soul to decide to become 'free' and trundle around on this two-wheeled cement mixer with faux 'patches' on their designer tatty leathers and their Tesco loyalty card tucked into their jeans with the Nectar and bank cards. Cynical, me ?
