[konst]

Hello
I'm Konstantin, 45 years old, and I live in Switzerland.
We bought together with a friend a 1990 Heritage Softail on Ebay last week.

It was descripted as an 'crashed bike' and the price was attractive.
The previous owner had a collision with a car, damaging many parts like headlight, handle bar and others.
Now, having the bike in our garage,we are looking at the frame, in order to understand if anything is damaged.

Can an Heritage owner tell me if the plate soldered between the two front tubes of the frame is normally flat (like the one in my 1998 FXDX) or is it slightly bent in the middle like that:

I'm wondering if this a result of the crash or not...
Many thanks for the help!!!
Konstantin

 

[vafatboy]

Yes that is a result of a crash. My friend who is in the insurance business says that almost all bikes with engine guards end up with a bent frame at that spot if hit hard enough.

 

[konst]

Thanks for the reply. And you're right: the bike was fitted with an engine guard wich is actually badly warped.
Don't you know if there is any remedy to this, apart of course dismantling everything and buying a new frame?

 

[road_king]

Assuming that the rest of the frame is not bent, you could remove the bent engine guard mount and weld a new piece on and paint that section of the frame.
But for safety reasons, make sure that the rest of the frame is straight.

 

[FLSTFI-2005]

Personally, for my own piece of mind, I wouldn't use that frame other than junk yard filler.

How is the rest of the bike?

 

[vafatboy]

Thanks for the reply. And you're right: the bike was fitted with an engine guard wich is actually badly warped.
Don't you know if there is any remedy to this, apart of course dismantling everything and buying a new frame?

He writes estimates for that exact condition. I will ask him what they do to correct and get back to you.

I will say that in the old days some dealers had frame jigs that they would use to straighten frames. Don't know if they do it anymore.

 

[vafatboy]

Spoke to my buddy,

He say's that the dealerships he deals with don't want the liability of repairing frames to any extent and will refuse to repair frames that are even remotely suspected of being bent.

If the bike is not totaled, they order a new frame and repair. If the bike is totaled, the owner gets another bike or the $$$ and the bike is then the property of the insurance co. They are often sold to the dealer under a salvage title and he see's many of these bikes being riden by mechanics and other dealer empoyees after repairs are made.

His opinion is that if all the welds and structural components of the frame are sound then move on. That is a big if.

You would need the means and methods for checking these things out.


Be sure and be safe

 

[konst]

Many thanks for this interesting and helpful advice!
It seems the 'crash' was not so hard (looking to the damaged parts) so we will probably try to go with it.
It is sure hard to say if the frame has something else bent, but will try to investigate further on it.
This good old Heritage is way too nice to trash it...

Thanks again and cheers from Switzerland
Konst