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Frame cracked!

5221 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  [email protected]
Hello everyone!
On my Ducati Monster M900 (1997) cracked frame. You can see it on the photos. Crack was discovered after buying the motorcycle. What do you think, how long i can ride on this frame, if I ride on good roads?
Photos: http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/1.1423948994.jpg
http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/2.1423949008.jpg
http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/3.1423949022.jpg
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Good road or not.....that's not going to hold for much longer and when it does go things could get very dicey. The frame is easily welded so I strongly suggest dropping the engine and getting it somewhere to be welded.
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Yep, very easy to fix! :)
Good road or not.....that's not going to hold for much longer and when it does go things could get very dicey. The frame is easily welded so I strongly suggest dropping the engine and getting it somewhere to be welded.
What do you think about this?
http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/IMG_2258.1423996266.jpg
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Many of the early 'superbike' frames - 851 and 888 - had a gusset in that exact spot. They had obviously had a similar issue.
It was a folded double-layered gusset. Many later models have something similar.
Your Monster frame is loosely based on that 851 frame.
There have been many issues with similar cracks on Monster and SS frames in the '90s, but they are more commonly up near the steering head.
The national distributor here riveted the Australian Design Rules plate up there, and many cracked from the rivet hole. So obviously the thin-walled frame is prone to this.
Whether your bike has had an accident, or has hit some bumps with the engine-mounting bolts not fully tight, will be difficult to diagnose.
As for off-hand advice that it will be easy to fix. Don't get me started..
The best way to fix it will be to completely strip the frame, clean back the area, weld the fracture, then get it blasted and re-painted. Then re-assemble the whole bike.
In short, to have done properly, commercially, it will probably write your bike off.
You may find someone who will weld it up for you 'in situ', and just touch up the paint, but it won't be as good a repair.
But it definitely should be welded before you ride it too far.
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Hi this normal in that model this happenes becuase of the vibration of the front brakes when it is used i fix mine by taking out the chasis welding and reanforsing the to sides after fixing it the problem was solved
Many of the early 'superbike' frames - 851 and 888 - had a gusset in that exact spot. They had obviously had a similar issue.
It was a folded double-layered gusset. Many later models have something similar.
Your Monster frame is loosely based on that 851 frame.
There have been many issues with similar cracks on Monster and SS frames in the '90s, but they are more commonly up near the steering head.
The national distributor here riveted the Australian Design Rules plate up there, and many cracked from the rivet hole. So obviously the thin-walled frame is prone to this.
Whether your bike has had an accident, or has hit some bumps with the engine-mounting bolts not fully tight, will be difficult to diagnose.
As for off-hand advice that it will be easy to fix. Don't get me started..
The best way to fix it will be to completely strip the frame, clean back the area, weld the fracture, then get it blasted and re-painted. Then re-assemble the whole bike.
In short, to have done properly, commercially, it will probably write your bike off.
You may find someone who will weld it up for you 'in situ', and just touch up the paint, but it won't be as good a repair.
But it definitely should be welded before you ride it too far.
thanks for the reply:)
Hi this normal in that model this happenes becuase of the vibration of the front brakes when it is used i fix mine by taking out the chasis welding and reanforsing the to sides after fixing it the problem was solved
What do you think, the load on this place strong during heavy acceleration?
Just putting that gusset in is not going to do it. The actual bar is almost cracked through from lower weld to upper weld. The frame is basically about to separate into upper and lower bars. That being said.....it looks easy enough that a good welder could clean it up, drill a hole to stop the cracking, grind a trough in the crack and weld all the way around. Maybe then weld the gusset in.

I'd suggest checking out the frame on the opposite side of the bike.
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