Recently bought a complete but tatty 750 GT for restoration.
Unfortunately it has had a very poor frame repair, which is holding together but looks dreadful.
At some point the bike has suffered front-end damage and has snapped both front down tubes about six inches below the cross-brace.
The repairer has welded a couple of butt joints to each end of the break (on both sides) with about eight 5mm bolts through the flanges where the two ends meet.
It's my fault entirely for not spotting it (an ebay buy) but is there anything I can have a frame repairer do to create an 'invisible' repair or am I looking at trying to find a replacement frame?
Any and all advice would be very welcome.
Bad 750 GT Frame Repair
Re: Bad 750 GT Frame Repair
Not quite sure I understand the "repair" as you said it, but, the frame tubes are hollow and if the current repair can be reversed a welder could insert a solid rod of the correct diameter inside the hollow frame tubes and reweld them to original spec. This would make a more solid repair and a good welder would be able to make this mostly invisible. Almost anything is possible with a welder and a grinderDinsdale wrote:Recently bought a complete but tatty 750 GT for restoration.
Unfortunately it has had a very poor frame repair, which is holding together but looks dreadful.
At some point the bike has suffered front-end damage and has snapped both front down tubes about six inches below the cross-brace.
The repairer has welded a couple of butt joints to each end of the break (on both sides) with about eight 5mm bolts through the flanges where the two ends meet.
It's my fault entirely for not spotting it (an ebay buy) but is there anything I can have a frame repairer do to create an 'invisible' repair or am I looking at trying to find a replacement frame?
Any and all advice would be very welcome.
Dean
Faster, faster until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.
Hunter S Thompson RIP
Hunter S Thompson RIP
Thanks baddean
You're right, I had trouble describing it cleanly but it looks like the classic join you see on high pressure piping with a wide flange on either side of the join and a ring of bolts securing the flanges to each other.
I'm not a welder so I wasn't sure what's possible or sensible in these case but your remedy would certainly look the part as it relocates the bracing across the break from the exterior to the interior of the pipe and should be invisible after painting.
Very many thanks for your help, much appreciated.
You're right, I had trouble describing it cleanly but it looks like the classic join you see on high pressure piping with a wide flange on either side of the join and a ring of bolts securing the flanges to each other.
I'm not a welder so I wasn't sure what's possible or sensible in these case but your remedy would certainly look the part as it relocates the bracing across the break from the exterior to the interior of the pipe and should be invisible after painting.
Very many thanks for your help, much appreciated.
New Frame
Just got back from my classic Ducati dealer who had a new (old) factory frame for me at a decent price, so the old one is being kept for spares rather than being repaired.
The concensus is that the frame was probably chopped on purpose to support a sidecar mount. The swingarm had been gusseted also, something I hadn't noticed before I put the bike away for the winter. They are going to blast and paint both for me so my GT will be well on the way to looking perfect again.
The concensus is that the frame was probably chopped on purpose to support a sidecar mount. The swingarm had been gusseted also, something I hadn't noticed before I put the bike away for the winter. They are going to blast and paint both for me so my GT will be well on the way to looking perfect again.