Slight bend in frame great.

[rockhammer]

Hello

I was looking closley at the gs850 I bought last week which looks great and I found the the down frame on the right side is slightly bent in. Upon closer inspection, which I should have done when I bought it, I see the highway peg joint on the crash bar looks pushed in a bit as if the bike fell over. So my question is this. Is this terrible news? Here are some pics of the left side and the right to give you an idea of the amount of bend.

[rockhammer]

Here is the other side.

[almarconi]

I would inspect the frame for any cracks and make sure your forks are not bent. Can't really tell from pics but frames can be straightened. Doubt it is worth doing unless you can do it yourself. How does the bike handle?

[rockhammer]

slight bend

I would inspect the frame for any cracks and make sure your forks are not bent. Can't really tell from pics but frames can be straightened. Doubt it is worth doing unless you can do it yourself. How does the bike handle?

Rides great. No wobble take turns well. I did not notice it til today. If you look at the before you can see the down tube bent toward the motor by about half inch. the other side lines up with the exhaust. It look like it was dropped on its side maybe even from the center stand. There is no other damage.

[almarconi]

Then don't worry about it and just ride it.

[rockhammer]

slight bend

Then don't worry about it and just ride it.

I am disappointed because I should have paid a lot less for this bike because of that and also because I want to make sure it is safe. Finally I had plans one really fixing her up nice.

Can this slight bend be bent back you think?

[Dave8338]

Then don't worry about it and just ride it.

I agree. If you see NO cracks in the welds and the bike handles "normal", I wouldn't get too excited. A few weeks ago, friend and I noticed a cracked weld on a bike that we were working on and... On closer inspection, the backbone was bent up. The longer we worked on the bike, the worse things got. It was decided to, after nearly 90 percent done... To swap all the parts over to a new frame.

Take a GOOD visual of the frame with all of the goodies removed and see how it looks. A string line and a square are a good idea.

Good luck.

[Dave8338]

I am disappointed because I should have paid a lot less for this bike because of that and also because I want to make sure it is safe. Finally I had plans one really fixing her up nice.

Can this slight bend be bent back you think?

YES it can.

I'm working on a Honda three wheeler that will need the head stock, bent back into square. The trick is to have the frame tied down TIGHT ! ! ! And keep a close eye on the lines. When putting them back into place, you can feel when they start to move. DO NOT over do it or you'll be bending it back the other way. A little "tug" at a time and you WILL feel it move.

[Toasty]

If the bike rides fine and isn't cracked I would just leave it alone, it would suck to end up bending something else trying to fix the original problem.

[posplayr]

I would check the alignment and see how far it is out:
I like the string method.

[tkent02]

A dead 850 with a straight frame can probably be had for $100 or so.
It comes with a lot of spare parts, too.

[gs58]

I would check the fit of all the engine mount bolts to see if the engine has moved in the frame. Then take off the engine mount by the bend and leave all the other engine mounts tight. Ensure that the removed engine mount bracket is straight and measure the amount of frame straightening required to make the engine mount fit as it should.

[mrbill5491]

When I had my bike down to the frame during it's rebuild, the guy doing my swing arm fix noticed the frame was a bit out. I told him probably so, the bike has had two front end accidents and you can see on the down tubes near the steering head where the clamp bolts from the triple tree hit the tubes. He measured everything and turns out is less then 1/4 inch out. Everything lines up, front end, motor mounts all of it. So what you have is nothing to what I have lol. As the rest of the crew said, if it isn't cracked etc, don't worry about it, just ride.

[chuck hahn]

Put the butt end of a 2X4 against it and have a buddy give it a few good smacks with a sledge..good to go.

[1_v8_merc]

Just ride it....
Gotta remember, people actually rode these bikes. Crashing is a part of riding, like it or not!

People dropped, crashed and ran from the cops on some of these older machines.