1982 XJ750RJ Broken Frame!

First, I am alive, unscathed and here to tell you of Sweet Scarlet's rapid and unexpected demise one recent morning.

I was feeling a bit tired on that fateful morning, so I was taking it easy on my ride into work. I did not do my typical MotoGP chicane turns hanging off the side, knee down, road kissing run that I usually do when I peal off I-40 onto the old Route 66 Amarillo Blvd. exit heading east (max of 92mph through the 55mph turn on my best runs). I kept the speed down to the posted 55mph and just was enjoying the cool morning air before sunrise. I get to work, park Sweet Scarlet on her side stand and go inside to turn the alarm off and open the garage door, two minute max time. I open the garage door and I look at Scarlet leaning way to far over to the left and she is rapidly hemorrhaging oil over the concrete. With getting down on my hands and knees asking God to let it not be a mortal wound, I sought the source of the oil gusher. To my horror, I found the left horizontal frame tube that the side stand mounts to cracked lengthwise almost the full length and the frame bowed inward with the mounting tab for the kickstand return spring having punched a 5mm size hole through the side case with and oil spilling forth like a mini Texas Spindle Top.

Well, God did not answer my prayer the way I had hoped but I’m sure he saved my hide in the long run had I been doing my usual twist and shout run into work that morning, the same way that I have done almost daily for the last three years. Had that frame let go at the worst time, I would have been a bug splat dressed in leathers on the guard rail. Had the frame not let go then, it most likely would have let go on my planned “Texas Alps” run on my way to the Central Texas Carb Clinic. I had planned a route that would have had me smoking many a corner and hill at warp speed. So I guess you could say Sweet Scarlet died in an expedient way to save my hide. Maybe I should get back down on my hands and knees again and thank her and the good Lord.

Here is the link to the images of the broken frame on Scarlet. tinyurl.com/2d7psx9 The crack begins on the left horizontal tube near the front and extends about 75% of the full length of the horizontal frame tube. I inserted while zip ties into the cracks to illustrate the location and length, a green zip tie points to where the left side crank case shift cover got punched out by the return spring tab on the side stand. The frame was thoroughly rusted from the inside. Bummer!!! My year round all weather riding for the last three years has taken its toll on Sweet Scarlet. Hmm, I wonder if there are any titanium framed motorcycles???

Scarlet's touring panniers, trunk box, tank and fenders are soon to be switched over to the Gray Ghost for a "Robbo Copped" morphing into “Scarlet’s Ghost”

Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc
1982 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca "Gray Ghost"
1982 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca "Sweet Scarlet" (recently demised from broken frame but soon to be RoboCopped into "Scarlet's Ghost")
1982 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca "Bones" (Donner Cycle, being stripped to the bones to keep others alive)
1979 Yamaha XS1100SF Special "Black Ranger" (Being resurrected, new head has arrived)
2008 Honda Rebel "Black Beth"

 

Holy cr*p.

I guess it does pay to blow out all the drain holes in the frame occasionally, I thought it was just me being anal.

 

I guess I haven't looked close enough, but is the frame open to air and the elements? That is freaky for sure.

Someone was definitely looking out for you!

 

The bike was garage kept (home and work) in mostly dry West Texas but I rode it year round for three years in everything but snow and ice (at least not deliberately in snow and ice but I had gotten caught twice in ice storms and once in a snow storm) and I have ridden in a 3-4 rain storms each year. I washed the bike once a month and wiped it dry at a power wash. It had about 5,000 miles on it when I bought it 3 years ago, just over 30,000 miles on it when the frame went south. It had been bought originally in 1983 by doc who rode if for a year then parked it in his garage for 19 years, then sold it to a motorcycle mechanic who resurrected the engine then he sold it to me. The frame had no external rust spots on it at the time I bought it. Interestingly it still had no external rust spots at the time it broke. But not seeing rust spots doesn't mean much apparently.

Paul K. Nolan, MD
AKA: The Bike Doc
Amarillo, TX
1982 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca "Gray Ghost"
1982 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca "Sweet Scarlet" (recently demised from broken frame but soon to be RoboCopped into "Scarlet's Ghost")
1982 Yamaha XJ750RJ Seca "Bones" (Donner Cycle, being stripped to the bones to keep others alive)
1979 Yamaha XS1100SF Special "Black Ranger" (Being resurrected, new head has arrived)
2008 Honda Rebel "Black Beth"

 

Looks like it's time to switch everything over to the "Bones" frame if you still have it around. Glad you ok dude, that could have been horrific.

 

Well HOLY CR*P AGAIN. I live in MICHIGAN, we have this thing called humidity here. You might have heard of it, it's kind of "passive rain."

I'm gonna go shoot Kroil in all my drain holes now.

Wait a sec-- "at a power wash..." When you wash the bike, are you in the habit of using coin-op power washes?

BAD IDEA. You can force water into places water won't ever go on its own. You can also push water INTO the motor and transmission past oil seals that were meant to keep fluids in, not out. The only way to use a power wash on a bike safely is to stand back and "mist" away at it.

Repeated power washing may be the clue here...

 

As much as this sucks it really isn't that bad. All you have to do is get a new frame and new case cover. No biggie

 

"Bones" has a broken frame; I got him as a parts bike 'cept, can't use the frame. Time constraints keep me from stripping Scarlet totally and rebuilding her back up from another frame. I have received offers for replacement frames but I cannot buy what I do not have, time. (I am the sole Pediatric Pulmonologist covering the Panhandle of Texas an area just slightly bigger than the West Vergina, plus I cover the Panhandle and western pan of Oklahoma, North East New Mexico and Southwestern Kansas which translate into my being buisier than a horses tail during fly season). So I shall be content with saving her engine for Ghost, bring her touring gear over to Ghost so my son can use him for school and I will graduate up to the XS11 when I get him back from the mechanic after the head swa[ is done.

Definetly will avoid the power washes. I have always been carefull to use the low pressure settings on the engine an around any seals but still water can get in to where it can do serious damage.

Paul in Amarillo, TX

 

problem with replacing the frame. is that's also where the vin number is. new frame means no more valid title.

might want to contact your local DMV. to see what paperwork would be involved in changing frames.

 

i have a frame with no title and a sawzall if you want a piece of a frame

 

that minght be the easiest. Just replace the busted piece of frame and by having a welder weld in a good piece. That shouldn't take long at all.