New Trike, cracked frame

Oct 21, 2011
4
0
Hampton, Iowa
Just a reminder, keep an eye on your frame if your wing was one that might have problems.
I got my bike back a week ago last Friday from being triked. We have ridden approximately 300 miles since and upon return from riding today, my son just happened to stop. He was curious what the underside looked like so he crawled under the rear end for a look and found the frame cracked, so I looked. The frame is cracked on both sides next to a weld for (I think) the rear foot peg bracket or just ahead of the mount for the trike kit.I will call the dealer who installed the kit Monday and go from there.

This is a Roadsmith kit on a 2001 wing with 79,000 original miles, I am the only owner. It was in a recall years ago but passed inspection then. :Shrug:

I will post when I know more. :(
 
So sorry the frame cracks were found before your GL was triked. Honda would have picked up the repair costs then.

If u haven't gotten recommendations on who should re-weld the frame, might ask Roadsmith if they had some one they recommend. Not every welder is good enough to weld it for u.
 
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I am afraid you are going to be stuck with a costly bill,and on top of that you can not leagley sell it are trade it in inthat condition.
You have two choices fix it or part it out,DO NOT RIDE IT IN THAT CONDITION,
SORRY.:Crap::Crap::Crap::Crap:
 
I bought my trike as a used trike. Although we all do the look around and ride there are things that one misses unless you almost strip the trike down.
About 2 months after i got my trike i was going thru all the filters, bolts, etc to make sure all was right & replace as needed. when i took the seat off i found that the rear cross member just about directly under the front of the pasanger seat was cracked... As i was in Texas and trike came out of Florida i was sort of cought between a rock and hard place... Called the loacl honda dealers & they told me of the guy who they used when there was issues with Gl frame cracks due to bad welds.... Took my trike over to him and he TIG welded it for $70 and added some extra gusseting ( bracing) in that area just to be on the * better to be safe now than sorry later*
No triked bike frame should ever crack unless in a wreck but as we are stressing & tristing the bikes frame due to our 2 rear tires hitting different bumps there just has to be issues at some point in time as you just can not continue to flex an item without something giving 7 with trikes it ends up being the BIKE frame not the trike part that gives out first...

Get ahold of a good TIG welder and unless the frame is just plain broke and twisted he can reweld that crack to where it is better than new.
Sad news is the the trike kit installer is probably going to say its not his fault (but he really should have seen any frame cracks when to had the bike torn down to kit it) and the Gl people are going to say its because of it bike being triked... Double edged sword that just seems to cut us trike riders as we are the ones caught in the middle...
 
Also if you're an owner of a 2001-2004 wing and are thinking of having it triked have the frame gone over. If your the original owner make sure Honda has done the recall on the frame crack inspection. If your the secondary owner have the recall checked and the frame inspected because of cracks they're finding in other locations by your installer. Unfortunately 2001-2004 was the worst years for frame cracks on the 1800s.
And with the amount of money we're putting in our trikes we need to be very safety conscious on things we cant see but can cause great harm.
 
It is a shame,but the cracks probly were not there untill the trike kit install. I did alot of reading about the aluminum frame issues, and dicovered that the factory was not pre-heating the metal properly for the welds to be thier strongest. Unfortunately, triking the bike will, most likely, void your warrenty. Let's hope I'm wrong. There is alot more to welding this particular frame, due to the type of aluminum, and the fact that some joints are pre-cast aluminum. This requires a super qualified welder, with special equipment. I feel Honda should still stand behind you, but I fear they won't. Man, I'm sorry this happened to you. jimsjinx
 

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