Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128641
q uickly it c an ad d up . Bu t I decided to tak e it on bec ause we do project bi k es particular unit. A nd , in o u r case , w e ca n sh o w p e opl e h o w m ayb e they do n 't n eed this $80 O E p art or t h at internally all th e time be cau se it helps to sell a lot of product. We a lso have $200 part. There a re ways aroun d everyth ing . T he biggest t h ing tha t is our own frame-st ra ighteni ng table as well. " required with a serious project like this is to not get int o a ru sh ." Cog n ito recou nts t hat, aside from the massive amount of parts required to rep lace t h e da maged or missi ng items, t he only rea l t r ick y part came when he ha d to w el d and remachine the head, which ha d suffered a lo t of d a m ag e to the fi ns an d cam towers . The wo rk wa s fi rst ra te . You c an 't t ell Cognit o says that his int ent is not to discou rage so meone from attempting such a p roj ect , but yo u need to d o your homewo rk and know wh at yo u' re g ettin g in to . " T h is is actua lly the o nly way that I buy a b ik e , so I'm pretty much as sick as t hat guy," Co gn ito says. " I've got a Gold W ing that I bought w rec k ed fo r $5000 and fixed it up. It's a $1 2 ,5 0 0 motorcy cle , and a n ew one i s $ 18,500. Assuming t ha t this ZX R is w o rth $10 ,000 and it's t he way th at t he g uy wa nted it, we ll, you have to weigh that against the same b ike that t ha t the head was eve r da maged . "A lot of pe op le w it h p rojects like t h is t end to d is count t h e he lp of a dea lershi p," Cognito says. " T h ey t ry and go to this o r th at independent guy, b ut we have t he most k now ledge about o ur prod uct line , even w he n we d idn't have a lot of information on this proj ect a mo ng th e aftermarket comp a n ies. The bi k e was purchased from F ast L an e Cyc les fo r t h e p r ince ly sum o f $ 1200. Woo d h ad ac t ua ll y pa id a v isit to th e H u nti n gt o n Beac h, Ca lifo rn ia, sa lvag e yard in sea rc h o f a D ucati or a ma y be a Yama h a YZF - R I, b ut w h en he saw the Kaw i, he had to ha ve it . " T h i s b i k e was b uste d u p wo r se th an anything th ere , but what g ot m e w as that b ig , green t ank, " W ood sa ys . " I' m a c h i l d of the ' 8 0 s , a nd t hose earl y Super bikes rea ll y cap tu re m e . I lo o k ed at thi s as a c h ance to o w n a b ike th at wasn 't just g oi ng to loo k l ike an oth er R 1 o r H a y abu sa. When I brought it home, I th ought that it m ight b e g rou nds for d ivorc e ." Two ke y mo v es go t t h e project g o ing - and o u t of W o od 's garage howev er. First , W ood sent the b ike to Dr. J ohn ' s Cycles to h ave th e radica lly a lte re d fr ame tweaked back into shape (see sid eb ar ) . W o od a lso rec o g nized Wa st ed : T his ph oto shows the severity of th e im pa ct on th e Z RX . Five months and a wheelbarrow full of money later, the bike was brought back from the dead. a m achine th at is not read ily ava ila b le in Ca li forn ia . " It was pretty wrec k ed, but it was k in d o f a ra re bike , a o n e -o f- a - k i n d so rt of d ea l," Co g n it o says . " Be ing a m oto rcycl e n ut m y self , I thought it wa s coo l even th o ug h the bik e was a m ess. I d id a lot of t h e st uff m y self. If we we re talkin g abo ut a Ninja or GS X -R, then I wo u ldn't h av e m essed w ith it. " O ve r th e c o urse of f iv e m on ths , Co gnito gutted the bike, ordered parts and re -order ed them and then sc rew ed it back together . T he total bill c ame t o over $5000 reta il , bu t Wood c aug ht a break by getting a su bstantial disc ount from Long Bea ch M otorsports. " A bo ut 99 pe rcen t of th e time , a t ha t he wa s going to need a lot of he lp gu y has insuran c e in a case like th is, but w e don 't want to b low a guy out wh o might have an o ld er b ike that is w ith OE pa rt s and also so m e as sem - reall y atta ched to it, " C o g n ito says . bl y ex perti se . A ft er sho p p in g around, "Th e insuran c e c ompan y o nly ha s a th e projec t wound up at Long Beach Mot or sp ort s , a r ath er l arg e Horid a / Ka w a s a ki / S uz u k i /Ya m a h a d ea ler in Lo ng B ea ch , Califo rn ia . LBM b ottom l i ne. Th e y co ul d ca r e l e s s w he t her o r no t th e b ik e is tota lled o r h ow uni que it is. W e ' v e h a d bik e s come in t h at h ave fallen off the side stand that have o ve r $ 1700 in d a m - serv ice manag er D ean Cognito took a pe rs onal intere st in the proj ect, as it is While it m ight be diffic ult enough for some people to figur e out a good starting point for a street or dirt project , the prospect of repairing a crashed machine can present a myriad of com plications. Chances are that a wrecked bike is goi ng to suffer a seriously bent frame, forks, wheels or any combinat ion thereof. Price an OE fram e or swingarm, you're likely to die of sticker shoc k. But take heart , it doesn't have to be that way . Chris Wood's search for a starting point led him right to Dr. John Fraumberg and his shop, Dr. John' s in An aheim , California. Fraumberg has been in the motorcycle frame straightening business for over 20 years and has earned a reputation for doing the impos sible with t wisted chassis. To prov e it, he has developed a fairly respecta ble cl ientele, incl uding the Los Angeles Police Departm ent, Califo rnia Highway Patrol and the Orange County Sheriffs Departm ent in the So Cal area. During his years of practice, Fraum berg says that the num ber of bikes that he has pronounced DOA is far less than you m ight thi nk. "You can sa ve a considerable amo unt of money with me, " Fraumberg says, noting that the amoun t of a repair varies dependent upon the damag e, although the average surgery seems to run about $250. "What does a brake rotor cost these days , $300? It doesn't tak e much for an insurance com pany to total a bike, but in my experience, it has to be pretty bad before I would call it j unked." Fraumb erg says that he repairs an average of two bik es per day, six day s a week, but after aligning the steering head to the table, Fraumberg announced that the Project ZRX was "pretty screwed up ," and would require a bit mo re work than the norm . Accord ing to him . everything had been pushed to the right in the frame durin g the initial im pact , and the tail section of th e fram e had been m oved upwa rd. A study of the "before" photos would bear this out, but. Fraum berg was able to measure it on the table and pinpoint the frame as being mo ved over a half inch in the right front frame tube, with the lower front portio n of the engine also mov ed the sam e amou nt. Als o, as viewed from the front axis of his four points of reference, the rear wheel was dropped downward in the frame. "That [dam age) is cl assic in the sense that it 's som ethi ng that you m ight not perceive, but if it wasn't fixed , the bike would have a high-speed wobble that would be horrifying. It's consistent with a sudden impa ct. I've seen guys come in who have gone down on the tra ck at 120 mph, and the rear wheel will be out mayb e a quarter of an inch , and I've seen guys go down at less than 40 m ph with the rear wheel getti ng knock ed mor e than an inch out. " And so it begins, with his straightening table as his chief instrum ent, the flat steel fixtu re using specia l reference poin ts , Fraum berg starts the process of straightening a frame. Mov ing from front to back, and then repeating the pro cess as many times as is necessary. "I use the table to reference at the steering head," Fraum berg said . "In my min d, I assume that the steering head tube is the only thing that is straight, and then I work my way back from there. Th e rear wheel [location I will und ergo many changes before I get the four points of alignment thatI'm looking for." And how does he get the fram e straight? Porta -powers? Hydraulic presses? Nothing so complic ated. Fraumberg's second most importa nt surgical tool is a com mo n rubber mallet. " I find the pressure points in the fram e, and then I m ore or less shock it straight ," Fraumb erg says. "That's the simpl e description, but the process is actually very tricky." When Fra umberg was done, Wood 's bik e was indeed back in perfect align ment and appeared none the worse for wear. Th e fact that the ZRX features a fairly conventional fram e design aided in the success of this part icular. surgery , although Fraumberg says that he can perform the same mira cles on Ducatl -style trellis frame s or alum inum perim eter frames , such as that found on a Yamaha YZF-RJ. "T hose aluminum fram es can be straightened," Fraumberg says , "but to a lesser 'degree ." Fraumberg also straig htens other c o m po ne nt s, such as forks and wheels, with those items generally running at about $30 and $60 respec tively per job . ' When all was sa id an d done , Fraumberg billed Wood $485 for the fram e job with an additional $70 being tacked on to strai ghten the fork legs and front roto rs. That's hardly unreasonab l e . espec i all y if you 'r e so attached to your pride and joy that you can 't bear the tho ught of tossing it on the scrap heap. a ge, so that just g o es to show how cycle n e vv s N OVEM BER 29 , 2000 21