frame bracing

does it go all the way around and up to the neck?

Actually just under the horizontal brace below the neck, Look just to the right of the coil mount, just below the brace I mentioned. Also like leon stated, they cut a tube in half, put it over the frame tube and welded it back together, it does go all the way around.

Oh i get it now. great idea. Pretty smart them Kaw guys.
This is new to me. i'm usualy all over the details, but its hard to see in black.
i never noticed it in a frame pic before.
Thanks Less, and Leon.

tri,
i am using one inch o.d. .065 wall chromium molybdenum(chromo).
light = yes
strong = he!! yes.

i use that tube for more stuff than most people would think.
contrary to popular belief it can also be mig welded.needs a little pre-heat to mig.
it tigs like a dream using er-70s-2 filler wire.

i have extended a-arms built out of this stuff that were mig welded back before i got my tig.i have bent ball joints around the end of my arms by wrecking and gone head first off creek banks landing on both front wheels and have never bent or cracked the stuff.

i can bend one inch .125 wall dom with one arm and standing off to the side.one inch .065 wall chromo you have to get the extended handle and get your a$$ behind you to bend it.

until you have bent the same diameter and wall thickness of steel,stainless,and chromo in a manual tubing bender you wont understand what all the hype is about.

afterwards you will understand.

hth,
leon

fluxcore works fine. dont knock it just because your no good at using it.

i didnt know clowns could weld anyway.:blink:

heres no gas, no grinding....keep practicing buddy....:whistle: btw, i was about 12 beers deep when i welded this.:pinch:

i got some more gussets cut out.

here are the ones for the neck.these are made from .125 thick steel cut from rectangle so that i would not have to hammer the bends.





here showing the plates on the neck and tubes on the backbone.




leon

here are the ones that i made for below the side covers.









leon

i have 9 pieces cut out and am not sure if there need to be any extra.the japanese add some others but am not sure how necessary they are.





what is the general consensus on which gussets should be added?

leon

on the rearward gusset on steering head/backbone you might want to make them a little longer to tie more of it together,and also bring them more to the outside of tube away from center to make them stronger,ok ill shut up now! hey wave with all your fingers next time! :laugh:

Just for reference, this is what my kit from pmc japan ended up looking like

thanks for the replies fella's.

kz250ltd,
was there a cross brace in the back tieing the two cradle tubes together above the rear motor mount area ?the pic did not show that area very clearly.

wireman,i shoulda known you woulda thought that i needed more metal :woohoo: .
i was just glad that you did not ask me where i was going to put the attachment points for the reciever hitch .

so where is the line between enough extra gussets and overkill?

it seems most kits that have been available are always a few pieces different.

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: thanks for the reply racer54.
i noticed that it seemed like the japanese guys dont add a tube between the bottoms of these tubes.
anyone ever add them?
seems like they would get in the way of cam cover removal.

leon

My frame has that 3rd tube below the coils. I can only remove the cam cover when the carbs are off, which is not ideal but it makes sense to complete the triangle you are forming. Also, make sure you check your throttle cable clears the cross tube.

I've attached some pics of the bracing I added. The toughest ones to bend and weld were the tubes that come up from the front down tubes to the bottom of the neck, I also cut out the thin pot metal plate underneath the steering head that has the steering stop welded to it and replaced it with a thicker plate and beefier stop.

I think there's no overkill in adding gussets, unless you are just going to be put putting around or doing some sensible cruising. Throw some sticky tires on that bitch with a hot motor, ride it hard and it will wanna do all kinds of squirrely stuff in the corners. A few extra pounds of metal will help keep things straight(ish). These frames need all the help they can get. Just my 2 cents...