frame down tube break?

I got an 81 KZ440 LTD. I have had it 9 years and have been riding it regularly everyday, 8-9 months a year to work. I just discovered yesterday that the right hand side down tube of the frame that holds the engine has a clean break across it right above the front engine mount bolts. I was shocked since I have never had an accident or a drop of any kind. Anyone else ever find anything like this on a bike? I got an appointment to get a weld shop to look at it this week. It looks pretty easy to get at. I will probably have to remove an exhaust pipe to make it easy to mend. I guess I am looking for reassurance that I should get it fixed and keep riding it. I am thinking it will be okay since it is not on the part of the frame that goes end to end of the bike but rather on the engine support tubing.

Frame cracks like that are a result of stress however, many times it is initiated by rott on the inside of the frame.
Use a ballpeen hammer and a towel to check the frame end to end. cover the frame with the towel, and rap it medium strength every inch or so with the ball end. you will feel a big difference in sections that have rott.
I once inspected a guys frame for him with a punch and hammer, and found 5 small sections that were as thin as soda can!

Just dont dent/damage your paint!

Or u can just wait until ur tooling down the boulevard one fine day and notice that ur engine just passed you--after fallin out of the frame.Lol.bj

So I am guessing that if I repair it I can keep riding it with some confidence as long as the weld holds? I understand the theory of the rotting from the inside,...just find it hard to believe. How would the moisture get inside the tubing? And wouldn't a spot closer to the ground or when most of the water would be as a result of gravity be more or a likely place for rotting? I am wondering if a combination of heating from the exhaust header and stress from the motor may have finally done it after almost 30 years of consistent riding.

there are all kinds of places that moisture can get into your frame. there is several holes that allow the moisture to escape.

from what I can see of the area inside the tubing, it does not appear to have eroded in any way, the thickness of the walls at the break appear to be even.....and the break is all the way across......totally separated.....it is not broken and hanging together......I look over the areas around the motor a lot....mainly looking for oil leaks....I have never noticed a crack developing there.....just the break all at once.....

here is a picture of the area....the red circle is where the break is:

Do you have electronic ignition? If so disconnect it when welding so nothing gets fried.

Kawickrice wrote:

Do you have electronic ignition? If so disconnect it when welding so nothing gets fried.

How do you disconnect it? Just by simply totally disconnecting the cables to the battery and taping them off and maybe pulling the main fuse? I guess if welding is done by electricity, the ground of the welder should be on the bike frame?

I would unplug the ignition and the battery just to be sure

Where do you unplug the ignition?

unusual place for a break.The breaks usually occur at bends in the frame where moisture can collect.That break is right behind an exhaust tube that should have kept the frame warm enough to evaporate what moisture might have collected in there.bj

did it start around the weld?