K5 GSXR 1000 frame fault?

Stolen from aus.motorcycles:

<http://www.wsbtv.com/news/9314629/detail.html>

It would appear that the horn is drilled into the frame and the
weakness caused by the hole in the frame can cause the bike to snap in
two. There's a video news report on the site too.

If the article is to be believed Suzuki sent a man around to the
dealer where the bike was being stored and said they would fix bike
but when the bloke mentioned his $7,000 worth of medical bills they
went quiet.

I don't see why the owner of the bike hasn't slammed a law suit on
Suzuki if he's confident the frame just snapped. More to the story?

I hadn't seen it mentioned on UKRM and a quick search on Google Groups
doesn't bring up any hits.

 

“I was moving my brother’s stuff...."

Does this mean he had the back loaded with too much weight? I'm also
surprised that a 25mph off could put somebody in intensive care. Maybe
more believable if he wasn't wearing a helmet.

--
Ash

UKRMFBC#8 BOTAFOT#82 BOTAFOF#41 HMC#5 FTB#0
Gone: ETV1000 Caponord
http://www.theredline.co.uk
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast
enough." -- Mario Andretti

 

Reading it again I suspect that he drilled the hole to fit the horn and
the frame snapped along the line of the new hole

Weren't Suzuki happy to fix it until he mentioned his horn hole (so to
speak)?

 

Read again. The rider and his Dad spotted the hole in the frame.

But the article isn't that clear on why Suzuki didn't want to do
anything, until you watch the video clip. It appears that Suzuki
dropped contact, when the rider asked about his $7000 medical bills. I
suppose that this could have been an admission of liability and Suzuki
didn't want to go down that road

 

My bet is that his mum reversed over it on the drive.

 

Well after passing through a mailbox, he ended up a good 50 yards down the
road from the point where the bike snapped, as did the bike, plus there were
gouges in the road for a fair few metres, he went straight to Intensive Care
and then spent a few weeks in hospital.

Not bad for a 20mph off.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

That's 'cos he's a poof.

 

Watch the video and you'll see it's the original mounting hole
for the bolt that holds the horn (or the plate the horn sits on)
in place.

FWIW, methinks he probably wasn't too good at landing
the front wheel, and had caused quite a lot of fatigue to
the bike. One slam too many in this case.

 

Ist that new? This seems to float around for some time now, here are 3 other
cases.
http://web4.hss1.de/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9029&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45
(german, sorry, but the pictures does speak for itself)
http://www.cycleforums.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=173953
http://1tail.com/2005_GSXR_frame/default.asp

 

I'm not sure I would view that as acceptable though - if so, I would
expect the frame on my bike to fail any time now considering the speed
bumps we have in my area.

 

Maybe Suzuki didn't do their testing properly? It's not like a
motorcycle manufacturer hasn't got it wrong in the past.

Best you get shot of your bike now, and buy an SUV or something...

 

Okay, serious question - what would you expect to fail if you performed
ham fisted wheelies all of the time?

I would expect one or more of the following to exhibit problems :
1) Fork seals
2) Forks themselves
3) Head bearings
4) wheels

I would not, in a million years, expect the frame to go BEFORE any of
these other items.

Why? You seem to have made it very personal, I was merely pointing out
that abusing the front wheel would seem 'normal' and certainly not
something that should cause the _frame_ to collapse.

 

Only if there wasn't a fault with the frame - the weakest component
will fail, and in this case it may be the frame rather than the forks/
fork seals/ wheels/ etc

Again, unless there was a fault with the frame.

I'm not making it personal, just offering an opinion.

 

I thought it was a Gixxer, not an ER-5



--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

I would do a visual inspection from time to time. It was probably well
cracked before it broke off.

 

There was something last year relating to the same thing. I don't recall
if it was the same model. Nasty crack up the ally just behind the
headstock and total disconnection.