Frame repair worth it?

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My 1968 Fastback has a frame that looks like the one in photos, although the downtubes are not as screwed up as the ones in the photo.
The main tube on my frame has also been welded, in a drooped position, so it reminds me of the Concorde airplane.
I decided the 1968 frame wasn't worth fixing, and I found a 1969 frame that has the reinforced tube welded in place, and it works with the 1968 center stand and side stand. The 1969 style frame is what the factory gave you as a replacement frame back in the day. So it is good enough for me.

Stephen Hill
 
Having a closer look the frame has been repaired before but who ever did the repair wasn't a very good welder, I would look for another frame but you still got to pull it all a part, once apart I would grind all the boggy welds and then check it out before deciding which way to go, but I would still repair it and add a few more gussets here and there, but then I have all the gear to repair it, I also have the time to do it, but what ever you decide its all got to come apart, stripped right down to bare frame and if you don't have the skills to do that its going to cost a bit of money just for labour and looking for another frame will all add up to the cost.
Make a great project bike, turning it into a Featherbed/Commando, a good handling hot rod, but then thats me I just can't help myself.

Ashley
 
I have a frame that's in perfect condition but don't know how complicated it would be to get it titled in Illinois if I swap this motor/trans into it. Decisions, descisions.....[/QUOTE]

Well there you go, you already have a perfect condition frame to replace it with, what ever way you go you still got to pull it all apart to fix it properly and looking at the pics who ever repaired it before never had it stripped down by the way its been welded and wasn't a very good welder at that.

Ashley
 
Substantial frame repairs without using a proper frame jig will render the frame in a questionable or even dangerous state. This is a job for a professional frame repair shop and it's going to be a lot more expensive than $800. Frame repairs should not be the subject of cheap solutions.

-Knut
 
Based on all comments, thank you, I'm thinking it would be best to swap everything to the newer frame.
 
You're doing what I would do. You can also buy a new blank frame ID plate (and the hammer rivets to mount it) then stamp the same frame number and date on the new ID plate of the frame you are ditching. This way everything with registration is unchanged. If you sell the bike, you should disclose that you replaced the frame and stamped the new ID plate with the old frame numbers, just for honesty's sake.
 
Doc187 said:
Based on all comments, thank you, I'm thinking it would be best to swap everything to the newer frame.
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Good call on your part. In 73 I had a frame repaired on my 72 Combat by a very competent welder but he didn't have a frame jig. After the repair the bike always wanted to pull to the right . After about 8 years of dealing with this I stripped it BACK down and took it to WASCO frames in Tacoma, WA. When I got it all back together I swear that it handled better than when new. Wasco did complement the weld quality of the previous repair. The cost at that time was a couple of hundred bucks less than a new frame. That was on a frame that was only a few years old not 50 like yours. I know what 50 years did to my body so I can only guess what your poor old frame must feel like.
 
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Time to build a Seeley or a Rickman ? Why play with rubbish ? The best bits of a Commando are the engine and gearbox - use them to make something decent.
 
o0norton0o said:
You're doing what I would do. You can also buy a new blank frame ID plate (and the hammer rivets to mount it) then stamp the same frame number and date on the new ID plate of the frame you are ditching. This way everything with registration is unchanged. If you sell the bike, you should disclose that you replaced the frame and stamped the new ID plate with the old frame numbers, just for honesty's sake.
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A 68 has the frame number stamped directly onto the frame, the ID/Certification plate came later so is not applicable for this frame.
 
It sounds like getting it titled is what's important here. The IL. DMV will be clueless concerning that detail.
 
kommando said:
A 68 has the frame number stamped directly onto the frame, the ID/Certification plate came later so is not applicable for this frame.
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Right, but he new frame will have an ID plate. Changing it to a matching number frame plate, makes any registration issues in the future disappear, since all the numbers match each other and the bike's title numbers.
 
o0norton0o said:
Right, but he new frame will have an ID plate. Changing it to a matching number frame plate, makes any registration issues in the future disappear, since all the numbers match each other and the bike's title numbers.
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Do you know if AN attaches a data plate on the new frame they sell? I would ask them to stamp the new frame as original .
 
Not sure what your situation is in America but aren't you blokes overthinking it a little?
It's only a commando after all ,who would ever know if you junked the old frame and re stamped the number on the new frame?
Either on the frame itself or a vin plate
 
baz said:
Not sure what your situation is in America but aren't you blokes overthinking it a little?
It's only a commando after all ,who would ever know if you junked the old frame and re stamped the number on the new frame?
Either on the frame itself or a vin plate
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For a " get it on the road " rider, yes do anything you want, but to correctly rebuild it, it should have a stamped correct replacement frame with the correct typeset stamps,in the correct location.Hopefully An can help .
 
Old Britts sells blank data plates. Stamp one with your legal numbers from your title, and affix to your replacement frame.

It's not illegal if it is all yours (title, old frame, and replacement frame obtained legally), and there is no theft or misdeed attempting to be hidden.
 
A lot depends on values and I am not talking about price. If you want originality, that is one thing. But if you really want a very good bike, that is different.
 
I can own the fact that I don't give a crap about trying to make a replacement frame "more original" for some future collector value. Those early frames,... hmmm what's the word????? oh yeah "sucked!" If you think they make your commando more valuable, you have a very different asthetic than I do... very different...

My comment was to the original poster since he already has another frame with a data plate on it... My point was as GP said, He could buy another data plate for the frame he has already, stamp the old frame numbers on the data plate, then swap it onto the the replacement frame... This solves any future headaches about "numbers" for registration purposes.

It doesn't make the bike an "Original equipment survivor" and I would argue that buying an early reproduction frame and stamping the old numbers in their proper location wouldn't make the bike an "original equipment survivor" either, but it could be more easily passed off as that...

For ME, I'd just switch the data plates and call it good... but I'm so blasphemous that I have yamaha cast wheels on my bike, so I am a satan worshipper to purists anyway.
 
o0norton0o said:
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It doesn't make the bike an "Original equipment survivor" and I would argue that buying an early reproduction frame and stamping the old numbers in their proper location wouldn't make the bike an "original equipment survivor" either, but it could be more easily passed off as that...
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As the early frames were officially recalled and replaced with a frame with the reinforced main tube, replacing the original broke frame with the same, new would be fine. Anyone would be able tell that the fame was replaced from 10 feet away so there would be no passing it off(relocated dropped coils give it away), but as I said still legitimate. If the used frame was from the same era with the frame mounted centerstand etc I would remove its data plate and leave it unstamped, using the engine number and the broke frame as proof of ownership.
 
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