What are my rights

hi i think if it is welded by a coded welder it will be fine,i have ridden motocross since i was 6 and even now at the age of  42 am doing the british pre 83 championship.i have had an ally subframe welded before and its been fine just make sure its done by someone who is qualified and does this sort of work alot

 As the crack could not be noticed when you bought the quad, if a surveyor estimates that this was very surely there when you bought it, you have rights either for having it fixed by the owner. You will also have rights to some compensation due to the arised problem.

If the cracks does not have an easy solution, you have rights for cancellation and refund of money plus related expenses.

Are the welds original & do they go all the way around the casing ? If you are going to have it welded it needs to be Tig- welded & the cracks need to be drilled at each end to prevent the possibility of further cracking, before welding . A properly done tig-weld will be stronger than original.

steve

I'm no alloy' expert, but that looks similar to the crack I had in a Honda fireblade frame. I bought the bike damaged, so knew it had been in an accident, but there was no evidence of serious frame damage. The problem only  arose at 100mph+ speeds when it went in to  horrendous tank slappers on anything but very smooth roads. On close inspection after stripping the bike right down, it turned out that there was a hairline fracture of the headstock, similar to yours in your pics', that opened up over any ripples and completely loosened off the head bearings for fractions of a second.. An ally welder re-sleeved and welded the headstock and it was perfect after that even at  the odd blast over 150mph+.  I would still be suprised if your quad hasn't been in a serious accident at some stage?

The cracks are on the flat piece of metal and actually go across the welds. These welds are the original welds and go across the swing arm to form the part which holds the rear axle. I appreciate what you are saying about getting it welded and has to be real specialist welding, I believe the crack also has to be cut into so there can be satisfactory filling and penetration for a strong weld.

 Naughty naughty, I do hope you didnt ascertain those speeds on the public highway!!!!!!

 The bike does look very clean, I have looked at some to be honest that look like they have been thrown off the top of a mountain. The frame on this one doesnt even have marks on the paint where boots rub, this is most unusual, however there are slight traces of rust in the corner of some of the gussets. The quad handles all correctly and I believe it is all original as there are no marks on any of the fasteners anywhere, you usually get socket or screw driver marks when diss assembling and re assembling, these all look original.

 I will have to have a really good look under the plastics and see if I can spot anything else.

Regards.

steve

good luck with sorting it.  I think If it has had an extensive re-build by someone who know's what they are doing using good quality accurate tools, the marks on the various fastenings will show little sign of damage.  That might explain why most of it looks very clean, but there's evidence of corrosion in the cracks?

As for riding at crazy speeds on the road, certainly not for me anymore. I count myself lucky to have survived those years, unlike a couple of lads I used to ride with who are no longer with us sadly.

Thanks. I am now in communication with Maria the lawyer, will keep you posted.

 Regards.  Steve.