So this is my first post on here and its not a happy one.
My XR 400, which my son is now riding suffered a "catastrophic failure" the other day. The con rod seemed to have broken at what would be considered "high speed" 60-80km/h. The result was the engine totally locked up and my son skidded for about 60m. Thankfully he held on and it was on our district road so no other vehicles where around. We opened the engine and its safe to say it is catastrophic :-[ !! My first thought was no oil in the engine but according to my mechanic there are no signs of low oil. The camshaft is clean. The con rod looks like it had a hairline crack on it and over time its just given up and broken one half of it is in the gearbox, We haven't split that yet.
The piston is in two pieces and been compressed to about 20cm thick. The valves are bent, piston sleeves scored..... you get the picture.
Now my question is, I have a perfectly good licenced bike... with no engine! What are my options? A rebuild will not be worth it as its going to be hugely expensive, more than the bike is worth. Getting hold of a good 2nd hand engine is i would guess like hens teeth. What should I do with the bike? Strip it and sell the parts for spares? I need to try and recoup something from it.
Thanks guys.
My XR 400, which my son is now riding suffered a "catastrophic failure" the other day. The con rod seemed to have broken at what would be considered "high speed" 60-80km/h. The result was the engine totally locked up and my son skidded for about 60m. Thankfully he held on and it was on our district road so no other vehicles where around. We opened the engine and its safe to say it is catastrophic :-[ !! My first thought was no oil in the engine but according to my mechanic there are no signs of low oil. The camshaft is clean. The con rod looks like it had a hairline crack on it and over time its just given up and broken one half of it is in the gearbox, We haven't split that yet.
The piston is in two pieces and been compressed to about 20cm thick. The valves are bent, piston sleeves scored..... you get the picture.
Now my question is, I have a perfectly good licenced bike... with no engine! What are my options? A rebuild will not be worth it as its going to be hugely expensive, more than the bike is worth. Getting hold of a good 2nd hand engine is i would guess like hens teeth. What should I do with the bike? Strip it and sell the parts for spares? I need to try and recoup something from it.
Thanks guys.
