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Bottoming out frame rails

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Old Apr 1, 2011 | 11:56 AM
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Default Bottoming out frame rails

Has that ever happened to you or do I just suck?

It seems no matter how hard I try, every bike I have owned has bottomed out on something during my ownership. I hasn't seemed to ever cause damage, but it pisses me off.

I could imagine if the bike were slammed but it's not.

I backed over a speed bump and the frame came down just behind the shocks, in front of the swing arm. It didn't do anything but scuff the PC, but it still makes me mad. I got some black nail polish and touched it up down there to make sure I had no exposed metal. The frame itself remained undamaged, but the PC has already seen better days.

How often in this sort of thing?
 
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Old Apr 1, 2011 | 12:47 PM
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Don't sweat it.. The frame is strong enough.
 
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Old Apr 1, 2011 | 12:53 PM
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I've hit mine too. Hell, I hit the rails on the wife's trike a while back too. Maybe I need to lose some weight!!?? LOL! No worries man.....
 
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Old Apr 1, 2011 | 01:16 PM
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I never heard of this before... It must be you...
Just kidding, I hit mine too...
 
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Old Apr 1, 2011 | 02:25 PM
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I wish it was just my frame.. You should see the bottom of my primary.. lol
 
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Old Apr 2, 2011 | 09:01 AM
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As long as your preload on your shocks is adjusted properly, bottoming out should be a rarity. I am 6" 2" and was 275 lbs and only bottomed out once on a cross country trip... when I was directed thru a ditch in a construction site out West.

PS... I also have two gremlin bells which actually smooth out the ride...LOL
 

Last edited by handyhoward; Apr 2, 2011 at 09:05 AM.
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Old Apr 2, 2011 | 09:59 AM
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Speed bumps and if I hit the driveway a bit to quick will cause a little scrape I'm pretty sure I need to re-adjust the preload on mine since I haven't touched them and have no idea how the previous owner had them set up.

But since we are n pre load a bit does it take any special tools to do this?
 
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Old Apr 2, 2011 | 10:20 AM
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Originally Posted by RIPbiker13
Has that ever happened to you or do I just suck?

It seems no matter how hard I try, every bike I have owned has bottomed out on something during my ownership. I hasn't seemed to ever cause damage, but it pisses me off.

I could imagine if the bike were slammed but it's not.

I backed over a speed bump and the frame came down just behind the shocks, in front of the swing arm. It didn't do anything but scuff the PC, but it still makes me mad. I got some black nail polish and touched it up down there to make sure I had no exposed metal. The frame itself remained undamaged, but the PC has already seen better days.

How often in this sort of thing?
Have you adjusted the pre-load on your shocks? I noticed on my Heritage that it came adjusted from the factory at the softest setting. I reset mine to 4-turns out and it has really helped.
 
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Old Apr 2, 2011 | 11:58 AM
  #9  
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Originally Posted by Whir
Speed bumps and if I hit the driveway a bit to quick will cause a little scrape I'm pretty sure I need to re-adjust the preload on mine since I haven't touched them and have no idea how the previous owner had them set up.

But since we are n pre load a bit does it take any special tools to do this?
Need a spanner wrench... I use one that came with one of my power tools.
 
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Old Apr 2, 2011 | 12:02 PM
  #10  
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Used to happen all the time with those suck stock air shocks. Hasent happened in quite some time with the 440s but it will happen on rare occasions when I hit some bad sh!/.
 
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