I got lucky....

[Homeless Dave]

I was riding with a group on Sunday and had a pretty bad accident...front axle snapped on my 250es, thus making the entire front wheel fall off. I was going about 45 mph when it happened. The forks dug into the ground and I took flight over the bars. As one of the guys said "flew like superman for about 20ft". I landed on my shoulder and head, bounced and hit the ground on my stomach, completely taking my breath away. I got up and took quick evaluation of the situation. The trike layed upside for 10mins while I got my calmed down. I was pretty shook up! Typical Honda, fired first kick! Today I'm very sore, but lucky to have no major injuries (other than bruised ribs and can't move my shoulder much at all without extreme
pain). In the end i was able to show my group why helmets save lives, mine saved me.


As for my big red, my mint rack is now totaled, axle broken, forks bent, triple tree bent.

Now, can I fit a 200x front end on it? if so does anyone have one for sale in the eastern south Dakota area? I need to get riding again!263964
263965

[ATC King]

The trike layed upside for 10mins...

Still is!



You indeed got lucky. Oddball failure.

[jasong_10]

Trikes can be fixed much easier than people, glad you're okay.

[Homeless Dave]

I'd dont know how to fix the picture's orientation, otherwise I'd get it fixed.

[350for350]

Wow that's just crazy. I'm glad that you're ok. I believe that you can put a first gen 200X front end on it. Since a 250ES is pretty heavy, you might want to use a 350X front end so the forks hold up the weight better. Finding one may not be easy.

[dirtwheels]

Glad you are ok and nothing major happened to you. As far as upgrading the front end on the 250es, I saw this video a while back that you may want to check out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS0pTxJeVLg

Also there is a front end from a 350x on ebay right now. Does not look too bad if you are looking to experiment.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1985-Honda-ATC350X-Front-Suspension-Forks-Triple-Clamp/203070344287?hash=item2f47ef8c5f:g:yToAAOSwyb5evYR y

[patriot1]

Crazy, you always seem to get lucky!

[Homeless Dave]

I'll look into a 350x front. Cash is tight right now, I have my 1st semester tuition due along with rent and tool payments, so it might be a while before I can get it fixed.


As for always being lucky, I'm afraid my luck will someday run out...thats sacres me a bit!

[El Camexican]

Based on the title I thought this was going to be one of those Fabio met a girl in the checkout line stories, but damn dude!

Glad to hear you’re alive :beer

[yaegerb]

I was riding with a group on Sunday and had a pretty bad accident...front axle snapped on my 250es, thus making the entire front wheel fall off. I was going about 45 mph when it happened. The forks dug into the ground and I took flight over the bars. As one of the guys said "flew like superman for about 20ft". I landed on my shoulder and head, bounced and hit the ground on my stomach, completely taking my breath away. I got up and took quick evaluation of the situation. The trike layed upside for 10mins while I got my calmed down. I was pretty shook up! Typical Honda, fired first kick! Today I'm very sore, but lucky to have no major injuries (other than bruised ribs and can't move my shoulder much at all without extreme
pain). In the end i was able to show my group why helmets save lives, mine saved me.


As for my big red, my mint rack is now totaled, axle broken, forks bent, triple tree bent.

Now, can I fit a 200x front end on it? if so does anyone have one for sale in the eastern south Dakota area? I need to get riding again!263964
263965


Indeed, you did

[Tri-Z 250]

Before you go putting $ into a front end take the tank off. Check the back bone of the frame with a straight edge first good chance it bent or twisted along with the forks. If that’s the case, you can look to upgrade with a similar machine. Sell off all the good stuff for money towards a different unit.

[Homeless Dave]

Before you go putting $ into a front end take the tank off. Check the back bone of the frame with a straight edge first good chance it bent or twisted along with the forks. If that’s the case, you can look to upgrade with a similar machine. Sell off all the good stuff for money towards a different unit.

I checked that. it is ok, not sure how it survived, but it did. However, the steering neck bearings have more play than they did before, so I need to take the triplle off and do some more inspecting.

[fieldy]

I have never heard of a front axle snapping like that on 2 or 3 wheelers. I always check front axles to be tight and make sure there are no cracks.
Thats some scary stuff and it would be hard for me to trust riding again. Always think about something going wrong the first time I lay into the throttle.
Put my front lugs on backwards one time and lucky I saw them getting loose, but that was my fault.

Sorry it happened to you, hope you feel better.

[ATC King]

It's definitely a uncommon failure. I wouldn't worry about a repeat though.

Along the same lines, the BMW 650GS fork failures seem to be a little more common, where the axle mount rips out of the fork slider. It's enough that many do a fork swap to something else, like Yamaha forks. There have been some of those that had swingarm failures too.

Not much of that going on with Big Reds.

[Homeless Dave]

believe it or not, I had an axle break before. same machine too. however, that time I just clicked it into reverse and it snapped, albeit in a different spot.

[wonderboy]

Just to dig into your failures a bit more... since you've had two, I wonder if you are doing something that is prompting this. I've never read about a front axle failure on this forum, and I've been reading for a long time. That's not to say that they don't happen, but seem very rare.

When you put the axles in, how are you torquing these down? Are you running the spacer between the two front wheel bearings? Are you running stock front axle, or are these homemade or from another machine? Have you ever used heat to get these axles loosened/removed? Just trying to dig a bit into your situation to hopefully help prevent a third occurrence.

Like the others have said, it is very good to hear that you are ok. I managed to go head on with my buddy on a dirt bike when I was just a kid on my 200ES big red. I did the superman thing too. We were riding on a dirt road, but it was curved and I managed to land in a nice soft grassy area to the side of the road. Got up and did the survey like you described and was very happily surprised to not even have a scratch on me. The aches and pains the next day were a different story though... :)

Make sure your helmet innards (foam core) haven't separated from the outer shell from the impact. If so, may be time for a new helmet.

[shortline10]

I would say factory defect , I’ve been a mechanic for over 30 years and never seen one break , pulled plenty apart that were bent into a smiley face lol .
Glad your ok .

[Homeless Dave]

my helmet does need to be replaced...

I run all stock spacers, just a narrow front tire. Stock hub and brake assembly too. I have had to install the axle once, when I put this one in. Before I had to change the axle when the original one broke, I had never had it apart, still had the original front tire. I tightened it into the left fork until it was snug, and then a hair more. I'm always afraid of the threads getting stripped out . Never had to heat one of these axles and they are factory parts.

I might be lucky to have not been seriously injured, but luck know with parts i guess.

I have worked on many big reds, and never have i had this issue with another, let alone twice!

[350for350]

Hey Dave. I just watched a good You Tube video on the 350X front end swap onto a 250ES. The channel is called Intergalactic. He doesn't really show how it's done, but he explains some of what he did and why. I recommend watching this video if you're interested in doing this swap yourself.

[El Camexican]

2 broken axles screams ‘problem’, would hate to see you get to three strikes and be out.

Before putting it back together it take some precautionary steps...

- make sure the forks are the same length
- make sure both forks feel the same going through the stroke and have no binding spots
- make sure your fork oil levers are the same
- make sure your triple trees are perfectly straight
- measure the distance from a predetermined point between the two forks without the axle installed and again after it’s installed. Should be the same.
- check that the wheel bearings are perfect

You said the steering head bearings feels loose? I’d look close at that. Bearings are a lot tougher than frame material, it might not be round anymore.

Be safe!

[ATC King]

Not that it has anything to do with the situation here, but after tightening the axle, and before tightening the axle clamp, the forks are supposed to be bounced a few times so the side with the clamp settles on the axle properly.

This is to prevent the forks from being pinched in by the action of tightening the axle, because the leg with the clamp has nothing to prevent it moving toward the hub. The hub spacer is placed by the axle, not between the hub and fork leg, like on designs where the axle passes through both legs with a nut on one end. On these, the axle basically floats, in the fork leg with the clamp.

It's the same basic design as Honda uses on some of their motorcycles too. Says to do as much in the manual for those.

[muthey]

to do the sport trike triple swap properly there is a write up on it by olDeuce, he used to sell the adapters used and I made them for him. Lord rest his soul, he is no longer with us but I can still make the adapters and sell them as I have the blueprints let me know if you are interested

[350for350]

Muthey, just for a future project, how much are you selling the adapters for?

[Homeless Dave]

As of now, it will be a while until the big red is fixed. College has made sure of that, between not being at home and not having any money...my tools are $8000!

[ATC King]

...my tools are $8000!

That's nothing if you have a Snap-On account. They'll let you pay on it for 50 years if you keep buying more. :lol:

You could just buy one tool, a Zeus, and spend more than that.

[Homeless Dave]

That's nothing if you have a Snap-On account. They'll let you pay on it for 50 years if you keep buying more. :lol:

You could just buy one tool, a Zeus, and spend more than that.
Ironically, my tools are snap on! Custom Paint and fabrication is my program. believe it or not, my tools cost more than my entire first year's tuition. thankfully it is only a 2 year program!

[ATC King]

A Snap-On tool rep at an automotive trade school is like a military recruiter in a poor neighborhood.

[Arky-X]

A Snap-On tool rep at an automotive trade school is like a military recruiter in a poor neighborhood.

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

[Homeless Dave]

A Snap-On tool rep at an automotive trade school is like a military recruiter in a poor neighborhood.

I laughed so hard at this...Worst part of what you said is, its true!