Fire Frame

[Mike Lenz]

I have a CMF frame that went thru a house fire. Im concerned about what the heat did to it and if it would be ok to use??

[Larry Perkins]

I remember the great Penton stuff and bikes lost in your fire.  It was double sad because the Penton community and you lost alot.  That said when cromoly is exposed to excessive heat it weakens it and it is prone to crack.  The trick is how much is excessive?  The way you ride I would not gamble. I have alot of frames.  If you need one or any they are yours my friend.  Just let me know.

Larry P

[Mike Lenz]

Larry tried to email you but dont think it worked. This is a special frame. Shaped exactly like a 73 175 frame but set up for conical R hub and long seat. Must be 74 or 5 cuz it has double layered top engine stay mounts (but no steering stem reinforcement). However it has standard shock mount positions, again similar to 73 175 frame. Also shorter measurement from sw arm pivot to steering stem than 73/early 74 250 frame. And no part number, so it must have been a replacement or custom frame. Want to make a sportsman class ktm engine 125 out of it using 74 175 bottom end and 75 125 ktm cylinder (or I can put a Sachs cylinder on it if the KTM cylinder wont fly...but it should considering what else is being done to honda's, etc in that class). So I guess I just try it and hope for the best!

[Daniel P. McEntee]

It may have gotten hot enough to blister the paint and such, but I doubt it got hot enough to do any harm to the tubing. One thing they do when building race car frames and such out of chrome moly is to heat the frames to a certain degree in an oven to "normalize" and stress relieve all the weld joints. To change any characteristics of any metal it must ne heated past what I learned in welding school is called it's eutectic point, or the point where the grain structure starts to change. Carefully scrape off some paint if it's blistered and will flake off easy and see if the tubing has any discoloration from the heat. I doubt that it will. I think it would take a set of ideal conditions and situation for the flames of a house fire to get that hot. Sorry to hear of your misfortune and hope you can recover from it satisfactorily.
  Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[firstturn]

Mike,
 I agree with Dan as I have had some frames out of big fires that were not damaged.  The people I contacted basically said what Dan said.

Ron Carbaugh

[skiracer]

Mike,

I too agree with Dan's assessment.  I can't see a house fire getting hot enough to change the structure of a steel frame....  And thanks for the input on my post!

1976 250 MC5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC

[Mike Lenz]

Thank You!