E1 ZX9. My worst nightmare, cracked frame

Ok, worst nightmare might be a little exaggeration, but I'm sure everyone here can relate to me being dramatic, given the title of this post.
Ive owned my E1 9r for 8 months now, its been an absolute pleasure to own. It the best bike I've ridden, let alone owned, has been reliable (for both me and the previous owner who is a mate) and its been a real kick in my nuts putting it up for sale. I thought my biggest problem was not having the time to ride it with two little girls (6 and 18 months) while owning my own busy cafe. Until today..

Having a potential owner coming from Sydney to the Newcastle area to look at purchasing it this afternoon, id thought it best to give it a clean. Upon wiping down the frame i found cracks, both sides, in the same place. Quick google search told me this was common in the E1 and kawa had replace plenty of frames with the redesigned E2 version for free, (not forking out for labour however) early to mid 2000s, so they at least acknowledged the issue was theirs.
I informed the potential buyer and he obviously wasn't too keen anymore haha. Luckily I'm on 2 mins from Inskip Kawasaki dealers in Toronto, so i thought id ride it down their and get some feedback. The owner had a look, confirmed it wasn't just the paint and called kawasaki. A couple of hours later, he called me back and told me that kawasaki wanted to go on record and say they'd do nothing to help me as such, but inskip being a newish dealer of their product, wanted to give them a good name among the community.
Im taking it in tomorrow, taking the tank of so the owner of inskip can photograph it and send kawasaki the photos. (the bike is in great condition, no accidents etc)
Im not sure what kawasaki is going to propose, or if they will even help at all, but needless to say, no matter what potential outcome i can see, I'm ridiculously upset that my (albeit cheap) favourite and loyal bike has suffered this fate. I know the cracks are recent and i know i didn't buy it like this.

Anyway, besides my huge explanation of what kawasaki has said etc, has anyone here had this issue? From what i see, once its welded its blatantly obvious its been repaired and will be worth nothing. (the crack is on the inside underneath the tank, and the outside where its visually obvious, through the welds)
Im just hoping someone here has some advice as to what i should look into in regards to repairing it and making it visually good to look at. It almost scares me more that kawasaki may deliver with a new frame, because i can't even being to imagine how much work is involved on switching everything over.

Plenty of beers tonight
Thanks,
Eric

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Keep going hard at Kawasaki mate and threaten them with everything. They are notoriously good at denying liability for anything wrong with their product and they are great at the "it's not warranty but a goodwill gesture" ploy. I had it with ZX10 cracked rear plastics and the arseholes tried everything to get out of it but I got them eventually

Climb over forums everywhere and get proof that they've replaced frames before and smash them with it. If you get nowhere with the dealer then talk to him but then get onto their technical services department.

Welding it's not good enough either, insist they replace it. If they stuff you around Fair Trading is the way to go.

Good luck with it and keep this thread going.

Thanks mate, I was wondering whether it was worth digging up all the information i could on it from forums. Its not even funny how many posts there is on forums regarding the subject. From what i can gather, the first few years the did the frame and the labor as 'good will' as mentioned above, after that, just the frame without the labor, and quite a few from recent years where they just deny everything and the owner gets nothing.
Its quite obviously a design flaw in the frame, they just never recalled it as they should have.

Hey Ithy, I feel for you mate having had the same problem on the supposedly rectified E2 model.

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=31769

Kawasaki fronted for the frame on mine but I had to pay the labour.


Daz.

Holy shit mate. Your lucky that didn't kill you!!
Im hoping to hear back from the dealer on kawasaki's decision regarding 'what they will do for the dealer to help his reputation' because they're insisting repeatedly to the dealer they won't be doing anything for me as such. Obviously they're quite experienced at denying fault in their products haha.
The cost of the labour has me rather concerned, i only paid 2.5k for the bike. Hopefully it can be welded if kawa won't help or kill me with labor.

Holy shit mate. Your lucky that didn't kill you!!
Im hoping to hear back from the dealer on kawasaki's decision regarding 'what they will do for the dealer to help his reputation' because they're insisting repeatedly to the dealer they won't be doing anything for me as such. Obviously they're quite experienced at denying fault in their products haha.
The cost of the labour has me rather concerned, i only paid 2.5k for the bike. Hopefully it can be welded if kawa won't help or kill me with labor.

From experience a frame change, though very time consuming, isn't a huge effort if you have a reasonable knowledge of motorcycle mechanics.
You can also make the work feel a little less like just a frame change considering you'll be putting all new bearings into it and maybe use some of the time to put newer parts like chain and sprockets on?
Just a thought and trying to ease the concerns.
I know a few members on here from the Newcastle area may be happy to lend some time and effort to help with the rebuild!

Thanks mate, there definitely is some positives to come from it. Ive got plenty of parts like steering head bearings and what not to fit while I'm at it rather than having to do it further down the track. If kawasaki was to supply me with a new frame, the time and effort isn't really an issue, id be happy to get my hands dirty and sort little issues out while I'm at it. (I've also got my old man and two other mates that all know their stuff to help) What I'm mostly concerned about is that A) Kawasaki will supply the frame but only under the condition that the dealer fits it, costing me essentially what i paid for the bike. B) That it either can't be welded or welding it makes it look like garbage..
Being stuck sourcing a second hand frame is definitely not what I'm hoping to be stuck with.

I had some luck with the "it's not a warranty issue but we'll fix it for you" deal Glen described. I got advice from one dealer close to the club on how to approach it then went through the local dealer and they did the repairs, Kawasaki footed something like cost price for the labour apparently, bike was only a few years old though. Good luck!

Worst nightmare? Totally agree however, if Kawasaki comes good with a new frame the replacement although involved can be done. I'm restoring a ZX-6R and stripped it to the bare bones, sent the frame out for painting along with swingarm and subframe. Rebuild now about 80% complete - blah, blah, blah.
Back to your bike - my best advice, take lots of photo's before you even put a spanner to it, look and take notes of how cables and hoses are routed, more photo's, and as you disconnect elec plugs, get a dymo label machine and label them A, B, C etc so that plug A connects to socket A and so on. Go to Bunnings and get a stack of cardboard boxes for storage and label them for either individual parts - front brakes, rear brake etc. or just front, rear, left side, right side and make up a list of the sequence you pull it apart, this will make it easier for the re-assembly. If possible, refit any bolts/screws back into parts as they are removed that way they won't get lost.
For re-assembly you will need a workshop manual as you will have to refer to torque settings and don't forget to buy Locktite (two types, permanent thread locking and semi-permanent thread locking) this is important as a mate once arrived home from work, stopped and went to put the sidestand down - guess what, no sidestand.
Anyhow, good luck. By rights, Kawasaki should do all the work.
Let us know how you get on
Phoenix.

So Kawa contacted me back, wanted $1200 for a new frame, plus for me to pay labor. Apparently the bike is too old and has too many kms.. Obviously no acknowledgement of the fact they have built frames with a piss poor design that crack in the same place, a google search on 'zx9 frame cracked' will show just how many of these bikes have suffered the same thing. As far as I'm concerned they shouldve been recalled.
Either way, i was selling the bike when i found the cracks, I've dropped the price to $2500 to sell it as is. Failing that ill get it welded or strip and sell for the parts.
Really fucking sux.
Thanks for the advice guys

^That really sucks Would it not be worht a phone call or email to the ACCC. Pretty sure this woud have to fall under some sort of resonable standards clause, and a phone call/email isn't going to cost you a cent. Just a thought. As for selling it, i don't think anyone would buy a bike knowing about the cracks, personally i'd be going for the strip and sell.

Yeah thats what i keep getting told. With the amount of information on these frames cracking on the web i can supply, I'm sure there is a reasonable argument to be made by me. Kawa said 'because its so old with so many kms' they will only offer a discount. I see why theyre saying that, but with such an extensive history of these frames cracking in the exact place mine has, its kind of irrelevant. Im assuming the previous owners have babied the hell out of it, hence its lasted so long. I far from flog it, but i do enjoy some one wheel riding at times, nothing that should crack a fucking frame though!!
I see your point about selling it too, I'm assuming thats what will happen. Thing is I already had it on bike sales prior to finding the cracks, so i figured id just price it down to roughly the cost of the parts in case there is someone wanting one cheap that wouldn't mind welding it. Plus its still got 5 months rego. If it doesn't get any interest i might just get it welded myself, then strip it down once I've saved up some coin for another bike. Thought it worth a shot!

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