Hello forum! I'm pretty new and just starting my first project. I had made this as a new topic before finding this one so have moved it.
I recently bought a Raleigh 'The Winner', which was in pretty good condition. My project was to strip, re-paint and rebuild it into a single speed.
Obviously something went wrong, it was totally self-inflicted damage. I stripped the frame of everything except the headset cups. I had ordered a tool for this but it was last to arrive. Being slightly impatient I decided to try to gently knock out the cups with a flat head screw driver.
I found that my bike stand was absorbing the hammer taps and the cups weren't moving. At this point I should have given up and waited for the tool to arrive, but I am too stubborn.
So I decided to use a wooden vice to grip the headtube, you can guess where this is going. I was trying to be careful with how tight I went, I thought it was tight but it still moved a bit as I tapped screwdriver with hammer so I gave it an unfortunate further 1/8 turn. Of course the sudden result was a dent in the head tube.
So I am an idiot.
The dent is visible on both the inside and outside of the head tube and at a guess measures about 3cm across. The forks were out of the frame when the 'incident occurred'. They still fit in and rotate without problem. The headset cups are still firmly attached! As far as I can tell there is no damage to the lugs or any other tubes, the rest of the head tube seems to be in shape and I can't see any kink in the frame. The sticker says this is a "18-23 High Tensile, Controlled Carbon Cycle Frame", which I believe is Raleigh's own steel tubing.
My questions are:
is the frame now a write off?
if not, should I try to knock out the dent, fill it, or just ride it as is?
I have attached photos to help you all assess how dumb my decision making was, and hopefully allow someone to tell me if this it was fatal or if this is salvageable. Thanks in advance for any help.
Hello forum! I'm pretty new and just starting my first project. I had made this as a new topic before finding this one so have moved it.
I recently bought a Raleigh 'The Winner', which was in pretty good condition. My project was to strip, re-paint and rebuild it into a single speed.
Obviously something went wrong, it was totally self-inflicted damage. I stripped the frame of everything except the headset cups. I had ordered a tool for this but it was last to arrive. Being slightly impatient I decided to try to gently knock out the cups with a flat head screw driver.
I found that my bike stand was absorbing the hammer taps and the cups weren't moving. At this point I should have given up and waited for the tool to arrive, but I am too stubborn.
So I decided to use a wooden vice to grip the headtube, you can guess where this is going. I was trying to be careful with how tight I went, I thought it was tight but it still moved a bit as I tapped screwdriver with hammer so I gave it an unfortunate further 1/8 turn. Of course the sudden result was a dent in the head tube.
So I am an idiot.
The dent is visible on both the inside and outside of the head tube and at a guess measures about 3cm across. The forks were out of the frame when the 'incident occurred'. They still fit in and rotate without problem. The headset cups are still firmly attached! As far as I can tell there is no damage to the lugs or any other tubes, the rest of the head tube seems to be in shape and I can't see any kink in the frame. The sticker says this is a "18-23 High Tensile, Controlled Carbon Cycle Frame", which I believe is Raleigh's own steel tubing.
My questions are:
is the frame now a write off?
if not, should I try to knock out the dent, fill it, or just ride it as is?
I have attached photos to help you all assess how dumb my decision making was, and hopefully allow someone to tell me if this it was fatal or if this is salvageable. Thanks in advance for any help.
The bike as bought: http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/PICT0016.jpg.html?sort=6&o=0
The damage (various angles):
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7570.jpg.html?sort=6&o=1
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7569.jpg.html?sort=6&o=2
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7565.jpg.html?sort=6&o=3
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7558.jpg.html?sort=6&o=4
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7579.jpg.html?sort=6&o=5
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7582.jpg.html?sort=6&o=6
http://s1269.photobucket.com/user/runningouts/media/IMG_7583.jpg.html?sort=6&o=7