Frame Dents and Repair - Kinked, Dinged or Bent Top tube, Dent Down tube, etc

Even if the frame is BER (I wouldn't ride that TT and the chainstay looks bad) the components are worth what you paid, especially if you only pay the actual cost of postage (£40 my arse).

The cranks, callipers (need correct brakes pads & holders) and presumably FD are 1st generation Chorus; the shifters and RD 3rd gen.

Like as not the hubs are Campag too, so you've easily covered yourself ("9 speed screw-on freewheel"? I don't think so).

Just taken delivery of the bike, it's gonna need a lot of love.

The seller neglected to mention the drive side dropout has split in two covered by a layer of rust. Shit.

Any advice about getting disk brake mounts fitted to an *steel*frame? If so:
who?
how much?
Cheers!

Matt at Talbot is doing this to my steel Eastway at the mo.

I'm having new forks made up and other bits and bobs done so cant really advise on the cost of just adding rear tabs I'm afraid.

I'm sure if you PM him here, email or call him he'd let you know a rough figure.

Thanks Ecobeard! Please could you give me his handle? Cheers,
J

@coldharbour

Has anyone had any dented aluminium frames repaired before? Cheers

Built up a nice 80s Gitane as a fixed gear fun summer bike. Build has so far been pretty budget, but I've grown really attached to the frame and bike in gen. Which means I was pretty gutted when I rode to pick up my car from its MOT and dropped the bike against some large heavy steel car lift thing. Dent + smaller dent in top tube now, 6 inches from seat tube. It's not big but there's something about where it is that proper catches the eye.

Anyway, is this just a cosmetic thing, or should I be worried about frames integrity? It's a vitus 980 frame from 1984 I think.

Filler plus touch up is presumably going to catch the eye just as much. Grump.

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No creases and fingernail sized: I'd ride it.

Of course, I've one foot in the grave so I have a somewhat cavalier approach to death...

HTFU / pretending that's just the wind making my eyes stream, right?

Don't take my word for it (or anything else for that matter), but those are "dings", not "dents".

Real men cry (but never weep).

That's actually reassuring. 'Ding' sounds much better.

Some parcel force monkey managed to squash my CX frame (since this was all done proper like over eBay I'm effectively getting a free frame as seller was reimbursed by parcel force and doesn't want to pay for a useless frame to be shipped back) - is there any way of getting this "properly" respaced? Or should I just stretch it back and ride it until it fails?

Alloy? Will be weaker where it was bent and bends back. You my be able to see the stress marks.

Rode in to a fence the other week, just noticed this.

What's the deal with repairing?
New downtube?
Worthwhile?
Not possible, forget it, ride it til it fails?

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Toptube is probably either similarly kinked or is being bent/stressed slightly by the not-as-designed downtube.

If the toptube is still fine, replacing the downtube would involve un-brazing both ends and if the frame is too small/stiff, it might not be possible to flex the ends apart enough to slide the new tube into the lugs. When building lugged frames, the order of assembly is restricted by the angles and depth of the lugs.

Verdict on dings (dents) in oval tubes?

Top tube, on the side.

It's not significant, definitely not structural - bike was fine for a couple thousand miles or more since my ownership...more like a dent from overzealous throwing against bike rack by previous owner.

Any idea?

I did this to my best bike yesterday. It fell over whilst I wasclosing the front door - top tube smacked into a plant pot. Unbelievably depressing.

The tube is a profiled columbus XCR, so nice and thin. It's a approximately the size of a 5p coin.
Anyone reckon if it's safe to ride, or not. I'm inclined to think it's ok...

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No creases, less that the diameter of the tube: I'd ride it, but I'm probably closer to death than you are, so make of that what you will...

Thanks for your opinion.. I just needed that ounce of positivity and I'll back on it without hesitation. I will never let myself be defeated by a plant pot

Hey all - I'd be interested to hear your opinions... I picked up Cannondale CAAD X 105 2014 off ebay with the idea of using the parts to build up another frame. The Cannondale frame is 56" is on the big side for me. Anyhow, only when I stripped it down and cleaned it up did I find a pretty serious ding. It looks like the chain tried to assault the frame. I am now wondering if it would be irresponsible to sell it on... I don't want anyone dying and have no idea if there is any market for dingy frames.... Thanks in advance.

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And another

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Aluminium frames are difficult to fix at best, I'd say thats fucked. It's prone to cracking I'd imagine. Chase a part refund

thanks @PhilDAS :( ...the not so fun side of ebay. I wish I had seen it sooner.

Just my opinion based on similar things I've seen posted. Never had any aluminium failures or dents myself so I'm sure someone can corroborate or not.