Bent frame

Have a question about my frame, i suspect it might be bent. When putting on my back wheel i can align it perfectly either by the bottom bracket, or by the saddle, but not both at the same time. I guess it could be my back wheel thats crap too, but when spinning it seems to be true.

Is it possible to fix a bent frame and where/who could fix it? Or do you think its the back wheel?

don't quite get what u mean by aligning perfectly either by bb or saddle...

it might be your back wheels got the wrong dish?

in cash you don't know, dish = rim/hub centre alignment

photos!

so my wheel is true down here by the BB

but not up here by the saddle

tried shitloads of time to get it straight, but unsuccessful

I think the OPs saying that the wheel is either perfectly aligned between the chainstays (BB) or the seatstays (Saddle), but never both..?
I agreed with edmundane about checking the wheel first, both for dish and for a bent axle. is it a fixed wheel / singlespeed? single sided / Flip-Flop. Try putting it in the other way around and see how it lines up.. it could well be that it needs re-dishing.
if the wheel is fine then your rear dropouts are almost certainly misaligned / bent.. decent local bike shop can check & fix (if steel frame) this for you.. £s though.

its a single speed wheel (single sided). Ill put it the other way around tonight, if it leans the other way I take it my wheel is kaputt, otherwise my frame need some loving

Do you have track ends or horizontal dropouts?
If dropouts, do they have the screw tensioner still in place? If so, are they both set at the same distance.

Axle bent?

Can't see why/how your wheel would be buggered if it spins true so it's probably your frame but i think you'd notice severe twisting at the back end.

Has it had a whack recently?

Chris

no whacks since i got it, but bought it off ebay in the beginning of summer so could´ve happened during transport / before I got it

It´s horizontal dropouts, but no screw tensioners there. Maybe I should get me some of those tensioners with bottle openers, been looking for an excuse!

it looks quite off in the pics... another way to check the frame is if you put the frame on the floor without any wheels, align the top tube perpendicular to yourself (or the other way round) you should be able to see quite clearly (when it's that off) if you have even spacing between the dropouts and the centre of the frame.

you can also get some string, tie one end to one of the dropouts. loop the string round the headtube and then back down and tie it round the other drop out. make sure you pull it tight. then measure the gap betweem the string and the seat tube on either side. helps to give you a idea if the stays are out of whack. then cold set it back in line.

if you have trouble eyeballing it, you can use the string method: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/frame-spacing.html

I'm a bit of a novice and I have just been told at my local bike shop that my reynolds 501 frame is 'dead', there is a the slightest of bends just below the butting between on the down tube where it meets the head tube. Can it be bent back or is it unsafe to ride? the guy in the shop(who i didn't seemed very bothered about it all and just wanted to give me quick answers? said that it would be unsafe to ride and could just snap. I don't want to scrap it as I'm really attached to it. I wnat to make it the frame for my first fixie but don't know whether it will be worth the effort as it probably needs a new paint job as well.

HazBo - Pics will help.

I would like some advice I've bent the chain stay (up to the seat) on a chrome framed atb bike and was wondering how if I could straighten it or is it trashed? There doesn't seem to be any damage to the chrome.

I have a friend coming to London with a bent frame, where is the best place to take it, to try to bent it back?

the chain stay (up to the seat)

the seat stay!

would ted at 14 be able to help with bent frames?

i have a similar problem with a similar Reynolds 531 frame (this is a 1970's Le Jeune). No frontal impacts but the frame is bent - about 10mm out of true. I'm hoping to find a bike shop in London that could just cold-press it slightly back into alignment (some shops refuse to do this). Could someone explain who "Ted at 14" is, or make another suggestion? Thanks, B

@OP
Your frame ain't bent, your wheel's badly dished.
You are able to centre it between the chainstays but not the seatstays because of the orientation of the dropouts. Ie, if you had long vertical dropouts you would be able to centre the wheel between the seatsays but not the chainstays.
Put the axle right to the back of the dropouts (remove the chain if necc) and it should be off centre at both seat and chainstays, give the appropriate side half a turn to start with and go from there to get it dished correctly.

*This all presumes that the hub is spaced correctly.

OP posted thread three years ago.

OP posted thread three years ago.

Haha, oops.

I'm still here though!

and the bike is now a friends. And now that I know more about bikes, that explanation makes perfect sense. I now also have a spoke key so will pay my friend a visit and sort the wheel out

thanks!