Could It Be Repaired?

Ok today I had my first crash, or more my first crash had me. Classic example of someone not looking, I was coming round a roundabout quite quick, when a mum (with kids in the back) pulled out in front of me, I hit the side of her car and flew off, bike one way me the other. I was to her right (and thus had the right of way) and she admitted to not properly looking when she pulled out, blamed it on the sun, then the kids, then just apologised. Anyway took down insurance details etc, the front end of the bike is pretty much a right off i'm guessing;

and the wheel is gone;

but this can be solved by a new set of forks and a wheel, what worries me is this:

now its not a huge dent, but it is deeper then it looks in the photo. What I am trying to gauge is can this be fixed?

also she has asked if it is possible to do this outside of the insurance company, what are peoples experience with this?

can you snap a photo with a coin next to the dent in the frame (for better reference)? is that a second dent just past it?

it that the top or down tube?

what tubing is it?

anything steel can be repaired by a frame builder but its going to cots you $$$

if she wants to go out side the insurance company get a quote add about 30 quid and say you will take cash in that amount as thats what it will cost to get it repaired.

I'd say it's new bike time.

when you add it up. £100 easy for a new front wheel, £50 for the forks plus a repair and re-spray of the frame, you may as well frog march her to Evans or make her hand over some cash and spend it on a f&f from BJ or Mercian.

That's what i'd do anyway.

Sorry about the crash, it's never nice.

hammo is probably right.

are you ok?

yer thanks, i'm fine, just a bit bruised from my landing, i'll be ok.

ok here is the picture with penny, its in the top tube, about 10-15cm from the front, i didn't know if this would be the kinda place where it would get worse cause its got pressure on it?
well the frame is actually a thorn handmade frame made about 6-8 months ago;

so really i'd rather it was repaired then have to get a new bike, though on the flip side I was looking into buying a EAI bareknuckle frame for bike no.2

oof :( hope your ok mate, well with regards to doing it outside insurance I have had two incidents, first time the guy never paid up I ended up paying it myself ..grr second time I took pictures of him the car my bike, Im guessing you never took any pictures? if not I would file an accident report at the police station and get a reference number. Then let her know what the reference number is (just in case) and that will let her know your not an idiot and if she doesnt pay you can go back to the police and chase the matter, Im not sure what you can actually do after the incident if she speaks to her husband etc and decides maybe shes not in the wrong and tries to get out of it, but its worth making it as official as possible so it puts her in the position that its easier to just pay for the repairs rather than go through the small claims court etc. In the end I think I waited 3 months for the guy that hit me to pay up after I done a WHOIS on his company website to get the real address and sent a letter along the lines of legal action, surprise surprise I got a call a few days later saying "ahh mate! hope you didnt thing I was trying to get out of paying...nah mate I've just been busy...where did you get the address by the way?.."

Ha! plus most people think it will cost 40-50 quid to repair... I loved the look on the guys face when he met me at the bike shop to pay for £316 worth of replacements

Couldn't that front wheel be trued? doesn't look like it's buckled from that photo...

that prob shows it slightly better, the wheel is unfortunately well and truly buckled

Get SJS to quote for a new fork, frame and wheel plus the cost of swapping parts over. Do as Hael says otherwise she'll do a runner.

Chris

thanks for all the advice, i've just rang her, to let her know that it's not a run of the mill bike, and that i'll be finding out a quote for repair etc, and she has said that once I get the quote if its too much (for her to pay) she'll just go through her insurance company (if this is becomes the case would it be worth contacting cycle-aid or something like that?)
but yer i think i'm still going to report it just to be on the safe side.
Also would be best to take it back to SJS (down in somerset) or are there any london based bike builders that would be able to sort it (cause that would be preferable for me)

whitcomb would be able to do frame repairs. if she pays out side the insurance get cash, and cash only. make this clear way in advance, the last thing you want is the $$$$ check to bounce on you leaving you hard up. insurance company will take forever to get things done, and you will have to have a report and a quote from a bike shop, and receipts and they generally try to get out of paying by hassling people.

you could go to BLB for a fork and parts quote, and get the mechanic to write that the frame was compromised in the accident, also get a labor quote for swapping the parts over.

with that dent where it is you are looking at a frame repair or new frame.

glad to hear you are ok.

Hard lines Splatbucket. It sounds like you've been pretty smart in dealing with this, I hope it works out for you.

shit about the crash, hope you're recovering well. definitely her fault.

I'm always wary of dents in the frame, from the outside of the tube it can look ok but the inside of the tube (the outside of the bend of the dent, if you know what I mean) could be split as the particles have have to be pulled apart to form the dent. Even if there is no initial problem, it can only get worse. you'll need a fame builder to replace the top tube at least. forks are also tricky, last thing you want is an unseen failure throwing you to the tarmac somewhere down the line.

if there are no major injuries then it is a civil matter but a police incident ref. number is always good to have.

written quotes, photocopied and sent to her is a good way to get the ball rolling.

also, make sure to get a frame builder or decent mechanic give the head tube the once over. cracks in the brazes or welds can propagate very quickly, a friend of mine's titanium lightspeed managed to develop a massive crack right across the front of the head tube. It stemmed from a very small crash he had weeks previously.

Factor in some hassle and suffering ££ for the bruises. Personally I reckon you'll do better going via the insurance company. No experience (yet) to base that on just intuition, but you'll get £ for a proper repair job on the thorn, damage to clothes, bruises £ etc. Do report the accident to the police anyway. A new Thorn frame plus clothes plus bruises got to be getting on for a grand or more. No way is that not going to be an insurance job.

big ben is right if she goes through inusrance go for every penny you can get. if she is willing to pay cash you might let the cloths/ bruises slide. i would just to get the notes in my sweaty palms fas as i could. but i hate dealing with insurance companies.

cool thanks for all the help everyone, I've just sent whitcomb an email asking them for a rough quote, and I think I will prob pop into BLB tomorrow for a forks and parts quote. I'll keep people updated. In the mean time the idea of buying a new bike when I go to new york in march is looking even more tempting.

the wheel could probably be trued, unless there are major dents.

personally i don't think the dent is that bad.

forks are dead though.

I would get a new frame off her insurance, keep the old one and get that repaired.
At the very least get it down to a proper frame builder and get them to quote you for repairs, get them to check the alignments throughout. There's nothing worse than signing off on insurance and then finding something you missed.

Don't ever take anyone who says they'll do it cash without letting the Police know about the accident. Get a report number and let her have the copy. Tell them that you have contacted your insurers as well (even if at this stage they don't exist). Treat the accident exactly the same way you would a car accident. you'd be amazed how many stories you see of tales of woe where someone says they'll pay up and then refuses to believe a frame can cost £600, or a new wheel costs £60-150 and then won't pay out. Why do her a favour? It's not your no-claims bonus.

For frame repairs Roberts are very quick and the prices are very cheap. I had a set tube melted out, a cracked seatstay rebrazed and a set of bottle bosses added for £45. Dropped the frame off one Saturday, picked it up the next. The work was done really well and the seat-tube had been neatly reamed and took the next seat pin really smoothly. Roberts are easy enough to get to as well.

well went down to blb, they have written me up a quote, written off the frame new front wheel etc then went down to the local police station to report it, so thats all done and dusted. gta phone her tomorrow to sort out insurance, she said yesterday that if it was a lot then she will just go through insurance. So fingers crossed that shall get sorted without too much delay. In the mean time (and more cause I really want one and i think i can afford) i'm going to build up a EAI bareknuckle, phil wood hubs, velocity fusion rims + other bits

Crashed the Renault Scenic and bought a Porsche Boxster. So-to-speak.

not really, more like crashed the classic jag and bought a nissan skyline lol

nissan skyline ...yeesss...i can see the resemblance!

the kawasaki green one?

this one hopefully
though just a quick question, so normally I fit a 56cm road bike, is there any difference in a track frame? i don't need to +/- a cm or two do i?

sometimes subtract 1-2cm, due to high BB and stand-over height ;)

PS i don't condone ripping of insurance companys and it bites us all in the ass in the long-term with higher premiums etc