'Sledding the Badger': Hinault Altec Road

^^ not the same bike, but in this one (i.e. the bike citizenshane is posting) the kink below the DT does indeed look suspicious...

That's a shame if so.

Perhaps, perhaps.

Does anybody know any framebuilders that work with aluminium who may have any insight?

Yeah it just looks a bit too dramatic doesn't it.

The only photo from the other one, and the gear cable obscures the joint...

My thoughts too, not a simple touch up job on an Alu frame if it were the same one.
From experience you might expect to see some flaky paint if the Alu had bent? (which in turn raises concern about the TT/HT on the post I linked you anyway)
Has it already been posted? Might be worth asking him to knock the stem out, see if it all comes out cleanly / if not grab a refund
I'm holding out hope for you, I have a similar era Alu De Rosa and the geometry on that is somewhat questionable though deliberate

Can't really tell from this angle (on the other bike) either:

Thross you got a mp :)
It's not the same bike at all. I noticed to Thross in my pm that for me the bike was slopping, a part of the geometry. And to show that I pick the pic of this one (seems slopping too ?)
But like I said to Thross, if there is a doubt we cancel the sale, purely ;)
The bike is a second hand but to my part I didn't crash it.
Thank Guys.

Hasn't been sent yet, thankfully, and Bevin has messaged me back (see downthread).

The paint all looks smooth doesn't it, and he has already said in a previous message that the stem/seatpost move freely...

I'm not sure if I'm talking myself into just going ahead with it here...

OK, Bevin's said this:

Hello Al,
I'd just saw the messages.
I'am come back from the shop but don't worry I still got it (cause they need your phone number and your mail address to start the shipping process).
This frame is a second hand, I ride it a while but I didn't notice that too O_O. For my part and till the beginning it was the geometry of the frame. I didn't carshed.
This one seems slopping too, no ? :https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/2058­65/
On mine there no clue for a previous crash.
But don't worry if there is a doubt obviously we will have to cancel the sale :)

Bevin.

EDIT: Didn't see his post above - sorry for reiterating!

Get some close ups

Good to see a quick response. I'm not accusing @citizenshane of pulling a fast one!

The more I look at both of them, the more I notice the bend on both.
I mean the problem with Alu is of course once its bent, you can't bend it back. It's not as kind as steel, once you do that all the strength is gone and it's a time bomb.
Though for it to bend that much you'd expect some level of crack/creaking/paint issues no? And some sort of bending to the forks? Which seem ok from what I can see?
And lets face it, this generation of Alu frames were doing all sorts of weird shit geometry wise?
Dunno man... I just dunno anymore...existential crisis

No, not at all. He has been really great trying his best to answer my questions in English, and seems like a lovely guy. It's just a shame nobody can tell whether the dents are intentional or not!

Aha, I love it. All of these thoughts are going through my head too. I mean, it could just be fine, it could just be the crazy French guy that smoothed the welds decided a little kink would look great. Alternatively, it could somehow be compromised, and the first time I brake really sharply, the whole thing could fold in half!

None of this is helping me work either... Good thing it's a slow day!

@citizenshane

How about this Bevin, could you provide any more pictures of the areas in question?

Also, if there had been any paint damage, it's not exactly a standard colour/finish - I think a prior repair job would be patently obvious!

If anything, it's the other one that's being used as reference that I'd worry about, as that has those paint chips on the top tube, where you'd expect some stress to be.

I will provide pics from different angles.
To show that there are not the same bikes, just see the seat tube, on mine the yellow painting start much higher than on this one (you can saw it with the rear brake alignment) .

Bevin, just out in interest, how long have you owned this bike? And how many miles have you ridden it for?

True. Touch up on Alu is a mare cos of the priming that needs to be done first to prep the metal etc. And yeah that paint finish, don't think matching it would really happen haha!
The picture above makes it look better somehow? I'm inclined to think its the geometry, those forks look fine too me as does the paint etc. Could be they were just trying to shorten the wheelbase in a very obscure way or add a bit of French fancy...

So I think I've convinced myself that I at least want to see it in person. Final thoughts are:

Those two frames are clearly different. So no worries about it being a repair job. The geometries are similar though, although the DT dent in 'mine' looks more pronounced, but that's hard to tell because of the less than perfect photos. Suggests at least the steep HT and the slight sloping TT are consistent with these frames.

The dent could be explained as a by-product of the smoothing of the welds. I imagine if the welds were built up with some sort of filler, and then filed down to leave a clean finish, that dent could just be a dip in the filler material rather than a dent in the actual tubes?

Seemingly perfect paint around the area suggests that it's not been a sudden impact. As do the lack of cracks. As does the fact that I trust Bevin, and he says he hasn't crashed it, and I believe that. It also hasn't exploded with him using it... yet!

I also went to both Evans and Cycle Republic over my lunch break and had a look at some of the frames in there for reference. Interestingly, the Boardman Track bike (with smooth alu welds) looks like it has a big dent on the TT behind the HT, but feels fine to the touch. Could lighting/the photograph be skewing my/our perception of that 'dent'? Quite likely.

All that considered, I think I'm going to take the gamble, and certainly at least want to see it up close before I make a final decision.

Thanks for all of your help this far - huge rep all round, even those that suggested it'd be a death trap :) - stay tuned for the next installment!

Hope it's fine. Looks rad. Sub'd

The more closely I look at this bike the more the crazy colours grow on me. And besides, be nice to see what it looks like with sensible colour tyres and compact bars. Good luck! ;-)

For the story, the bike was to a very close friend of mine since 2 years ago (urban usage). I took it often over this couple of years (no problems and we never noticed a weird thing).
My friend had to leave France this summer on short notice and he was urging to sold all this stuff, including this bike.
We talk about that and I proposed to him to manage the sale of this bike, providing super good photo, keep the bike and give him the money back later.
The funny part of the story is that :
The bike is (as I said) a second hand, he bought it from a policeman, not a guy who pretend to be a policeman, no I mean a real policeman, the rendez-vous was directly in the police station. This guy (the policeman) was a triathlete (who compete in Iron Man in Nice), a cool guy (I mean a cop have to be a "trustable" guy...).
This all I know about this bike.

Back to mechanics : Technically the balance of the bike is Ok. I mean when you walk behind it, 2 hands on the saddle and you walk it goes straight.
The front wheel is ok and works fine.The fork is ok too.

Here the pictures.
[It's maybe a dent, maybe not, it's maybe the policeman who crashed it and he didn't see it.
(however thanks to have read my marvellous English ;) !) ]

As an aside - what shifters are those? Looks like a homemade carbon wrap on some MK1 ergo levers?

Thank you so much for taking the time to try and explain Bevin. You're been excellent throughout all this today!

Not sure about anyone else, but now we've seen it further, that DT 'dent' looks way too big, way too sculpted, and way too cleanly painted to not be intentional. Especially with the forks as straight as they are too.

Twisted logic perhaps, but it's good enough for me! I have asked Bevin to post it over next week, and I'm looking forward to many happy miles.

...and if I end up in amongst a pile of crumpled wreckage, well, no regrets! :)