Frame damage: what to do?

Hello all,

Picked up a lovely professional Flandria frame today with a full Nuovo Record group. Frame is made of Ishiwata 022 tubing and has Campagnolo dropouts. It has been badly repainted and got some new, incorrect decals.

By closer inspection of the frame, I discovered frame damage from a frontal collision. As you can see in the pictures, the top- and downtube are slightly bend. There is a small bulge on the downtube...

Now, the questions:

-Does this renders my frame 'dead'? Or can I just carry on with it without worrying to much?
-Is this repearable by a framebuilder? And if so, is this a complex proces?

If it is repearable without too much hassle, I'm thinking about getting it professionaly repainted. If not, .... well, that would suck

Well, that's had a front end crash. Wonder if the forks are bent as well?

Given that steel is pretty tough you could ride it without it falling apart but why bother. It would annoy me to the point of distraction. Bending it back and filing the ripples off is never a good idea but done a lot BITD for cheap bikes.

The other option is to have the tubes replaced but the lugs often get distorted and would likely be more than the cost of finding another.

Personally I'd look for another frame to put the Campag kit on and sell the frame and forks off to someone who wants a fixie frame.

Shame though.

Shaun

Midlife":26v3r1fc said:

Well, that's had a front end crash. Wonder if the forks are bent as well?

Given that steel is pretty tough you could ride it without it falling apart but why bother. It would annoy me to the point of distraction. Bending it back and filing the ripples off is never a good idea but done a lot BITD for cheap bikes.

The other option is to have the tubes replaced but the lugs often get distorted and would likely be more than the cost of finding another.

Personally I'd look for another frame to put the Campag kit on and sell the frame and forks off to someone who wants a fixie frame.

Shame though.

Shaun

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The forks are ok! And they are original Flandria forks. So either they didn't got damaged in the crash, or they were replaced by a new set...

If it's beyond repair, I think I'll go for a cheap powdercoat... Is bending it back in place and filing the ripples of such a bad choice, if it's done by a professional framebuilder?

you could get that repaired but it will cost a fair amount,plus the paint on top you will not be far away from £275 to 300 .i think it would be cheeper to get a new frame.i dont mean to rub it in ,bu how on earth did you miss that when you paid for it ??

A professional framebuilder would not bend the frame and bodge the tubes......that's what we did in the bike shop. A framebuilder will put in 2 new tubes.

Here's a typical price list in GBP..

http://www.woodrupcycles.com/47

Shaun

...and that ladies and gentlemen is why steel is so awesome

You crash, it bends, you ride/you straighten/you replace bent bits. So much choice so little time

I rode a steel frame with similar damage for about 5 years back in the 80's - never had any issues

I can't actually remember now what happened to that bike, it wasn't high quality by any stretch (had cottered cranks!) - I seem to recall that I stopped riding it when the drivetrain wore out and I discovered that I preferred fatter tyres

A typical crash with Reynolds 531db forks - the blades were so strong that the frame got trashed instead. Hmm, possibly one to re-think. :?

While the frame is unlikely to fail, it certainly won't have the steering geometry that the builder intended. Personally I'd get rid of it and spend my hard-earned on a frame that hasn't been compromised. If it was a bike I had huge sentimental attachment to I suppose I would consider getting it repaired.

Hi all, thanks for the advice!

Broadened my horizons today with some professional advice today!

First of all, I've sent these pictures to a framebuilder. He told me that it's an easy job for him to replace the down- and toptube with new Ishiwata 022 tubes. Price for this, including an enamel respray with lug lining would be £162.

Secondly, I went to my local LBS and asked him what to do. He has builded a lot of frames back in the day, raced on a semi-professional level and has lots of expertise. He said just to leave it as it is. "You could ride another 20 years on it without any problem". Straightening was possible, but would be pure cosmetically. He said it was a crazy plan to replace the tubes because of the high cost.

So, I have some options.

Or, I'll leave the frame as it is and forget about it. (not the preferred option, every frame deserves a chance)
Or, I'll go the 'expensive' way and choose for new tubes and a decent respray for £162.
Or, I'll try to find a LBS who can straighten the frame and go for a rather cheap powdercoat of £45

As a student, £££'s are important so at the moment I'm preferring the third option. Frame isn't exactly my size either, that makes it even harder to justify a complete remake...

matthew71":2wkmlmjk said:

you could get that repaired but it will cost a fair amount,plus the paint on top you will not be far away from £275 to 300 .i think it would be cheeper to get a new frame.i dont mean to rub it in ,bu how on earth did you miss that when you paid for it ??

Click to expand...

I went by train to pick up the frame and only had 10 minutes time between trains for the transaction. Once I saw that the frame holded almost double the asking price in parts, I didn't bothered that much anymore about the frame :facepalm: . So even if the frame is scrap, I'm still happy with the deal

I would buy another frame and hang your decent parts off it. Use this for a parts bin single speed build with cheap tat for a station / pub / work / errand bike that you wont feel troubled about attaching it to a lamp post with a rusty pad-lock.