Replace or Repair ?

[lastpubrunner]

My son recently had an 'off' on his Dawes Galaxy (531 tubing).

He is fine, but there is an issue with the frame. He fell off on the right of the bike and the bike slid away.

The rear derallieur is a 'write off'; worse, he was bent the hanger and dropout back (inwards) ever so slightly. Furthermore, the lower 'jaw' of the 'dropout' has been widened/spread - downwards. In other words, it is very easy to fit the wheel spindle on that side.

What I would like to know is : is it okay to (carefully) 'force' the jaw closed slightly into the normal position ? I'm not sure if this can be done, 'cos the gear hanger is slightly 'in the way' - it would have been more straight forward if he'd done it on the other side. Would this course of action compromise the strength of the dropout and mean that a new dropout would need to be fitted ?

Any advice most gratefully received.

Damage looks very similar to the image below, but my dropout also has a gear hanger.

 

[mattsccm]

The cautious or those reluctant to give a risky opinion will say its knackered or ask your trusty bikes shop. From much experience of damaging steel frames my answer is inspect for cracks, if none gently bend it back and the drop out to the correct width. Check dropouts are parallel.
Bollock son for bending it and ride it yourself.

 

[legrandefromage]

My son recently had an 'off' on his Dawes Galaxy (531 tubing).

He is fine, but there is an issue with the frame. He fell off on the right of the bike and the bike slid away.

The rear derallieur is a 'write off'; worse, he was bent the hanger and dropout back (inwards) ever so slightly. Furthermore, the lower 'jaw' of the 'dropout' has been widened/spread - downwards. In other words, it is very easy to fit the wheel spindle on that side.

What I would like to know is : is it okay to (carefully) 'force' the jaw closed slightly into the normal position ? I'm not sure if this can be done, 'cos the gear hanger is slightly 'in the way' - it would have been more straight forward if he'd done it on the other side. Would this course of action compromise the strength of the dropout and mean that a new dropout would need to be fitted ?

Any advice most gratefully received.

Oh dear! Hope he's alright!

Anyhoo - yes, yes and yes. A steel tube can bend the dropouts back but better still isa bash from one of those thor style nylon coated hammers with the wheel in situ. A keen eye and an adjustable spanner helps with bending everything else back in place.

had to do this on a couple of decent frames and they are still perfectly ok some years on

 

[hamster]

My framebuilder did a similar repair to my Pine Mountain, except I had managed to fold the hanger up 90 degrees and stuff the mech into the wheel. After he bent it back he merely suggested I didn't make a habit of it.

 

[lastpubrunner]

Bollock son for bending it and ride it yourself.

I displayed commendable restraint

Yes, I think that I will ride it myself.

I have to say, the dropouts seem to be rather solid & thick - might take some bending back.

Cheers for the replies, fellas !

 

[duffer2]

I would not consider bending such a piece of steel that far without the use of heat. The bend is in a high stress area and very likely to fail later, even if no cracks are visible at the time. :shock:

 

[legrandefromage]

on seeing the damage - thats pretty bad and I'd consult a frame builder - see if danson67 is about, he may be able to advise.

 

[Jonny69]

If it's bent as far as in the pic I'd use some heat on it. Otherwise it will almost certainly snap while you're bending it back, or shortly afterwards. Another option if you can weld would be to make a pie cut in the back of the drop out, file to a V and bend it into shape, then weld into the V. Dress it back and it'll be as good as new.

 

[Johnson22]

Looks pretty bad, I would avoid riding it if possible until I had a professional framebuilder fix it. I think its worth paying for people who know what they are doing in this case.