First off don’t setup your drops so they can contact the frame. I have a long torso and short arms and that’s exactly what I did. Fortunately VO is sending me a new frame for a good price.
What are my options? The dent is significant. I’d love to salvage this otherwise beautiful frame. Having a new tube welded in is too much cost. I’ve read about using water and freezing to expand from inside. I know a lot of people would say put a sticker over it and send it.
by Vivid_Professional74
11 Comments
I dont know. Looks like it would have to b a professional job. Dent is so big i would not ride it anymore
conversion to an S&S coupler system.
It’s nearly impossible to avoid contact between drop bars and top tubes on most bikes. Just the cost of doing business with drop bars. That must have been a serious impact to dent your frame so badly.
That dent is serious, and it I’m generally in camp ‘just send it’.
Since you have a replacement on the way, I would sell the frame for cheap to someone willing to do the repair properly. You won’t get much for it, maybe like $100, but it’s better than a kick in the teeth?
That is the ultra rare case of a dented steel frame that maybe really isn‘t safe to ride.
Edit: Holy mother of chimneys, i think that bike identifies as a cruise ship.
Scrap the frame and count your blessings that VO is so nice
There are tons of small shops that will do steel bike repairs. Seeing you post in Portland subs I would look at this post and contact a few shops. I’m over in Virginia, but I had Similar dent repaired around $300. Full tube replacement but no paint.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CyclePDX/s/4IHKPK0SyQ
The repairability of steel is very over sold.
In truth, you have yielded the steel there significantly, and will yield it further trying to push it back. This causes changes in the affected metal and it would behave in a much more brittle manner in the future. Replacing the tube is really the right way to repair it and that is much harder to do now that frames are welded and not brazed.
If you were to keep riding that frame without replacing the tube, I would leave it as is but be super happy that VO is willing to warranty it!
Frame dents can be rolled out, but you have a pretty severe looking dent there.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JTDeXG0kweA
https://www.paragonmachineworks.com/frame-building-tools/tube-blocks.html
I have never heard of using water/ice to repair a dent, usually you only hear of ice when a chainstay has been damaged by water freezing inside a frame tube causing it to rupture.
Make it an s and s coupler bike!
Definitely time to have a repair done at a frame builder. Definitely wouldn’t put a sticker over it and send it in this case.
You can try frame blocks. See this video from RJ:
https://youtu.be/JTDeXG0kweA?si=AirKEKSb7gph-Hm6
Just remember that the paint will be damaged and a small dent will likely be left behind which you can fill with Bondo. Sand and paint