Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - krimped down tube

I hit my front end hard destroying the fork and crimping the down tube, the frame looks straight but there is about a 1/2 inch perpendicular "fold" in the down tube, not very deep but more that noticable. I wonder is it safe? or trash? Oh, its a steel frame.

My roommate hit a parked car (think he was drunk). His down tube has a smushed fold in it. No cracks but I'm sure they will develop in a day or two. Anyway I convinced him to not ride it and just ride one of my bikes to his work.
If you were my roommate I would do the same.

trashed. Don't ride it, because even if you put a new fork on there, the head angle has been steepened by the impact and you will potentially have bad toe overlap, not to mention a weakened frame.

1/2 inch sounds pretty drastic.

Any change in the shape of any frame will have me saying: DONT RIDE IT

except for deliberate safe changes like cold setting steel.

if you value your teeth don't ride it

I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I'd guess that it won't break unless you have another dramatic crash. It would probably suck to ride with that super-steep head angle though.

Had a friend do a similar thing about 6 months ago. He took a frame straigtener to it bent it back out and while there is a noticible bump where the fold was, its still bein messed on today. Steel is real (and fairly well malleable).

I rode a frame with a crimped downtube for about 4-5 months (courier work as well) until it snapped at the top of the seattube. Frame wasn't straight and as soon as I removed the seatpost the tube *pinged* out sideways!
Front end was much, much steeper and increased toe overlap dramatically, only one foot got wet when it rained, etc. etc all the obvious effects.

Would I do it again? Probably not.

If you love the frame try repairing it. If not, try to get another frame as soon as...

if you value your teeth don't ride it

+1

for the price of one root canal, post, and crown, you can get a custom steel frame made.

I'd get it checked out by a compotent frame builder and see what they say. Like many folks I rode a seriously dented frame for months but really didn't have too much confidence in it, which definitely made my life less fun.

After the crash, my head tube was twisted as well and it made the whole bike track strangely. Finally got it repaired and it turned out that some of the lugs had cracked as well (weren't visible) so was pretty glad about that.

The best thing you can do is get it checked out and then make a decision about leaving it and riding as is, repairing or replacing.

Failing that, post some pictures, and we'll all give our 'expert' opinion on yer dent.