Bicycle Mechanics - Ooops. Didn't notice the chain rub. Too damaged?

When I got my Dahon Curve D3 I checked after the first couple rides for chain rub. I guess I should have kept checking. By the time I finally noticed it last week while changing a flat, its been almost 3 months since I last checked. There is a gouge deep enough to have depth, but it doesn't go all the way through the metal. Is the frame wrecked? Or can I just put a washer on the axel to add some space and it will be ok?

Sigh.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2374/2534499731_2bff9647ee_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3200/2535284544_2f212a5f96_b.jpg

Didn't google the frame and presume it is steel. If so it is likely to last
a long time. If aluminum, there will be a little higher risk of the metal
failing than with steel. You might consider taking a 3/32 or 1/16" drill
and carefully drilling holes at each end of the crack/opening as a
stress reliever and then using JB weld to build up a cover for the ground
away section of chain stay. It can be filed or sanded down to level and
painted with a suitable color from the autoparts store touchup paint
selection. Then get a length of tough thick clear plastic tape as a
chain stay protector. Tennis racket tape is one possibility.

Is this a BMX with the picture mirror imaged? I'm having a tough time making sense of what I'll looking at other than the hole the chain had cut into the tube. It looks like you have a BMX or other odd frame with the brake bosses welded to the chain stays. But the second pictur showing the rim implies that your drive chain is on the left side of the bike....

If this IS a BMX and you're jumping a lot then I'd be looking at the stay very often for signs of any trouble developing. At the first sign of the stay tube kinking, bending or any sort of cracks developing I'd walk home wiht the bike and go get a new frame.

I should have mentioned that it is flipped over on its seat so that I could get a clear photo. Its not mirrored or anything. The Dahon Curve is a folder, if you're not familiar with them. Here's the full specs:
http://www.dahon.com/archive/2007/us/curved3.htm

They call the frame "Sonus tubing", but I'm pretty sure its aluminum. I don't have any set up for welding or anything like that. I barely have room in my apartment for a bike--hence the folder :P

Also, this isn't, unfortunately, a bike that you can just buy the frame.

JB Weld is an epoxy like stuff available in tubes at hardware and autoparts stores.
It would fill and seal the hole and can be smoothed with sanding when hard and
touched up with closest match auto touchup paint. Devco makes a similar product
sold in the same places. http://jbweld.net/products/jbweld.php

I think I would be calling Dahon and complaining about there engineering.

Bring it back to the LBS you bought it from. Bikes are not normally into self cannibalism.

JB Weld is an epoxy like stuff available in tubes at hardware and autoparts stores.
It would fill and seal the hole and can be smoothed with sanding when hard and
touched up with closest match auto touchup paint. Devco makes a similar product
sold in the same places. http://jbweld.net/products/jbweld.php

Cool! I may use that. Thanks ;)