Classic & Vintage - Can a sentimental favorite be saved?

Forgive me for not having good pictures to post, but I just wanted to know if this was a lost cause. I'm out of town on business right now so I can't take pics right now. The ones I have are at the end of the post.

I bought a Nishiki Olympic 12 back in the mid-1980s. I used it as a commuter when I lived in Los Angeles and then... we were able to afford a second car, and I rarely rode it after that. In fact, the only parts that are not original are the seat, tires and tubes. Fast-forward 20+ years, and I get a job less than 10 miles from home. I decide to get the old bike out and start riding it to work.

On my second commute, on Valentines Day this year, I hit an edge on a sidewalk and the front tire STOPPED. I went over the handlebars and broke my 6-day-old helmet in half (yay helmets!) and damaged the Nishiki.

The front rim was surprisingly not too bad, but I bent the fork back so far that the wheel hit the downtube. The downtube itself was buckled (mushroomed out) just aft of the fork tube.

To make the bicycle rideable, I bent the fork back (putting the ends between the steps of an aluminum ladder and pulling down pretty hard until it was straight again), and had my front rim trued up at the bike shop.

I've since bought another bike and am commuting on the new one. My plan was just to dump the Oly 12. But then I realized I'm kind of attached to it. So... what are my options here? Should I just ride it as-is? Should I try to straighten the frame (I think it's a 24-incher)? Should I try to straighten the frame? Should I replace the fork? Mind you, I rode this thing for several months after the accident.

I haven't been on BikeForums long, so if the answers are obvious, forgive me. But what would you do with a favorite bike that's been damaged?

Now, the pics:

A few days before I went over the handlebars:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture003-4.jpg

After:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture011-2.jpg

And it wasn't just the bike that suffered damage:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture004-6.jpg http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture006-5.jpg

I'm not familiar with the bike. Lots of people have ridden low end bikes for years with damage like that, and they have not suffered any cracks. I've bent forks back into place, Park sold a jack to do that repair. Did their lawyers make them stop selling it? So riding it is really up to you and your acceptance of risk. You can monitor the damaged areas, and see what happens.

Personally, I'd probably re-purpose it with a hacksaw.

"Repurpose it"? You mean DESTROY it???

Don't think of it that way, I'd be giving it a new life. I'm building something like an xtracycle, and I need donor frames. In all seriousness, I don't really see anything wrong with doing that to this bike. It's a goner.

I just looked the bike up on the web. Looks like a nice mid-range bike. Seems like you are a big guy, might not want to find out what happens when your forks break.

I don't know why I keep forgetting to mention that there probably are people in your area that would be able to use parts off this bike. That's probably the best use for it now.

I wouldn't recommend riding it at all until it's been looked over by an expert in frames/forks. Most likely the fork should be replaced. Shouldn't be too difficult to find one that matches. The head-tube needs a good, long glance after that kind of hit. As for the downtube...It really should not be ridden until it's been evaluated. A full catastrophic failure could leave YOU looking like the second photo. Not good.

Find a matching fork for it!
My wifes Nishiki Olympic 12

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n112/hellhammered/Nishiki/BG1.jpg

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n112/hellhammered/Nishiki/BG3.jpg

http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n112/hellhammered/Nishiki/BG2.jpg

You should replace the fork for sure. I have a bunch of vintage forks. Send me the fork tube dimensions by PM and I will see what I have.

If the frame is bent, technically, it is toast, but if you can ride it and it floats true, well, maybe it isn't a big deal. You know that for the type of head-on accident you described, the indicator of damage is usually the underneath side of the down tube near the head tube - look for a wrinkle or flaking paint.

You should also check the headset bearings and cups for damage.

PS: that is one TALL bike you have there. The head tube is as long as a broomstick!

With the level of damage, I would salvage the usable parts (drive train, rear wheel etc) and then send the frame, fork and front wheel to the recycle bin. If just the fork were tweaked, I would say get a fork and a front wheel -- but you state that the down tube is 'mushroomed out' and that is damage that would not be practical to fix.

If the tubes have buckled, straigthening them is a questionable operation and not worth the risk, in my opinion. The only dependable way to salvage it, it that case, would be to have the tubes replaced, which is an expensive option for a bicycle the level of an Olympic. In the end, it all depends on how fat your wallet is and how sentimantal you are.

However, there is at least one final service that your Olympic can provide. You can give me the serial number for my Nishiki Serial Number Database.

The bike is steel, so depending on the amount of damage, it may be possible to straighten & align the frame and fork. Take it to a frame builder for an assessment. He will tell you if it can be repaired & give a price estimate, then its up to you whether to spend the $$ on a bike that has mostly sentimental value.

I found a vintage Zeus (Reynolds 531 frame & fork) which had similar damage, maybe not so severe, although the fork was visibly bent & some paint was cracked near the head tube, but it had some top end components worth far more than I had paid.

I took took it to frame builder Bill Stevenson to check it out. He told me "Any steel frame can be repaired, but just because I can do something, doesn't mean I should!" After examining it, he agreed a repair was worthwhile & for a mimimal charge straightened & aligned both frame & fork. He also chased the BB threads, aligned the dropouts & did something to make the head tube round again. The bike rides fine now & after touch-up of the paint, its hard to find any indication it was wrecked even when I know where to look. I have seen a few other framesets repaired over the years both by straightening & even replacing tubes but it gets expensive fast & usually is only worthwhile on top end frames. Don
edit: Here's a couple pics of how it looks now.

In 1976, I bent back the butted Reynolds 531 top tube and downtube on my first 1960 Capo in my one-and-only close encounter of the wrong kind with a motor vehicle. I had the frame straightened and rode it for eight more years, but the downtube eventually started to rupture during a moderate climb.

I say we pool our money and buy the fella a nice new Surly Long Haul Trucker.

I feel bad for him...all scraped up and such. :(

http://www.cyclofiend.com/cc/images2/cc198-2surly1.jpg

I say we pool our money and buy the fella a nice new Surly Long Haul Trucker.

I appreciate that, but I'm kind of attached to this bike... thus the thread.

I feel bad for him...all scraped up and such. :(

I'm fine now. I had an underbite for about a week (due to hitting so hard on my chin), and the scrapes healed up after a couple weeks. This happened back in February.

Being a fairly recent convert (back) to bicycling, how would I go about finding a reasonably-priced frame builder in Fort Worth (or maybe Dallas or Denton or Waco)?

Also, once I get back home at the end of the week I'll see if I can't get some better pictures up. Since I already have a second bike (and may be acquiring a third* soon), there is no hurry to fix my Oly 12 up immediately, but if it makes any sense at all to do it, I wouldn't mind making a project bike out of it. (Did I mention that it's the first bike I ever bought new?) As long as the frame is reasonably okay and doesn't cost a fortune to repair, I think it's worth it. The downtube does have some of that paint "cracked near the head tube" stuff and there is some bulging. I would guess the diameter in the bulged area is maybe about 1/16" larger than the nominal diameter (maybe not even that bad). But it is visibly larger than the nominal.

Also, once I get home I'll measure that fork.

Although she doesn't rider herself due to various health issues, my wife is pretty tolerant of my interest in bicycles. I've been threatening for years to buy an old fixer-upper car. If I change that to fixer-upper bicycles, I think she's sensible to realize that we're talking about far less money and space occupied by my projects.


*The third bike? I may be picking up an old Raleigh cruiser that will need some restoration.

http://search.ebay.com/Nishiki-Olympic-12_W0QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQmaxrecordsreturnedZ300

Sooner or later, one will pop up in the right color and size (and if you don't mind blue, the $99 BIN example looks pretty spiffy, and about your size too). In the meantime, find a donor frameset and move your parts onto that.

-Kurt

Being a fairly recent convert (back) to bicycling, how would I go about finding a reasonably-priced frame builder in Fort Worth (or maybe Dallas or Denton or Waco)?

Doohickie,

check out David Cheakas at Southwest Frame Works, he's close to the Love Field Bachman lake area.
Excellent framebuilder and painter, and overall nice guy.

http://www.southwestframeworks.com/

Marty

Doohickie,

check out David Cheakas at Southwest Frame Works, he's close to the Love Field Bachman lake area.
Excellent framebuilder and painter, and overall nice guy.

http://www.southwestframeworks.com/

Marty

I missed the part about framebuilders, is it to repair this frame? Don't think that would be economic. And look at the "weight and wait" page, there is an awesome delay.

I missed the part about framebuilders, is it to repair this frame? Don't think that would be economic. And look at the "weight and wait" page, there is an awesome delay.

uhm, I think David is talking about 1) delivery time for a custom frame, and 2) two seasons, as in
winter, summer, spring fall, not 2 racing season. i.e. fall 2007 to spring 2008 for delivery.

or did I miss something again.

Marty

look at it this way.....say you did that damage with 1 lick from a big baseball bat....you then straightened the forks on the ladder. Then you hit it again with the same bat/similar force. This time the frame is weakened and could break anywhere; especially that mushroomed tube. If your riding and have a similar accident; you might be falling on a ragged broken down tube.........

Thanks for the inputs folks. I'm taking it all in and trying to digest all this food for thought. I knew I came to the right place. ;)

You've probably spent more money on less satisfying things. We all have. Think about how long it takes to work and make the money to buy a new bike without character and no memories. Then think about the bike you wrecked and how cool it would be to still ride it and have the story.

I'd rather spend $250 on a C&V bike, get into it piece by piece, learn it, clean it, bring it back and ride it, maybe spend $50-$100 making it like new, and sell it for a slight loss than spend 3x that on a bike that just sits there until I ride it.

I still have more fun patching a tube than working long enough to make the $4. And once in a while, it holds air.

So the bike was pranged. Fix it if you can. If it works out, great. If it doesn't, you haven't really wasted anything, and you learned more than you would have otherwise.

Forget the danger, think of the fun.

RobbieTunes= +1

Nishiki is one of my favorite brands (as the C&V group says "No Really Rocco?") but I would not trust a bent fork, especially a crowned fork. At a minimum, I would replace the fork. After that, I'd keep an eye on the frame watching for any continued bending/breaking. If the frame starts to deteriorate, that's it, game over, it has to be replaced.

What does "crowned" fork mean?

And Robbie: Best post EVAR. That's kind of my attitude with this bike right now. I know it might not work out, but I want to at least investigate the idea of fixing it up. If it doesn't work out, I've still gained (if only knowledge).

However, there is at least one final service that your Olympic can provide. You can give me the serial number for my Nishiki Serial Number Database.

Done (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=7523890#post7523890). Apparently it was a 1983 model, making it 25 years old. I think I bought it in 1984 (or maybe even 85) for about $250.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture033.jpg

I can't keep my hands off her.

I took her down off her hooks in the garage tonight and cleaned her up. I retaped the handlebars. I'm gonna get a new tire. The belts on the one I crashed it with are toast, which I found out when I pumped up the pressure to the recommended 90 psi. So I'll go ahead and buy another 27 x 1-1/4, put it on and see how it works for me.

I also moved the seat up, the handlebars down a little, and just sitting on it in my living room, she feels like she wants to go. She's not the best bike out there by any means, but she's my bike, dammit, and I'm gonna ride her, even it it's just an occasional thing.

I don't know if I would call this "saved." Maybe "salvaged" is a better word. Yet, I'm satisfied with the results. Here is my Oly 12 with some cleanup, some new handlebar tape, a new front tire and tube, and all the racks and stuff taken off it- down to the essential bicycle. I can't wait to take this out on the Trinity Trail.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture209.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture214.jpg

Gaudy handlebar tape- just the thing to spruce the ol' girl up
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture211.jpg

The drivetrain
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture212.jpg

The ugly: damage from the accident. The missing paint is where things were bent
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture215.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture219.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture221.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture216.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/Bicycle08/Picture224.jpg

Even with all that, from a distance she looks pretty good, and she still rides true. The only thing she really needs is a trueing of the wheels. The rims are pretty straight and all, but when I ride her I get some spoke creak.