Framebuilders - Crumpled Head Tube seeking sage advice...

Hi all, this is my first post. I recently had the very sad experience of crumpling the headtube on this freshly powdercoated frame. It's a Reynolds 531 Cilo with french threaded fork/bb. I think it's probably early 70's...

I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, my best guess is that the problem could have been the ISO headset (shimano 600 frenchie), maybe this frame is sized for a different cup size...But I'm also wondering if this could have been due to pre-existing damage.

I've added some links to pictures of the damage; I'm wondering if head tube replacement is a good option. Or, on a long shot, is there any chance is this frame could be rideable in this condition? Thanks, James

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U43D18uXzDc/SrqOvi5cuEI/AAAAAAAAAMc/DKwUq-oMBTs/s1600-h/purple1.JPG
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_U43D18uXzDc/SrqOxRofESI/AAAAAAAAAM0/ZtHLvHNhB_0/s1600-h/purple4.JPG
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_U43D18uXzDc/SrqOwOjK9KI/AAAAAAAAAMk/iPHK_nl_3KU/s1600-h/purple2.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_U43D18uXzDc/SrqOwz2GjmI/AAAAAAAAAMs/IhR7oey9zRE/s1600-h/purple3.JPG

http://web.me.com/awcg/iWeb/Springwood/Photos%202_files/purple1.jpg
Resized on of the images and posted it up for you.

Personally I would not trust that headtube.

It looks like a hydraulic press did that!

Wow! How on earth did that happen?

Did that happen when you were pressing the headset in? The only thing that makes sense to me is that the headset didn't fit in the hole and there was enough side load applied for it to buckle. Was the head tube reamed after powder coat? It's possible that there was a considerable amount of stress built into the head tube which contributed.

Head tube replacement seems possible, but it would mean a new powder coat. Sorry about your loss, that must be very disappointing.

Wow! How on earth did that happen?

My thoughts exactly. Even two burly fellows torquing a headset press would have to put some considerable force on that headtube to do that much damage.

-Kurt

Yeah, a couple of turns of the headset press and it just crushed. The fit of the cups was tight but there wasn't a *ton* of resistance. I did face the head tube after the powder coat though I did not ream or measure the diameter of the tube. Outside of incompatible cups, it is also possible the tube could have been stressed in a collision though I didn't notice anything on a visual inspection.

The general consensus seems to confirm my suspicion that this frame is totally unrideable in this condition...Thanks for the sympathy though, I was bummed.

OUCH. Unridable in my book. A framebulder would be able to replace the head tube, but would require a strip and a re-powder at the end. Seeing this makes me much less enthusiastic about doing my own headset work on my Serotta even though I'd be putting back the same headset as I would be taking out.

just for reference, I just checked a local frame builder's website, he's got a $100 cost for head tube replacement. However this is probably not including the cost of stripping paint/powder to get the area prepped for such work.

Looks like compression buckling of a thin walled tube to me. Why would you think there was pre-existing damage? You overloaded it and it failed.

Looks like compression buckling of a thin walled tube to me. Why would you think there was pre-existing damage? You overloaded it and it failed.

I wouldn't fling off accusations like that.

I happened to cross-post this to C&V, which happened to reference a case of a new Super Vitus 980 frame failing back in the day - along with a few other ideas being tossed about:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=587886

-Kurt