Bicycle Mechanics - Frame: R.I.P. or not?

What do you think?
Front triangle and fork are OK.

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee42/Reynolds51/DSC02256.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee42/Reynolds51/DSC02257.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee42/Reynolds51/DSC02262.jpg

have you tried bending it back
steel frames are beastly in that respect

they way it is now, it looks like it might crumple under stress
but if you can str8en it out, should be okay until it fails in the future...

have you tried bending it back
steel frames are beastly in that respect

they way it is now, it looks like it might crumple under stress
but if you can str8en it out, should be okay until it fails in the future...

that's confidence inspiring.

Steel lugged frames can be repaired but send it to someone who knows what they're doing. Here's a place I've heard about, though I've never used them myself:

http://www.yellowjersey.org/zito.html

boy, if you are going to scrape it send it to me i'll find someone to fix it. this is why I love steel frames the rear stay does no look crumpled, just bent, this looks easily straighten at the very worst the rear stay cold be replaced. Ya got to love steel what other frame material can be repaired like this. Really if your going to scrape it I may be will to deal with you, I have a campy nouvo and super record grouppos waiting for a new frame.

Whats the story on this anyway? I don't see any paint damage I don't get how it could be bent that much and not have some paint chipped off.

I'm guessing crash involving someone else landing on it?

Shoulder to the stay could do that...and really hurt

Did you get rear ended (riding or parked)? The rear wheel is taco'd pretty good.

Hit from behind by a drunk driver. Looks like the impact was on the tire so the paint wasn't affected. Did the driver have insurance? If so it seems like they should get you a new frame, rear wheel, and labor to put it all together - plus medical and other damages.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

Yeah...that should all be covered by insurance

or small claims court

What do you think?
Front triangle and fork are OK.


Irreparable. You could spend a bucket load of money and never have the bike right.

Look carefully at your third picture. You can see that the front triangle is damaged. The bottom bracket is pushed towards the drive side. The seatstay and the chainstay are damaged. The downtube may also be bent...as indicated by the bottom bracket being pushed to one side. If the downtube is bent likely the seat tube is bent as well. The derailer hanger and right side dropout also look bent. Too much stuff needs replaced or bent back into shape. Even then I'd have questions about what kind of damage was done in places you can't see like tube joints and lugs.

Sometimes stuff just can't be fixed. Sorry.

Irreparable. You could spend a bucket load of money and never have the bike right.

Look carefully at your third picture. You can see that the front triangle is damaged. The bottom bracket is pushed towards the drive side. The seatstay and the chainstay are damaged. The downtube may also be bent...as indicated by the bottom bracket being pushed to one side. If the downtube is bent likely the seat tube is bent as well. The derailer hanger and right side dropout also look bent. Too much stuff needs replaced or bent back into shape. Even then I'd have questions about what kind of damage was done in places you can't see like tube joints and lugs.

Sometimes stuff just can't be fixed. Sorry.

I feel like the angle of the photo may be off slightly which is causing it to seem this way.

To the OP was there contact to the cranks to cause any damage there?

I think its worth having a reputable place at least LOOK at it and determine if its just the seatstay (which is worth fixing) or more. I'm definitely no frame expert, but IMO if you have a reputable place that isn't just gonna fix it and nail you its worth a look.

I'd say get the seat stay bent back straight. Ride it and check the dropout joints and the chainstay joints at the BB regularly for cracking. The beauty of steel is that it doesn't fail in a dramatic way- usually you have plenty of notice. If it were aluminum, I'd scrap it for sure.

I think the rim is toast, tho.

I'd strip it and take it to a frame builder, not a bike shop.

I feel like the angle of the photo may be off slightly which is causing it to seem this way.

To the OP was there contact to the cranks to cause any damage there?

I think its worth having a reputable place at least LOOK at it and determine if its just the seatstay (which is worth fixing) or more. I'm definitely no frame expert, but IMO if you have a reputable place that isn't just gonna fix it and nail you its worth a look.

The frame wouldn't have to have had impact at the bottom bracket to bend it out of plane. The impact to the rear triangle would be enough. Since the seatstay is bent so severely, the chainstay also has to be bent. That, in turn, could bend other tubes further away from the point of impact. The bicycle's marvelous structure that resists bending for such a lightweight vehicle will insure that any one tube bent on impact is going to effect the rest of the structure.

The beauty of steel is that it doesn't fail in a dramatic way- usually you have plenty of notice.

Sorry but the mythical properties of steel...that it can be bent forever without failure...isn't borne out by evidence. I've broken bikes made of steel and bikes made of aluminum. I've broken parts made of steel and made of aluminum. Aluminum will give you a warning before it fails. Aluminum rims, cranks and frames all creak and groan before failure (not that I listen until after the part has failed:rolleyes:). And then, when they do fail, they tend to tear rather then fracture and fail catastrophically.

Steel frames, axles, spokes and steer tubes, on the other hand, give no warning. They just fail, often audibly. Spokes don't make a lot of noise before failure. You stand up, pedal and you hear 'plink' and you know that the spoke as broken. Frames do the same. Pedal axles and wheel axles do the same. One minute you are riding and the next you've got a pedal attached to you foot and you may, or may not, be gouging chunks out of your ankle.

Thanks for your responses. The frame could be bent back into shape, I think, but I doubt about its reliability afterwards. The front triangle doesn't seem bent at all, the impact was on the rear wheel. The whole rear triangle is bent, and the brake bridge is "squeezed". Will consult a framebuilder when I'm well enough to strip the frame. Anyway, I'll likely ask for all damages covered, including a new frame if available.

Frame, heck! Demand the driver get you a new bicycle.

The wheel is taco'd and if he hit you on the drive side the rear derailleur may be damaged. Besides, people who are not into bikes tend to think of a bike as a unit, not a system of components. You can make a case that the bike is trashed due to the drunk's negligence.

Insurance companies don't like to deal in parts of things they don't understand

They will expect to replace just a "bike"...THEN they find out how much that one cost. I learned this the least beneficial way (though it was a business replacing it, not an insurance company)...I had a wheel trashed by what I considered their negligence and they agreed to replace it. I was new to buying bike parts...got basically the lowest priced alloy rim (but at a decent shop). If I had known now that the company replacing it wouldn't have batted an eye at a higher price tag, I would have grabbed $120 closeout rim with an XTR hub rather than the $45 generic that I have never been happy with to this day. At the time I had some irrational worry about them not reimbursing me and as a poor college student I cheaped out

My bike was totaled by an insurance adjuster and it had less damage than that Pinnarello. In my case the adjuster figured replacement cost, not repair cost for the frame.

Regarding the frame, it looks repairable to me although it's difficult to say by looking at a few photos. If the bottom bracket has stepped out to the side it most likely wouldn't be an economical repair so you need to get the frame checked by someone that knows what to look for.

Good luck and hope you were not hurt too badly.

OK, if it's an insurance thing, you're owed a new frame. Ignore my earlier advice- even if it were straightened, I'd never feel completely safe riding it. It's just that it's so purty, I'd hate to see it trashed.

I T-boned a lady in a Volvo that pulled out from a side street in front of a group ride. She saw the 1st two guys fly by and figured that was it and pulled out... right in front of me. I flew over the hood and the front wheel left a nice vertical dent in her door along with two little dimples from the brake-levers. The shop I took the bike two said the bike was totalled and wrote up an estimate for a comparable replacement. I gave it to her insurance company and they didn't bat an eyelash at cutting me a $2000 cheque. Don't waste your time, just replace the bike, or at least the frame.

+1 on Yellow Jersey. They've done great stuff for years.

Just saw Yellow Jersey's pics. Seems they've repaired worse frames than mine. I'll try to get a new one, but would like to repair this for its sentimental value.
Looks like this tool was made precisely for my frame:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/var/images/var0010.jpg