sunburst

Someone gave me this Fuji last week, saying it probably was a basket case, due to the top tube dent. It evidently fell off a hook in a shop or garage somewhere. My LBS blessed it today (to build up as a casual bike), saying the head tube was still aligned. Thought I'd get a 2nd opinion here. Would this dent worry anyone?

Not sure I'll actually use it. It's been stripped so I'd have to find a few things, but I'm considering a ss, and I've already got a lot of what I'd need. For me, the color's good, and it's my ideal size, 56cm.

ItchyZipper

I've had good luck improving the looks of dents like that. That's a 1 inch t.t., Bore a 1 inch hole in a big block of hardwood, hard maple is good, oak is ok. Cut that block in two. grease the tt and the two half blocks,lightly clamp the whole thing in a big bench vise at the dented area. Slowly increase the clamp pressure, while rotating the frame 180 degrees back and forth. Most of that dent will roll out. The creased part of the dent will still be there, but better. I suspect that you can get 80% of that dent out! It's worth a try, you'll be amazed.

HillRider

Itchyzipper's technique works and will make the frame look better. In fact, there are commercial tools very similar to his description that are used in bike shops and by frame builders for the same purpose.

The frame seems somewhat the worse for wear so a repaint is in order after the fix as the blocks will probably further damage the finish.

miamijim

I never had luck with the wood block method.

sunburst

I read something similar in Bicycling many years ago. A (financially-challenged) guy found a dented frame in a little shop in Italy and the builder popped it into his frame-vise/jig, clamped it down and fixed it.