Hi all.
Yesterday I made an impulse craigslist purchase. What was advertised as a 'Trek bike -- perfect shape' for $50 or best offer.
It turns out it was right around the corner from my house, so I thought what the heck, I'll take a look.
This is what I found:
The headset and bottom bracket was rattling about, and the hubs feel a little gritty, but but the frame looked straight enough. I figured I take a shot and walked away with the bike and $40 less in my wallet.
When I got it home, I looked up the serial number on vintage-trek.com, and it turns out that it's a 610. 531 butted main tubes, not bad, I thought. A few small dents in the top tube, but nothing that would significantly compromise the integrity of the frame.
The seatpost & stem aren't seized, and aside from the hideous paint-job, everything looks salvageable. I figured if nothing else, a strip, respray, and re-assemble and I could either re-sell it on, or keep it -- it's my size.
But then, I noticed something. the seat-tube is slightly deformed. It's out of round not so much that you can see it, but enough that you can feel it with your hand. The deformation is about three inches long, and more or less in the center of the tube. the tube is otherwise apparently straight.
Provided when I strip off the paint, and I don't see any cracks or other nastiness, should I proceed to fix'er up ?
Is it possible to fix the deformation without replacing the tube?
Just ride it?
I probably won't sell the frame on with this defect, but if it's reasonable safe, I certainly consider riding it myself.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.