With facilitation help I picked up a Raleigh Mixte for my sister and got it home. Finally started tearing it down this week to do the clean. lube, etc - and had an unpleasant surprise. The headtube was dented. Neither the gentleman who assisted nor I noticed this, the bike is white and it wasn't obvious from a casual inspection. It sure was now...





But it wasn't horrible (or we'd have noticed it), just made the front of the tube a bit flat. The fork had been a bit stiff in turning, I had attributed that to dry bearings but it was also rubbing against the dent. Checked the steerer with a rule though, perfectly straight. Forks correctly aligned too. Whatever caused it was a dead-shot right on the headtube face between the lugs. Didn't mar the headbadge at all.

Fix or leave? A $75 bike, Raleigh 20-30 thick steel tubing, very short headtube on a very small mixte - why attempt a fix of course. I removed the headset and headbadge and - and in a nice bit of luck - found that a 22mm socket wrench I had perfectly fit the opening, not too snug nor too loose.

So I greased up the inside of the tube and first hammered a 20mm socket through it first to relieve the dent a little, then ran the 22 through it. The results:





Looks good, the tube is nice and round again. No indications of stressing, just some paint flaking that I'll need to touch up. I'm good with this I think, not worried about potential safety issues- this tubing is some thick stuff. If it were high-end tubing it would have been a write-off.

The only bad thing is that my ears are still ringing, guess who forgot to insert ear plugs before commencing to whanging on the sockets with a hammer? I should know better..