GV27

LOL - well, I agree that it might not have been a jalopy before. But it is now! It could be all brand-new Campy Record but with a rusty bent frame it qualifies as a jalopy! ;-)

And I'll thow you a bone and be the one to chime in with "it's steel - it'll be fine". Keep the speed low and you should survive. It'll likely fail eventually and might fail gracefully. You'll get home one day and it'll just fall apart like the Blues Mobile. Maybe......

San Rensho 

I kinked the downtube on my bike and kept riding it. Eventually, the tube will start to fracture at the kink. I caught mine when the fracture was about half way through the tube because the bike felt really loose. As soon as I saw what had happened, I got off the bike. I figure I had less than a mile to go before the tube failed and I did a face plant.

roccobike

Although you took a close-up picture of your top-tube, you'd better check that downtube. It looks like a small bend and possible crack where it joins the head.
I figure you have to spend money so you can spend it on anther bike or increase your health insurance coverage. The new/used bike is probably cheaper and more fun.

Nigeyy

"Is this thing going to fail me?"

If you keep riding it, yes it will, as will all frames if ridden long enough with usual exposure to bumps and weather. The question is will it fail within a short time period -let's say a year? Or less? I don't know, but I do know looking at that, it's got a greater chance of failing than the average well built undamaged bicycle frame.

So..... if you want to risk it, go ahead. Personally, I'd say it's penny wise pound foolish to do so. You could probably pick up a free or extremely low price undamaged frame off craigslist. I wouldn't want to ride that frame given the pictures -but of course that doesn't mean necessarily the frame would fail within a year, I just believe it has a greater probability of failing within a year compared to a reasonable quality undamaged frame.

Think of it this way, you can cross a road blind folded, with only one car coming along every hour. Sure, you'd be fine most of the time, but would you do it out of choice? I'd say go with reducing your probability of something nasty happening -junk it and get another frame, and I'd also go with a reasonable front brake for your next bike too.

Of course, all of the above is from the "me" angle as well; another huge positive in junking this is by replacing it, you'll remove the probability of that frame (that you obviously have some questions and issues about now) breaking and causing an accident to someone else (e.g. car swerves to avoid you and hits something or someone else). Either that or just ride it where there is no one else so only you pay the possible consequences of you choosing to take the gamble.

Halloween

50 centimeters/20 inches deep? That's not a pothole, that's a crater. It's more than your wheel radius.



I'd say "no front brake" is probably one of the reasons you're still alive, given your riding 'style'. You'd've endoed headfirst into the crater with a functional front brake. Oh, wait, except you don't like to use the handlebar that much. Were you wearing a helmet? On your head? Maybe an old saucepan?

Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

Yeah, it's steel. So was that bridge in Minneapolis.

Mm-hm. Everything except the front brake, eh?


I'm guessing the "Cars 'R Coffins" guys are going to have to make a custom sticker for you.

GV27

You must not be getting all the pics. He included a closeup of the downtube - it's actually significantly worse that the top!

Jean, I would suspect that all of us (definitely me) who seem to be "on the fence" are just being charitable and have "been there". The truth is your frame is wasted. Only thing that could save it it replacing both the top and down tubes.

Halloween

Oh, and that rust on the downtube lug looks like it started beneath the paint, so it's probably more serious than mere cosmetic anti-theft rust.

On a positive, note... nice fender!

barndoor

"I'd say "no front brake" is probably one of the reasons you're still alive, given your riding 'style'. You'd've endoed headfirst into the crater with a functional front brake. Oh, wait, except you don't like to use the handlebar that much. Were you wearing a helmet? On your head? Maybe an old saucepan?"

You didn't even have a front brake?? Maybe you shouldn't wear a helmet.... ;^)

sch

I would second the experience of those who have had a frame crack as I did
a similar thing (ran a very nice 531 DB English touring frame built early '50s
into the curb.) My bike looked very much like that. The down tube kink
became a crack, about halfway through the tube, within a few months.
Bike got real squirrely when that happened. Ignoramus that I was I accepted
an offer by a friend of a friend to weld it. Rode the frame for several months
and while riding on the flat about 15mi out, the tube cracked in half at the
weld. No crash or loss of control but it sure was weird. I scrounged a length
of #14 house wiring and wrapped it around the toptube and to the shifter area
on the downtube and was able to ride home, There are builders who will replace
brazed tubes, but frame is not really worth the $200-400 this would cost.

Halloween

Well, if you look closely at the photos, there is a front brake... well, maybe half of one (interfered with 'dialing-in' the front rack/milk crate-bearing adjustment?), but there is no front brake cable attached to the brake lever.

tellyho

It's fine. But it ain't pretty.

Re-Cycle

^^ yup ^^

wroomwroomoops

Your bike took a really big hit. The good news is, it's a steel frame, so it will not fail all of a sudden - you will be given some warning before that happens. Still, if I were you, I'd not risk it.

BTW, glad to hear you're fine. Ride safely, and get a new frame.

becnal

Aloyzius

Is it for sale?

Nad Kel

I'm not about to condome riding the bicycle but I wish it the best. Maybe a few prayers and retire it from the road. Do like me - Glue it to the wall.

Potholes do suck, though. Never bent a frame though, usually just my wheels.

Brian Ratliff

I've knew a guy in college who rode a rusty huffy hard. It was rusted in a similar way, though the frame was not bent. Anyway, he jumped a curb from the sidewalk to the road while racing a bus and the frame broke into two pieces beneath him. In his case, it was probably because the rust weakened the frame at the water bottle bosses (it broke in two places: at mid-tube of the downtube and top tube).

Steel lasts a long time, but only if it is kept in good condition. In the second picture I think I can see two possible places where you might find cracks in the buckled section of the downtube. If it were me, I would replace this frame. But you are not me, so ride on if you wish, just understand that the frame might fail catastrophically sometime in the near or not so near future.

If you do ride it, periodically check those buckled areas for cracks. If they are there you migh not be able to see them now, but they will grow in time.

MyBikeGotStolen

I think that a long term "ride review" of the bike is needed.

freako

WHAA!! You cry babies. This frame may be screwed but it won't fail, IT'S MADE OF STEEL AND THERE'S NO CRACKS. All of your aluminum and carbon frames had they been hit that bad they would have been toast, but this is steel so it's just bent. As long as it tracks straight ride it, even if it didn't track straight it could be something simple like the headset may have gotten mushed a tad. But it looks like just the top tube bent slightly, so if you need to ride it then ride it.

Moose

I think you should get a new bike, but then I think everyone should get a new bike.

Dannihilator

Yes

wroomwroomoops

It's been a while since I condomed my riding.

San Rensho 

Wrong! A kink will eventually become a crack which will lead to complete failure of the tube.

GV27

No way - steel in unbreakable. They don't call Superman the "man of steel" for nothin'!

freako

Nope your wrong.

I had a son who BMX'd on a frame that was bent worse then that and it never broke. I had a bike that I hit a curb with that looked almost the same with the addition of a bent down tube and fork, and I rode it for years to college and work in my younger days. I gave that bike to another college kid when I left and told him I rode it that way for 4 years! and he rode it for who knows how many years.

That tube is not kinked as you have stated, it's bent, there's a difference. Also, if the tube was to crack and because it's steel the bike would still be rideable if you kept your eye on the crack to make sure it wasn't spreading. But I can tell by the bend that that tube will not crack.