I just obtained an old mixte frame through eBay. Opening the box, I immediately noticed the one of the long stays from the head tube to the dropout is bent. Not mangled, but there's a noticeable bend on the drive side, probably ~3mm worth of bend, but it's hard to gauge exactly.

So my question is whether I ought to make a big deal of this. It's steel, so I suppose I could bend it back (maybe that's a bad idea?). But why would it be bent in the first place? If it were cold set to accommodate a narrower hub and it had been done properly, should I expect something less noticeable and a more even bend -- i.e. not the one-sided bend I'm observing? The fact that only the long stay is bent, not the seat stay or the chain stay, makes me doubt it has anything to do with intentional setting anyway.

Below is an overhead photo where you can see the bend relative to the seat stay. I generally like to assume good faith, and this seller did have great feedback, but I can't help noticing the photos in the eBay post are all from the front left side of the bike, obscuring the bend ...



Any opinions? It didn't sell for much, but with shipping I paid just enough that I want to make sure this isn't structurally worthless. Thanks.

I have a mixte frame and it has the same outward bend on the drive side middle/long stay. I think it is to make extra room for the chain (especially in the big ring). My frame is built up as a single speed now, so can't test that theory. But, I think it's an intentional design feature.

That makes me feel a whole lot better, and it makes sense to boot. Now that I think about it, there's no damage to the paint there either, so I guess I should have considered that it might not be damaged after all.

Thanks for the help.

If you are worried take it to a local frame builder and have them check the frame alignment.

Check out Sheldon on frame alignment. You can check it fairly easily yourself. I'm pretty sure the Schwinn mixte I built for my wife also has this bend.