I'm thinking of buying a nice frameset real cheap because it appears to have been in a front ender, resulting in a ripple in the down tube and top tube near the head tube. The fork is undamaged. Would you ride this, or is it a death trap? Is it repairable?

Seller's pics are all I have:

I retired my last Zullo. It looks just like that.

Nice wall art.

Too many other fish in the sea. IMHO

1. It's not a deathtrap. The visible damage is not dangerous. As for unseen damage, I don't see any.

2. I'm not sure the damage is severe enough that it can be repaired. The only reason to straighten it would be to correct radically altered geometry; minor bends are hard to straighten.

3. No, I wouldn't ride it. I have enough bikes that bent ones don't interest me. I ride rusty bikes, bikes with bad paint, and so on. But not bent ones.

+ 1.

Agreement with 1, 2, and 3.

[QUOTE=icepick_trotsky;18461733]I'm thinking of buying a nice frameset real cheap because it appears to have been in a front ender, resulting in a ripple in the down tube and top tube near the head tube. The fork is undamaged. Would you ride this, or is it a death trap? Is it repairable?

QUOTE]

Repairing even the smallest ding/dent is next to impossible without major work or skill. No offense to anyone, but I personally would not be able to stand seeing that every time I got on the bike or having to address ever time I wanted to show someone my cool old bike.

The prior owner's loss would become your problem. He should be giving it away not selling it. It might build a great beater if you have extra parts laying around but the damage would always be there to see.

I wouldn't spend money for it. But I continue to ride my bent-and-restraightened Bianchi Eros, watchfully waiting for any cracks to appear.

Your call, not dangerous. Just there.

might change bike handling which should be checked before buying.

That's what would keep me away, too. "Gah! Why did I buy a bent frame when I've got all these other bikes?"

It's probably not dangerous, and I would probably take it if it was free... But pay money for a bent frame? No thanks.

A friend gave me this BIANCHI frame because he hit a car with it and bent the tubesalmost exactly as yours are. He found the handling "too squirrely". I built it up with extra parts with the intention of using as wall art. Howeverr when I took it out for a test ride one niight I was very surprised at how well it rode and handled. Fortunately the frame wasn't twisted by the impact. it's a very nice bike. In fact I can easily ride this bike no hands.

#01 BIANCH Rebuilt by Miele Man, on Flickr

You can probably ride that frame but be aware that toe overlap with the front wheel will be greater. Unless the price is a giveaway price I'd pass on it.

Cheers

Last night I salvaged the headset of a frame with about that level of kink in the downtube, The fork looks like a bates canti-flex... but i started thinking... I have that crap 1" threadless alloy fork. I could slap that on and ride this as a beater fixie until a nice frame falls into my lap for the my phil wood track hubbed wheelset.... so yeah if it were basically free I might ride it.

Sometimes you can ride damage like that for years. Other times you can't. The next minor hit could cause catastrophic failure. It comes down to how much risk you are willing to take. The only truly reliable repair would be to have the tubes replaced.

with that size of ripples on both TT and DT, there's no way the fork is 'not damaged'. if the fork looks ok, it's either bent back or not matching one i guess? i've once sent a frame for tube replacement, was heck of a cost nonetheless coming back with a beautiful result. not sure if it was worth as the frame anyway became a wall-art due to my laziness.

Toasted.

How much are teeth worth?

Prolly safe to ride but I agree with others. I DEFINITELY wouldnt buy it. Also frames are pretty plentiful, I'd get something cheap that was undamaged. Come to think of it that's exactly what I did.

@op How do you know the fork is undamaged? Has a legit framebuilder looked at it?

I never would have let one of our customers ride that.

I'd probably ride it. But, as others suggested, it isn't worth investing serious money into the build. Even if it was a top of the line Italian race bike, I'd still consider the value pretty low.

There is a frame straightening jig. Perhaps you can find someone or a shop that would give a shot at repairing your frame. You still would have a repaired frame, which I would have to disclose if it was being sold.

That frame is worth its undamaged value minus the cost of replacing the top and down tubes and repainting. That's assuming the fork is OK, and it probably is not. Therefore unless it's something really rare and valuable, it is worth less than zero.

I've worked in five different bike shops. Every one of them would tell you to not ride that frame.

Spread some jam on that toast.

i only have my own inspection and the seller's assurances, so it's a risk for sure. But it's a serotta I may or may not pay $35 for, so it might be worth the sunk cost to have a builder look at it after purchase.

Is it worth what you're paying as potential wall art? At $35 for a Serotta, I'd say risk it.