My 1954 Raleigh Superbe has a bent frame. Somebody back in time crashed into who-knows-what... maybe it looked like Lara Flynn Boyle's wipeout in Wayne's World.
I've been thinking about the frame a lot. It's been in the on-deck circle for about a year. My 2011 Secret Santa gift was a cool gearing upgrade for it. Now I'm strolling into a bike shop holding the patina'd Bronze Green diamond.
Wow, there's a Park HTS-1 mounted front and center on the work bench. No one's looking; I fit the frame in the straightener and spin the handle to drive the head tube back where it's supposed to be. CRACK! The down tube is out of the BB shell.
I slink out of the shop. As I walk back up the sidewalk I study the joint. There is no silver at all in the joint. You can clearly see the brushed-on, dried flux. Must have been a Friday afternoon in Nottingham, visions of the pub dancing in craftsmans' heads. Now what, expensive trip to a frame-builder? Help me Obi Sixty Fiver...

Then I woke up.

It doesn't sound like a dream to me.
Silverless bb's really do exist.

You have two options - the first (you already mentioned) - or, to take it down to the pub this Friday, to see if you can find those guys who missed it the first time.

Only when that's finally taken care of will you be ready for the HTS-1.

In MY dream, Elizabeth Hurley would stroll over and tell me it'll be OK, it's just a bike, and somehow, I forget about bikes at all....

My '51 Raleigh Sports "C" Tourist was hit up front at one time. Someone straightened it before I ever got to it. So much for that dream.

-Kurt

P.S.: Your dream is factually inaccurate. A '54 Sports would have excellent brass penetration on all the joints. A '74 Sports wouldn't.

My drea would be like that insurance commercial where the guy pulls a new car out of the truck rather than the spare. as the DT comes out of the BB a lugged MAX framed Mixte starts to take shape.

So dried flux went "CRACK!"? Maybe you should investigate further to find out whether you have a repairable frame or a buildable, nicely fitted high 10 tubeset.

It was weird. In the dream the fault morphed from a small split in the tube to a completely failed joint. In reality I'm going to try using a car jack to straighten the frame.