A Lemond Poprad disc just showed up on CL near here and for some reason I REALLY want it. But... according to the current owner 38mm is probably the max rear tire size. I want to be able to use 42's. Is it 1) possible 2) reasonable 3) safe to indent the chainstays that much? (the catalog specs say "LeMond True Temper OX Platinum cross disc" tubing.)

It's probably not a good idea. OX Plat was heat treated

I have a non-disk Poprad and have had 40mm Nano's on it for years. Not sure I could get 42's in there but 40's have been no problem. Also, with disks, you could run 650b's and get at least 45's in there. Just buy it. They are great frames.

Whether the rear stays (chain stays specifically) are the same as the main frame is a question I would wonder about. There's many thousands of bikes with tubing decals that only refer to the main frame (or sometimes one tube in the main frame). But I agree that hardened tubes, like Ox Plat, 753 and others, don't like to be manipulated too far. There's enough stories of these tubes cracking in "normal" use to make one hesitant to do much reforming.

I recently indented a Raleigh International's (about a 1974 bike) to fit wider tires. It uses Rey 531 stays. I was able to get lots of clearance for 32mm tires but doubt that 38s will clear with reliable space. IIRC the stays had about 33mm of space, at the tire's widest point, about right for a bike that came with sew ups OEM. Now there's about 42mm of space. That's a lot of indenting IMO. The customer wants to run 35 wide tires and provided a pair along with the 32s currently on the bike. But with the bead hookless rims (Weinmann A124, generally referred to as "concaves) being as narrow as they are I didn't feel comfy mounting so wide a tire that also has a folding bead.

Attached are two photos of this. One is of the indenting procedure the other is completed and assembled with the 32 wide tires. Andy

I suppose they might not have used OX plat on the stays, those things were expensive. A lot of stays are pretty easy to indent, I think Columbus reissue SL was the one that surprised me most.

Andy, you have some great tools!!!

Andy, did you get any paint cracking/chipping , is paint damage common/uncommon doing this?

thanks, Brian

Brian- No paint damage at the indents. I do place a strip of masking tape to both make location marks easier to remove (bare steel would just get Sharpie marks) and to possibly lessen the tool's form from compressing paint at a tiny point and causing chipping. I'm no expert having only done a few painted stays, although my results have been quite acceptable so my assumptions seem to not be bad ones. One reason for this good batting average is that I tend to be fairly conservative (in building, not social causes...). Knowing when to say no can sometimes be the best way to keep the money you made on other jobs. Andy