Frame Dent
 

I'm looking at a bike on Criagslist and the frame is a little dented. It's a 2001 Bianchi Campione; Double Butted Cro-moly. Is it safe?

http://images.craigslist.org/3nd3m83...f7426d175a.jpg

no.

If the stays were out of alignment...it might be safe to bend them back a tad (steel is good for that), but a full-on dent is way too compromising. Who knows what lovely crack(s) are under the paint just waiting to catastrophically fail.

Run this by the C&V crowd. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks there that are familiar with this sort of thing and what to do about it.

I have read where others have filled and plugged tubes with water, and then freeze them to pop dents out.

i'd stay away. dents are generally OK if they dont go to the point of creasing the metal, which the example you posted clearly is. it might be OK, and if it was your bike, it might be worth trying to fix or ride it out, but buying something like that - no way.

Can't say for sure, but it looks like the chainstay actually bends out at the crease. If that's the case the frame alignment will be screwy and the bike won't track straight. It could well have taken a hit from a car. I wouldn't ride that.

I'm usually in the "don't worry about" .... "It's fine" ....."stop over-reacting" group, but I wouldn't buy a bike with a dent like that, unless I wanted it just for the parts.

Tha's a pretty big dent in a pretty bad spot.

I'd only buy it for the parts. I am pretty sure a distorted chainstay like that would 1. be unsafe and 2. affect the handling of the bike. If it is a good deal for the parts then just get a cheap frame off ebay or from Nashbar go for it.

I've ridden plenty of bikes with dents and I wouldn't touch that one with a 10 foot pole.

Frankly I doubt you would break the frame at the dent. As odd as it sounds it's in a relatively low stress area and steel is pretty forgiving. I see the real issue being alignment. The chance that the frame is still in alignment is small. That dent of the stay no doubt pushed the stay toward the center of the bike and in effect shortened it which in turn will make the wheel not centered between the c-stays - which will then make the bike pull to the side.

If it were free and you wanted to goof around with it then that would be one thing - to part with money for it is another all together.

Best of luck to you.

Dave