is this dent terminal?
 

thank you TSA. i feel much safer now.

*sigh*

that said... what do you, my compatriots, think? terminal, rideable but risky, or stop crying and ride? frame is aluminum. i'm going to take it by an LBS and get an opinion from them, but i value your opinions as well. i'm thinking it's on the border of rideable, but maybe i'm biased....

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SUXX. Well, I don't see any cracks, just a big honking dent.

pity party here. I cant see it :(

ooh...i see a hairline right up above that dent. Not good. If you can afford to replace, do so. Otherwise...Ride carefully and wear a helmet.

yep... that's what worries me

I think that might be paint flaking off...

I would take it into a shop you trust. I can't tell if that is a crack or a paint chip, but that dent would make me nervous on an AL frame (heck, any frame).

i'm with no minkah here. dents suck, but except on the headtube, if there's no fracture or apparent stress, the thing isn't going to fall apart because it's uglied up a bit.

edit: though i do think barba's on to something. be sure "uglied up" is all it is.

could just be paint- try picking at it a bit and see if you can expose the aluminum underneath.

is the tube round at that point? you could do the ghetto pipe clamp technique.

what happened?

i'll probably take the paint off later.

bike was in a trico case. tsa went through it, and i'm assuming in the course of their investigation of my bike bomb *cough* they moved one of the wheels which then pressed down on the downtube in the course of being tossed around, etc.

what? that bike's not made of silly putty. that shouldn't leave a dent like that. then again, people who work in baggage are *******s who don't care if they break your ****. make a fuss with the airline...it's rideable, but someone not taking care of a spendy-ass frame like that? c'mon...take 'em to task for it.

that crack looks like the paint to me as well...

I'm no expert, but it doesn't look very nice to me. Under the part where the paint layer cracked, there are a couple of ripples in the paint. Looks like the tube under it got deformed quite a bit. If it was mine, I'd ride it, but that's because I'm cheap;)

Can't you get the airline to buy you a shiny new frame?

dude, that sucks.

if thats just the paint, then i'd say its ok. if its a real hairline... time to ***** out TSA and get some money

you bailed right before the rain, its poured all day long

It's ugly, but I think you should be fine to ride it. Remember that the downtube is under tension rather than compression. Also, given the size of the tube, the dent could certainly be a lot larger. The crack just looks like the paint rather than the tube itself. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

i guess my concern is that if the paint is cracked, then the tube underneath is cracked/fractured as well.


a little update in general:

i'm definitely going to file a claim with TSA, which apparently are usually settled within 60 days. the usual government process applies, meaning i have to submit independent verification of the damage, etc.

how do you know it was TSA and not the airline?

don't they usually put a card in your luggage that says "this was inspected for yaddayaddayadda...."
at least that's what they did with my skis.

if you end up filing with the airline, too, stay on top of it and call them at least once a week, because sometimes airlines conveniently "misplace" or "misfile" your papers and such. especially if you flew NWA.

and don't forget, when submitting your independent verification with TSA, to tell them to suck it.

i shipped my bmx home once and a huge hole got ripped in the box leading to my pedals and pegs falling out. can't remember what airline, but i filed a complaint and was reimbursed within a week

Contact your airline about this. I think most of them insure your stuff and will pay for anything that is lost/damaged. That's what I heard though, it might not be correct.

i wouldn't have a claim with the airline because the case wasn't damaged - it was TSA which put the wheel over the downtube and thus caused the dent. i called the airline and they basically said that without actual damage to the case i wouldn't have a claim with them.

i'm pretty sure TSA puts a slip in there. they did once when i flew with a guitar.

damn it whoosh, you beat me to it!