Bad News?
 

A few months ago I got into a small accident as I was riding down the street. The lady decided to make a right turn last second and I was going a quick pace, so I hit her rear quarter panel and flew over the car. At the time the only problem I noticed was my front wheel destroyed. Fast forward a few months and I was doing a little maintenance and noticed my t/t was bent down and my d/t was slightly bent with a ripple near the headtube. How much am I at risk to conintue riding on my frame? Here's a pic:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/...anchi_bent.jpg

It doesn't look bad to me, but if you really cared you could possibly get it fixed by a framemaker. It's steel, so it's not going to spontaneously collapse.

That looks really bad. Your downtube looks like it's splitting (although it might be just the photo, but the area a half inch from the lug looks not good). Downtubes take the most force of riding, and you really don't want it to buckle under you .

…it took you two months to notice that?!

steeper head tube angle!

I've ridden worse for longer...

Did you really spray paint over your headset, or does it just look that way in the photo.

Mask that sheeeit.

that Dali **** right there

That's the lug and electrical tape you're looking at.

Yeah, it did take me three months to notice that. I was too busy with work and school to really maintain my bike. And yes, that headset cup has been painted over.

I had a similar thing happen to my old frame. The initial accident didn't do the frame in and i still rode it for ~6 months, but the bending opened up the lug joints and water got in. The head tube/down tube lug eventually disintegrated and the rest of the frame was totaled when it went.

Make sure to inspect that area frequently as it will be more susceptible now.

Yeah, not the tape itself... but where the tape ends, it looks like the taped bit is less wide than the bit that joins the lug, which makes me think it's folded. Also it looks like it's bulging out a little down from that.