Pulling out a dent? Does it work/is it safe
 

I'm looking at a bike that was dented but the guy said some bike mechanics drilled a couple small holes to pull it out, he sent a picture that I've attached. Any ideas if this is dangerous? It's a really good deal otherwise. Thanks for your input.

Pulling out dents on a car panel is fine because it isn't load bearing. Doing the same on a load bearing structural member isn't such a hot idea.

wouldnt

So essentially the frame could snap? I have and have had bikes with dings and kona is chromoly so I thought that it would be able to distribute weight around the damage. Is it worse because there are holes now? or is it that the ding finished the frame off in the first place.

and thanks for the input.

as long as he welds the hole back up, it will be fine. cro mo is a little more tricky than mild steel. depending on how thin the tube is, he could have a tough time welding it closed without burning through.

just don't bondo the holes. they will shrink and crack eventually- look bad.

I would not ride that frame. I hope you didnt pay much for it -- sell it for scrap because it's garbage.

whoever these mechanics were, they're idiots. I actually doubt any bike mechanic would even consider drilling holes into a frame instead of just rolling out the tube with the proper tool - I think you have been lied to - the previous owner did it himself.

^ +1

That frame is junk man.

Reminder: a great number of frames have holes that size drilled in their downtubes as a matter of attaching cable stops with rivets.

What's the frame made out of? Also, what tube is it? Downtube? Top tube?

Frankly if it's steel I don't think it's an issue, whether the holes are filled again by welding or not.

not to mention ones drilled for water bottle bosses.

and the holes that are drilled at tube intersections.

i don't know much about structures and framebuilding but it seems to me that that stuff is consistent with other normal things done to frames.

I've never seen cable stops riveted to a frame; those are braze ons. I think sometimes they'll put a light rosette weld, but rivets?

And bottle holes are inherently different since the hole itself is reinforced by a threaded sleeve and a full weld around the circumference. Holes drilled at tube intersections are tiny and serve as vents to allow for the escape of accumulated welding gasses and drainage.

This particular frame has a bunch of indiscriminate holes in a concentrated area. Not to mention, the metal has been dented and reshaped, and this action alone is enough to reduce the integrity of the metal at that part of the tube.

The frame will almost certainly crack at that location at some point, it might be in a few weeks or it could be 5 years from now. I would not pay a nickel for that frame, but if it were free I might ride it with a sleeve.

Remember that modern, high quality bicycle tubes have a wall thickness of .4-.6mm in the middle. That is the thickness of a couple pieces of paper.

I've seen a ton of frames with cable stops riveted on, and mostly on aluminum frames. Hell, Basso does it.

You still don't know what the material is, whether it's TT or DT or whatever, what the tubeset is, etc. Way to conjecture.

What? It's quite clearly the down tube of a kona paddy wagon, which has always been made from double butted chromoly steel.

And if it's steel, I wouldn't worry about it, personally. Not with what I'm looking at in the picture.

offer $5.

Remember the frame was also *dented*.
Dents are not normal, and we have no information about the dent except that some idiot drilled holes into what was likely already a weakened part of the steel.
You might get a sweet price on that frame, but you might want to beef up your dental coverage while your at it.

true, and i'm not arguing that the frame is fine. i'm saying that there's a big, salient difference between "we can't know if it's sound or not" and "it will fail and make you die three times, each time more horribly than the last, and also your loved ones are watching." it has to do with internet rumormongering.

I would be more worried about the frame being significantly out of alignment due to the dent than the repair. I would speculate that the mechs were not pro's. A frame builder would press the dent out with blocks with half circles cut into them not by drilling and using a slide hammer.

^^ Agreed.

(Like the rumor that Weinmann rims explode randomly. But let us not digress here....)

wrong.

go ask an experienced framebuilder if it's a good idea to drill holes in your top tube for internal cable routing without any sort of reinforcement. he will tell you exactly why this is a bad idea which is also the same reason why this frame is garbage now.

you've offered bad advice and your participating in the "internet rumormongering" with this advice. the truth is this frame is damaged beyond repair and has the potential to fail and, therefore, is not safe to ride. No one can predict when the frame will fame (or if it will fail); all that is certain is the risk of frame failure increased exponentially once the idiot mechanics decided to drill holes into the frame instead of rolling out the dent.

What advice did I offer, exactly?

you're saying it's ok to drill holes into frames because it's "is consistent with other normal things done to frames" and the frame in question is fine to ride and those that question it's integrity are spreading irrational fears and rumors on the internet.

Yah, and I qualified it by saying that I don't know anything about it.

I didn't say it was fine to ride.

Questioning its integrity is fine. Ignorant claims are not.

I know everybody likes to tell other people how they're wrong on the internet, but I think you're swinging and missing on this one.

what claim have I made do you think is ignorant? how am I wrong?

seriously -- spend less time talking about something you [admittedly] know little about and go ask a framebuilder if it's ok to drill a top tube or seat tube without any sort of reinforcement.

I didn't say you made ignorant claims. I was implying that a lot of stuff in this thread seemed like hearsay and erroneous information from people who didn't claim to speak from experience.

I would welcome a framebuilder chiming in with reliable information, because my point was that nobody was providing any reliable information.

Why don't you accuse me of doing something else I didn't do so that I can respond and tell you once again what my point was. Maybe that time you'll get it, eh?

there was some good advice in this thread, actually.

...yourself included, hence your own "internet rumormongering."

you certainly implied the frame was fine to ride and that drilling holes was normal procedure and that those warning of failure were just fear-mongering.

nice backtrack.

Buy it, ride it, if the busted up tube fails and you die, at least you will die knowing you saved a couple dollars.

:deadhorse2::trainwreck:

The seller paid to have the frame "fixed", but wants to sell it instead of ride it? Sounds like complete faith in the repair. I'm sure it's fine...

If it's a steel frame it shouldn't be a problem. If the dents are on a round tube you can roll out a lot of the residual unevenness with frame blocks. Fill the holes with lead solder (don't weld them; that's bad for lightweight tubing) and file smooth.

If it's aluminum, the frame is toast.