My friend has a red Peloton njs frame he wants to sell me for a good price. I'd be selling my Panasonic to a friend in need for the same price I'm buying the Peloton for. I've always wanted a red njs frame and it bothers me that my fork is drilled and the rear brake bridge was also drilled and filled in. The Panasonic was built up as a trainer bike in Japan.

It has a dent on the top tube. I don't care about the way it looks, I'm riding it on the street and will thrash it anyway. I'm just wondering if it will affect the ride in any way?

Here are some cell phone photos of said dent I took when he brought it by my work for me to check out.




I'm pretty sure it takes a 27.0 seat post.. My seat post is a 26.8. If its 27, would running a 26.8 be sketchy or would I need to slang my DA seat post to find a different one?

Thanks!

First things first. You could probably shim the seat post if you need to but I would say with it that close it should clamp it down tight enough.

Second. Knowing whether the ride will be affected by the dent is going to have to be your call. If the bike really does just have a dent in the top tube you should be fine. Although most bikes with damage that severe (that's a big dent) may have been in a crash and gotten damaged somewhere else.

Long story short I would thoroughly inspect the whole frame.

For real?

This isn't the average ding. Hang on to that Panasonic.

Paint it red, to suit thy needs.

If the dent is a round looking one then it should be fine; however, if it is sharp and have corners then it will eventually crack.

It's your call.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm gonna pass and wait until I find something I'm 100% satisfied with. No need to rush, especially when njs frames are all over the place and easy to find. Last thing I'd need is that top tube cracking.

sadly to say, njs frames were built to be "disposable" after they were crashed, as the pro riders could definitely afford to keep changing a frame that was crashed/dented - the people that sell them (NJS blogspot) actually get them for little to no cost, especially the impacted/heavily dented ones which were destined to be thrown away anyways. just throwing that out there for those that didnt know.

the tubing is extremely thin and all njs framebuilders do not recommend riding them on the street.

Dispossible quality.

So are Nascar racecars.

Do NJS frames have to be renewed after a certain number years in use? Or can they be re certified like a crash helmet

I think racers get new frames every once in awhile, which would explain why there are NJS frames for sale.

yeah, i think they get new frames every once if they manage to stay out of crashes - which explains the very nice condition secondhand frames. 1380 usd+ though? no thanks. but still, you cant help but wonder why they would even put for sale the impacted headtube frames, sometimes for 300$+ for something most would consider unsafe.

The top tube isn't sharp but rounded. What I do like about my Panasonic is that its never been in a serious crash. It was ordered brand new less than 5 years ago but the previous owner did a terrible job taking care of it. Dude didn't even frame save it.

However, I do get a hard on for red njs frames. Do want.

They are simply recertified by the original frame builder after a thorough and expensive inspection.

If the frames were the exact same color which one would you keep (Peloton or Panasonic)? Don't trade a good frame for a more thrashed frame just because it's red. That's not a lateral move, that's a step down.

Let the friend buy the Peloton if he's in need and you keep your nice Panasonic.

The dent won't affect the ride. But, if you are gonna buy a bike with your hard-earned money, buy exactly what you want in the condition that you want. Don't settle. If you are concerned about the dent now, you will be concerned about it after you have done the deal and can't do anything about it.

Don't get hung up on NJS. I typed this post on a computer that was used to look at NJS bikes in Japan. For real.

Unless you have proof, anything someone says about a bike's pedigree is just hearsay. And even if it's true, what does it mean to you? I once owned a bike that was custom made for an Olympian. It was perfect for him...and sucked for me. I only kept it a couple of months.

Oh, and if the seatpost is supposed to be a 27.0, a 26.8mm seatpost will slip on the first small bump. They come in 0.2mm increments for a reason. I tried to use a 27.0 seatpost in the bike I just mentioned in the paragraph above which called for a 27.2...it never worked. It slid down even before I hit a bump.

This bears repeating.

Just for what its worth, I have been in the Peloton shop and the dude puts SERIOUS time and care into his bikes. He designed and built his own track ends because he wasn't satisfied with the options availible to him from the big manufacturers. He had a whole wall full of books on metallurgy and was getting so in depth about it that there was no way I could keep up, and even my Japanese friend was like, "I couldn't even really understand what he was talking about after a while" after we left. He was complaining about the quality of Columbus and said he only uses Kaisei, but will build with whatever if someone insists (I've noticed this with some other NJS builders as well and it might be a bit of a nationalism thing). I intended to do a write up after I got back from that trip, but life got in the way, so...
Anyway, not trying to sway you towards a damaged Peloton, but all things being equal I would def take one over the Pani.

Buying a piece of junk with a fancy stamp is still buying a piece of junk.

..

no, this isnt about function.

cause someone will come along and buy it...