brokenrobot

Potholes grow especially quickly in NYC, too, because most of the time there's nothing under the street but layers of tunnels and sub-basements... so pavement heats and cools unusually quickly - no dirt to insulate and hold the temperature steady. That's also why you sometimes see those crazy sinkholes where the road dips deep down but the pavement doesn't break...

operator

Wow I can certainly see that happening, i'll take your word for it.

Big Helmet

CEYA, please elaborate. A few weeks ago I rode my mid-90s, steel Colnago into a deep storm-damage crack about an inch-and-a-half wide running down the road parallel to my direction of travel. I endo'd hard, destroyed my helmet, broke a bone in each hand, and needed stitches to close the lacerations in my face. I felt pretty lucky, even so, because I didn't see any immediate major damage to the bike -- some scarred paint, scratches on the brake/shifter combo, trashed bar tape, and a cracked brake cable housing looked to be the worst of it.

Yesterday, though, while giving the bike a much overdue cleaning (waiting for my hands to heal), I noticed two very minor bends and some cracked paint at pretty much the same locations as in the original poster's photos.

I nearly wept. I love that bike and had intended to keep it forever. I actually think its rideable -- no obvious crack anywhere in the metal, the tire doesn't come near to striking the downtube, and it seems to track okay (the bends are much, much more minor than those in the OP's pics, not even easily visible though you feel them when you run a finger down the tube) -- but I certainly don't feel confident and comfortable on it like I did before. I had assumed the frame was unrecoverable.

If it is repairable, though, I 'd like to know more about the process and where on the west coast (I'm in L.A.) I might get it done. The bike is probably a '96 Colnago Superissimo(sp?), bright red, beautifully lugged, and after so many years on it I've grown highly fond of it and its ride qualities. In short, I'd spend quite a bit of money, possibly somewhat more than it would be objectively "worth" to most people, to have it restored to the shape it was in before I rode it into the Crack of Doom.

I'd be interested in any information you might like to share about possible repairs to lugged steel frames. Thanks in advance.

absntr

In Chicago there seems to be people who will fix bends in steel and only steel. At Upgrade Cycleworks (here) I talked to someone who knew someone who could fix a similar issue I had with an old steel lugged Fuji I used to ride. At the time I couldn't afford it - though he said it might cost less than $100 which is a pretty good deal for a frame you want to keep. I've still got the frame if I ever do decide to get it fixed.

Another mechanic I know also "bends" forks back into place and knows someone who fixes steel frames. I think it'd be possible to do so. Isn't that what everyone says about steel and part of the reason why we do?

jfmckenna

Cripes man. Was that the hole that the meteor created that killed all the dinosaurs?

Ceya

Ok guys, I am not a god of the bikes! I know because I went through a lot of crap with my bikes especially my first track.

I will help out with those experience I have been through. I have alot of that that for sure.

This is why I like steel frames. It can be fixed and if yiou find a good frame builder (Don Walker, Yamaguchi etc) who can help and has good experience to fix it. Go for it. I have been able to have good builders to show and explain to me different things and do miracles to my frames.

S/F,
CEYA!

fixedfiend

NYC is also one big patch job. Filled pot hole after filled pothole. Then the plows come out with 3" of snow on the ground to break up the street so more money can be wasted paying road crews to fix them.
I guess those old BMX float skills come in handy.

flythebike

I ran into the back of a parked hatchback one time. I was fiddling with my toe straps and not watching where I was going. In addition to damaging three teeth, I bent the nice flat crown forks on my former bike, a Spectrum track (82 vintage Shimano team bike). Larry Black at College Park Bicycles bent it back with the wooden handle of a hammer. Afterwards, I would have lost the Pepsi challenge...although I would say that it actually rode better than before.

For frames "they" make special tools that go down through the headtube and somehow allow for leverage to be applied. You would think that this would weaken the bike...but if my experience with my fork counts for anything, it doesn't.

trespasser

if the frame is lugged or fillet brazed, skilled frame builder can fix almost anything. check mercian's site for example of what they can do. that bke is worth keeping on the road.

Ceya

Big Helmet .I will PM you later today.
Blind Robert, @ pms to you already

S/F<
CEYA!

halfbiked

Glad I'm not the only one to do that...

jitensha!

nope, not by a long shot. i'd love to find someone that can coldset my original fork so i can get rid of that fugly orange KHS one.

nolageek

Once I went to the grocery with my mom a few years ago, on a particularly hot day. A little over an hour later we were on our way home. The road had buckled about two feet , straight up (over half the width of the road, on the other side of the street - so it wasn't there when we on our way to the store an hour before.) It was the freakiest thing I had ever seen. Like, and earthquake or something. Heat does crazy things to roads.

cphfxt

wassup with all the "heat doing it" rants..- i hate to point out the obvious, but this is what you get for cutting down a cinelli bar .. nuff said..

really im sad to see your frame.. i feel your pain.. luckily the car behind was alert. eh?

BlindRobert

LOL, but it was only a cinelli ROAD bar. So the pothole was completely undeserved - though I guess you could say I had it coming for putting a brake on a classic track frame.

All those years of judo really saved my a$$, I can fall like a pro - only a few minor scratches.

Good news. My insurance had refused to cover the loss at first, but now they say they will cover it under my auto policy b/c I was commuting to work. (?) I don't care why as long as they cover it.