Top Tube Dents?

[pakora]

My custom bike was damaged in shipping when I moved to the west coast - very slight dents on both sides of the top tube, plus a big chip out of the paint. Long story short, insurance got screwed up by the shipper but as it is now they're willing to pay out slightly more than the quoted cost of repairing it, repainting it and shipping both ways.

After the experience of getting the custom bike in the first place, not to mention a month of dealing with FedEx, I'm tired of dealing with this bike. I'm wondering whether I should just put the insurance payout aside for a new frame sometime in the future and just try and ride the damaged bike for now.

I see lots of bikes here and elsewhere that are like, "slight ding in the top tube, does not affect structural integrity." How exactly is that determined? By riding the bike 500 miles through leg-destroying climbs and soul-rattling descents and noticing that it didn't split apart? Or is there something more scientific?

The dents are very slight - but it's ultra lightweight tubing (some weird octagonal Columbus Spirit) so I'm not sure what the risk/reward ratio is for throwing a leg over the bike when I live in a place with lots of hills and lots of rain.

[ultraman6970]

It is steel, you wont have a single problem riding that frame for the next 30 years.

[bloody sunday]

some people determine the integrity of the frame by having it checked out by professionals, if it's carbon, I would send it to Calfee. If it's steel or ti, get it checkout out by a frame builder (preferably the original builder).

[d_douglas]

some people determine the integrity of the frame by having it checked out by professionals, if it's carbon, I would send it to Calfee. If it's steel or ti, get it checkout out by a frame builder (preferably the original builder).

Agreed. It doesn't sound severe, however best to get an expert to have a look and give it their stamp of approval. I had crashed and flaked te paint on my steel fork , went to an old school LBS where one guy is an aspiring framebuilder. (And experienced mechanic) as well as an eval from a well known framebuilder - it felt better riding that bike with their input.

[Peter P.]

If the frame still rides straight, then you have no issues to worry about.

A steel frame will show signs of a crack developing LONG before it becomes a practical problem affecting the ride of the bike.

True story: I had a Bridgestone MB-3 mountain bike frame develop a crack in the top tube, just behind the brake cable stop. I wanted to keep riding while I waited for a new frame to arrive, so I put a hose clamp around the developing crack and continued to ride the bike for EIGHT WEEKS without a problem.

Your small dents won't become an issue without plenty of warning.

[Birddog]

Post a photo to get truly expert opinions.

[LouDeeter]

Often, the negative feelings about the bike will by itself keep you off it. If that is the case, whether it is the dent(s) or the experience, then just either fix it or trade it. Get that albatross off your back. On the other hand, if you love the bike and just want to know whether the dents will affect the safety of the ride, then I agree with the others who have posted. First, make sure it didn't affect the alignment, then keep an eye out for cracks and you should be fine. In fact, you can put cute little decals over those dents and they'll no longer even bother you. If you go that route, try to fill them a bit with something before applying the decal.

[stormyClouds]

I have had a top tube dent repaired by a frambebuilder.
The standard repair is really just a bondo filler that is smoothed out to fill the dent. After paint, you couldn't tell it was there, but the repair didn't change the integrity of the tube.
In other words, repairing the dent will likely only be a cosmetic change unless they cut out and replace the whole top tube.
I did ride the frame for a couple of years and never noticed that it was weaker or rode any differently.

[Wayne77]

Repainting is the tough part. The repair is easy. I repaired a dent in the TT of my Columnus MAX Zanconato with some bondo filler. The whole process, including sanding and primer took about 30 minutes. This is the first repair of this sort that I've done and it was pretty easy. After carefully sanding to the radius of the TT and a coat of primer, you can't tell there was a dent (other than the primer). Find someone skilled with an HVLP touch up gun or airbrush and you're golden.

[Neil]

Steel and you'll be (as has been said) fine, alloy and it's a different ball-game, I found a dent in the top tube of my CAAD7 frame that had been filled with bondo.

How did I find it? Because a radial crack emerged from either end of the bondo and started to separate the top tube into two, shorter tubes.

That said a friend of mine wrapped the whole area in carbon fibre sheet/epoxy and has been riding it with no problems for two years now. I swapped the frame for a pair of his old shoes, so we're well into profit on the deal I think.

[FlashUNC]

Had a rather large top tube dent on a MAX frame a couple years back.

Got a thumbs up on inspection from multiple folks, and as has been mentioned, they all recommended just keeping an eye out for cracks. It bugged me seeing if so I sent it off for repair. Can't even tell it happened at this point.

[pakora]

Often, the negative feelings about the bike will by itself keep you off it. If that is the case, whether it is the dent(s) or the experience, then just either fix it or trade it. Get that albatross off your back. On the other hand, if you love the bike and just want to know whether the dents will affect the safety of the ride, then I agree with the others who have posted. First, make sure it didn't affect the alignment, then keep an eye out for cracks and you should be fine. In fact, you can put cute little decals over those dents and they'll no longer even bother you. If you go that route, try to fill them a bit with something before applying the decal.

There are definitely some albatrosses for this bike besides all of the hassle for the shipping and damage. Truth be told I was like, "Hmm, if insurance covers replacement value, I'll just use it as a commuter bike."

Sending it to the builder is out of the question though - the cost to ship it both ways (plus disassembling the bike) and then I don't trust them any more than any other builder (trying to keep on topic, but my experience in having the bike built was less than ideal).

I'm just going to ride this darn thing then and watch for cracks and the first couple times I'm out seeing how it tracks - before the damage that was one thing I could say about the bike, it tracked straighter than any other bike I've ridden.

[soulspinner]

I have had a top tube dent repaired by a frambebuilder.
The standard repair is really just a bondo filler that is smoothed out to fill the dent. After paint, you couldn't tell it was there, but the repair didn't change the integrity of the tube.
In other words, repairing the dent will likely only be a cosmetic change unless they cut out and replace the whole top tube.
I did ride the frame for a couple of years and never noticed that it was weaker or rode any differently.

Had my Strong filled and repainted after falling on an iron railing. No worries and it was light tubing. That was over 20,000 miles ago. .

[geordanh]

I've seen many dinged steel frames go on for miles and miles with no issue. If your bike is made out of 4130 (doubtful), I would never think about it again. If it's True Temper S3, I'd monitor it with the understanding that it's still probably never going to be an issue but worth paying attention to.

[Gummee]

I've got this great Quattro Assi AL frame (think it's Airplane) that fell off my stand and landed just wrong. Now I've got a dime-sized dent in the TT and the frame's worthless.

It's completely beside the point that I kept riding that bike for another 6mos and the crack never got worse.

...so... the short short version: depends on where and how the frame's dented whether it's safe or not

M

[Doug Fattic]

I’m a frame builder/painter that has fixed a lot of top tube dents over the years on steel frames. What you want to look for is if the dent has a crease in it. Or maybe another way of saying is does it have a sharp edge. Those are the eventual killers. If it is just a depression than it is very unlikely it will ever break. And like others have said even if it starts to crack it will take a long time to go all the way around. I’ve been riding one of my personal frames with a decent sized dent in it for years.

The standard procedure is to squeeze the dent with frame blocks to help reduce its amount. Then the dent can be filled with various kinds of filler depending on the situation. I’ve had several of my frame building class students dent their tubes on the corner of a vise (even though they were warned of the potential problem). In that case we fill the dent with a special kind of low temperature melting silver and as far as in know none of them have cracked.

The real expense is fixing the paint. Some kinds are easy enough to repair but others will never look the same without redoing the whole thing.