RE: [CR]Damaged frames 1985 and before

(Example: History:Norris Lockley)

From: "Mark Bulgier" <mark@bulgier.net>
To: Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: RE: [CR]Damaged frames 1985 and before
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 18:50:38 -0800


Charles Nighbor claims I wrote (Ooh that sounds peevish, I'm kidding!):
>
> ".......... When buckled tubes are detected,
> always advise the customer the bike is unrideable and
> unrepairable. Mark Bulgier Seattle, WA USA"

and then rakes me over the coals with:
> I disagree as there are at least two fine frame builders here
> in the Bay Area that repair damaged frames.

That quote was from Barnett's Bicycle Institute or whoever wrote that repair manual that Aldo sent the link to. I was merely pointing out that Barnett's doesn't recommend using the Park Head Tube Straightener tool that's on eBay.

I definitely don't endorse the idea that frames shouldn't be repaired! I have repaired lots of buckled frames, some by replacing the buckled tubes but others (if they were cheap riders) by just pulling the head angle back to the rideable range. I've ridden many miles on frames with crash-induced buckling, and I know it can take 10k miles or more for them to start to crack - though I'll agree with Barnett that they will pretty much always crack eventually, some after a much shorter time. Even when they start to crack though, it doesn't go all at once and if you're crazy like me you can likely get a few more rides out of 'em after that point.

Now if anyone takes that stupid stunt as advice and gets hurt I'll feel bad - I'm merely stating the fact that I did it and survived, definitely not recommending it!

Mark Bulgier
Seattle, Wa
USA