sasha, that frame had super tight clearances. my guess, and this is only a guess, the fork gave when it hit the pothole like all forks will and should do. the tire did two things, hit the downtube in the most aggressively butted area of the tube bending it and also acted as a brake after it hit the tube and sent you over the bars.
i personally would replace the tubes and accept that it's not original, i think that bike has awesome geometry... if a super nice all original frame is what you desire then, do like previously mentioned and find another frame that floats you boat.
i wouldn't try bending that downtube back and trust it.
Jeff Piwonka
austin, texas, usa
> So, while on a jaunt on my De Rosa Professional SLX
> pista with a friend for
> lunch on Wednesday to seek out a bit of delicious
> noodle in Chinatown, I had
> the misfortune of hitting the lone pothole the size
> of a basketball on an
> otherwise smooth stretch of road (though I suspect
> there was a second
> pothole on the grassy knoll) leading me to go
> over-the-bars face first,
> cracking my helmet, giving me a black eye,
> dislocating my shoulder, and
> much... MUCH worse, rather severely pranging my De
> Rosa.
>
> The top tube shows the most microscopic of paint
> cracks on the top of the
> tube, and a slight bulge (to the extent that you can
> feel it rubbing the
> tube, but I was unable to successfully photograph
> it.) The downtube,
> however... well, let's just say that tire clearance
> and toe overlap is a bit
> more of a problem. Apparently, while looking over
> my shoulder to see where
> my friend was, I entered this enormous pothole
> straight on -- to the extent
> that the tire/wheel caught on the downtube and then
> bent the downtube into a
> rather graceful arc.
>
> The frame, as a whole:
>
http://www.flickr.com/
>
> Graceful arc, with straight edge:
>
http://www.flickr.com/
>
> So, as I loved this bike dearly and would REALLY
> like for it to be
> operational again, what are the limits of alignment
> to fix damage like
> this? As there are no hard creases anywhere, is it
> possible that I could
> have the frame realigned, or am I looking at a full
> replacement of the down
> and top tubes? I desperately want to rescue this
> frame, but I also don't
> want to break my teeth if the steel has been
> weakened to that extent that
> it'd be failure prone.
>
> Any thoughts or past experience with damage like
> this?
>
> sasha 'bartender? motrin 800, water back.'
> eysymontt, nyc.
>
> --
> ---
> ,+'^'+ sasha eysymontt
> sashae at gmail dot com - http://subtle.org/
> `+,.,+` new york city.
>
>
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