# repairing bent aluminum frame



## jcuesico (Mar 25, 2004)

Hi,

I had a weird crash over the weekend. I hit some loose dirt on the road, skidded and fell. I ended up on the dirt on the side of the road. I was ok, no scrapes, bruises, nor broken bones. My clothes weren't even ripped. I was able to ride back home. I'm lucky nothing on me broke. Usually it's me that gets hurt.

But when I got back home, I found my bike and my cell phone took the brunt of the damage. My cell phone's display is cracked, and I found out my right seat stay got hit and now it is dented/bent. The side of the seat stay probably hit the curb and then got bent and dented. Everything else on the bike is ok. 

Could a bent/dented seat stay on an aluminum frame be repaired?

As for the Cell phone, I think it's cheaper for me to get another one than getting the display fixed.

Thanks,

-Josef


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## Sherpa23 (Nov 5, 2001)

jcuesico said:


> Hi,
> 
> I had a weird crash over the weekend. I hit some loose dirt on the road, skidded and fell. I ended up on the dirt on the side of the road. I was ok, no scrapes, bruises, nor broken bones. My clothes weren't even ripped. I was able to ride back home. I'm lucky nothing on me broke. Usually it's me that gets hurt.
> 
> ...


Don't even try it. Aluminum does not have a threshold that allows it to be bent back. It will be significantly weakened now and exponentially so when it is bent back. Get a new frame. This is not a question mark. If it were just a small dent it would be okay to keep riding but if it is bent then you need to trash it.


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## weiwentg (Feb 3, 2004)

jcuesico said:


> Hi,
> 
> I had a weird crash over the weekend. I hit some loose dirt on the road, skidded and fell. I ended up on the dirt on the side of the road. I was ok, no scrapes, bruises, nor broken bones. My clothes weren't even ripped. I was able to ride back home. I'm lucky nothing on me broke. Usually it's me that gets hurt.
> 
> ...


you should have landed harder on the cellphone. how badly bent is your seatstay? was it once a straight stay, and now it's a curvy stay? if it's just dented, you might be able to get away with riding the frame. if it's really bent, I hope the frame wasn't too expensive. sorry, that's just the way aluminum is.


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## regan (Jun 17, 2004)

I know a guy who refused to give up on his favorite bike and took it to a metal shop and had them straighten it out and reinforce it was a weird little cage of something. It's hard to explain, but what the metal shop guys did was bend the aluminum back and then add a few small pieces of titanium or steel to help support the frame. It's pretty ingenius because it's very subtle but got him back on the road.


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## Fogdweller (Mar 26, 2004)

*No question*

Scrap it and start frame shopping. Aluminum does not have the ability to bend back and maintain it's original strength.

Or, have it bent back but don't take the frame over 5mph. The choice is yours...


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## jcuesico (Mar 25, 2004)

*Here's the pic*

Here's the pic. The seat stay should be straight. I've added some lines so it clearly shows that it's bent.

So now I'm thinking of upgrading. I'll have my eye on a couple of frames. I'll also see how schwinn's crash replacement policy is. I would like to have the same from from 2001. But I think that's imposible. 2001 was before Schwinn got sold to Pacific Cycles. I was looking at the new 2004 and 2005 frames from Schwinn/Pacific Cycles. They have the same geometry but some of the tubes are now carbon. The 2004/05 frames have carbon seat stays. 

Hmmmm I wonder how carbon would have handled the same crash...

I'll let you know how it goes.

-Josef


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## Nate Haler (Jul 14, 2004)

*aluminum is apparently a dust magnet too!*



jcuesico said:


> Here's the pic. The seat stay should be straight. I've added some lines so it clearly shows that it's bent.
> 
> So now I'm thinking of upgrading. I'll have my eye on a couple of frames. I'll also see how schwinn's crash replacement policy is. I would like to have the same from from 2001. But I think that's imposible. 2001 was before Schwinn got sold to Pacific Cycles. I was looking at the new 2004 and 2005 frames from Schwinn/Pacific Cycles. They have the same geometry but some of the tubes are now carbon. The 2004/05 frames have carbon seat stays.
> 
> ...


Just kidding, sorta.

If I were you, I'd be sure to have the bike in clean condition before trying to get an LBS to check into frame warranty, etc. A dirty bike might equate to a neglected bike in their view.


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## Dave_Stohler (Jan 22, 2004)

Since Schwinn is now owned by Pacific, maybe they'll give you a Magna frame???


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

Dave_Stohler said:


> Since Schwinn is now owned by Pacific, maybe they'll give you a Magna frame???


HAHAHA, that is just so much funnier being that I am in College. K Mart had the Magna Glacier Point in this nasty green color for $25 bucks I believe, they are like a plague around here!

Kyle


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