frame dents help

Submitted by PaulD on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 14:08

Hi,

I'm trying to decide whether or not to try fixing some of the dents in this mid-teens frame, and if so, how. The most serious ones are located at the same point on either side of one of the seat stays and may have weakened it. I have straightend the stay and tried applying pressure with V blocks but without success. The approach does not look promising to me but I don't have any previous experience with that. The seat stays use D section tubing.

 

 

 

 

The dents above the bridge appear to have been caused by the bracket for the rack and there seems to have been a repair made. The ones on the head tube just look bad. I have no idea what may be the explanation for those ones.

 

 

 

 

I don't want to make anything worse and I could live with them I suppose but would really like to hear what others would do with these dents.

thanks,

Paul

7 Comments

Submitted by DUOMATIC on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 18:40.

I would use bondo on the head tube ones. Fill, file and sand smooth.

The crushed tubes I am not sure.

 

Worth doing something verses just leaving them.

Submitted by Brian R. on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 19:07.

Start your project with a different frame? It's the badge, fenders, seat, and other bits and pieces that make a restoration costly. If you already have those parts why not attach them to a better frame?

Submitted by locomotion on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 20:05.

PLEASE, never use bondo on a bicycle

if you're going to do the job, might as well to do it properly .... I don't see anything wrong with the frame, the structure is perfectly fine .... why trash it?

on you bike, just grind any of the previous awful repairs, then push any of the dents inwards

then simply braze in all the cavities, like they did in the old days ... pretty easy to do

brazing will fill all the depressions and then simply file everthing smooth

you will then be ready for prime and paint

Submitted by locomotion on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 20:07.

will you make it a Cleveland again?

when you are done brazing everything, just re-drill the badge holes prior to paint

Submitted by Ron Miller on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 21:41.

I have removed dents in tubing by applying high pressure on the inside of the tube then heating the dent area with an oxy acetylene flame. Similar to glass blowing.  It needs red or nearly red heat depending on the pressure.  I have 160 psi in my compressor.  It works well.

The head tube dents can be pushed out with a 1" or larger rod through the tube on the dent squeezed down onto a hard surface with heavy C clamps.  It takes a bit of fiddley work but can be done.  Will need some light filling with body putty to finish it.

Ron

Submitted by locomotion on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 23:00.

I am very curious to know how you plan to apply high pressure inside those two rear downtubes Ron?

by drilling two more holes???

Submitted by PaulD on Sun, 02/05/2017 - 16:55.

Thanks for the comments.

I would like to try and work with this frame. I think it would be difficult to find another one and I don't think the few original parts that I do have would warrant looking for a replacement frame. I had wondered whether modern tubing of the same dimensions could be found to replace the one badly dented stay.

I am wondering if the brazing would add any strength to the stay. It may not be a concern but I think the stay would be more prone to flexing at the point of the dents. If not, I think raising the dents as much as possible there might be necessary. Also I guess filling the dents on the stay doesn't address the outward distortion so might still be fairly noticable.

I am not actually sure that it is a Cleveland but it would be nice to figure that out. From pictures I've seen it does seem to have a lot in common with Clevelands of that period but the fork crown is like what is shown for the Perfect bicycles in the 1918 CCM catalogue, and there is both a two hole and a four hole pattern for the head badge attachment which is confusing. I suppose the fork could have been a replacment and haven't seen any photos of Perfect bicycles of that period so I don't have anything else to compare with. I'm not really sure that I could do a real restoration. My intention is to use the parts I have and replace with more appropriate ones as I can find them. 

Pressurizing the tube sounds interesting though I'm not sure how exactly that could be done. The head tube fix also sounds promising but there are collars fitted at each end so the tube is not the same diameter throughout, and I guess the back side dents would be tricky to brace.