Tom Witkop wrote:
>I never tried this was a bicycle but did do it with a motorcycle gas tank
>with reasonable results. Fill the top tube with water, plug the ends and
>leave it outside to freeze. The expanding water may push out the dent.
One of the many biographies of the Wright brothers I read told of on of their first financial successes, as adolescents:
At the time, the U.S. government had a large supply of mortar shells left over from the War of the Rebellion. These were hollow steel (or maybe iron?) spheres full of gunpowder with a hole for a fuse. They were obsolete, and the explosives were no longer reliable but still dangerous. The metal had real value as scrap, but only if somebody could figure a way to get the powder out without causing an explosion. The need was for a way to crack the shells open without risking causing a spark.
The Wright brothers came up with the solution: they filled the shells with water, and fitted a plug to the fuse hole, held on with wire. They left the water filled shells out on cold Ohio winter nights, and in the morning the cracked-open shells could have the gunpowder safely scraped out, and the metal could be re-cycled!
As to dented top tubes, I've never tried this, but I've often wondered about the possibility of clamping the tube in a form, sort of like elongated frame clamp blocks, and setting off a firecracker inside...any volunteers?
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