[CR]Help Frame Repair !! Possible ?? - was - ack, my poor Schwinn

Folks ,

We can't just leave Ann out there !

Can such a bottom bracket be returned to proper shape ??

And yes , I understand that a steel casting , bent , and then returned to shape , would be prone to cracking .

But what if the bottom bracket shell was originally formed from sheet steel to begin with ?

Ann , look at the bottom of the bottom bracket shell , both inside and outside . Do you see a large seam , or any trace of a seam having been smoothed down ?

Re-shaping a b.b. shell , which was originally bent together out of a piece of flat sheet , should be possible . Right ? And of course , the threads will need to be delicately chased . But there is a competent person for doing the thread-chasing , working right in the same shop with the owner of the damaged frame !!

And , I know that replacing a b.b. shell is the most complex of frame repairs . But what does that sort of thing cost ? Also , re-chrome-plating , after replacing the b.b. shell , would be needlessly expensive . The good news is that the original Schwinn "Opaque Blue" would be fairly easy to match ! No , it would not have chrome plating under the fresh paint . But that would just mean that the fresh paint would stick better , and be less likely to come off later !

If the b.b. shell could simply be straightened , any resulting paint damage would be even easier to repair .

What can be done here ?

Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas