Personally, I wouldn't do a thing to the 3Rensho. I have several bikes or frames that I bought dirt cheap because they either had a dent in the top tube, or because there were bulges in the tubes or cracks in the paint or chrome that hinted at possible frontal impact. Thay all ride fine. I suspect that in a lot of cases a moderate frontal impact may be capable of cracking the paint or chrome without producing any deformation at all of the tube itself, in which case the problem is completely cosmetic. And there are framebuilders/painters who can fill a dent and repaint the immediate area without replacing any tubes or repainting the whole frame. Mike Barry in Toronto did this for me on two different frames and did a flawless job at a very reasonable price.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, TX
FujiFish1@aol.com wrote:
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2007 10:40:32 -0500 From: LTravers To: Classic Rendezvous Subject: Re: [CR]When is a 3Rensho no longer a 3Rensho?
Jeff asked....
> have you shown us pics already?
No...
If go to this link,
http://www.wooljersey.com/
you can see the pictures Mark Agree posted when he was selling the frame that clearly show the problem. Mark had never built the bike, so he could not tell me if it was a problem. He bought it from someone who claimed to have ridden it and never noticed the problem. Actually I kind of bought it by accident. Mark had a real reasonable price on it (eBay) and no one had bid. I figured I would try to help him out and put a bid on it, figuring it would get the ball rolling. I was the only bidder.
If you go to this link,
http://www.wooljersey.com/
you can see the bike as I built it. As I said, rides fine. I think Mark is over his seller's remorse. :-)
-- Lynn Travers Hazelwood, MO
Uh, not quite completely over it ... but getting there! :) Actually, I'm VERY glad that it turned out to ride so well for Lynn. Anyway, it's totally OK, as I just picked up a 54cm Team Raleigh from about 1975 (serial number SB 359), with a dent in the top tube and a split in the wedge area of the steerer, but the price was also - just right!
Ciao, Mark Agree Southfield MI
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