[CR]the limits of steel repair, or, de rosa vs pothole.

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme)

Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2008 13:23:49 -0500
From: "sasha eysymontt" <sashae@gmail.com>
To: "Classic Rendezvous Bike List" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]the limits of steel repair, or, de rosa vs pothole.

So, while on a jaunt on my De Rosa Professional SLX pista with a friend for lunch on Wednesday to seek out a bit of delicious noodle in Chinatown, I had the misfortune of hitting the lone pothole the size of a basketball on an otherwise smooth stretch of road (though I suspect there was a second pothole on the grassy knoll) leading me to go over-the-bars face first, cracking my helmet, giving me a black eye, dislocating my shoulder, and much... MUCH worse, rather severely pranging my De Rosa.

The top tube shows the most microscopic of paint cracks on the top of the tube, and a slight bulge (to the extent that you can feel it rubbing the tube, but I was unable to successfully photograph it.) The downtube, however... well, let's just say that tire clearance and toe overlap is a bit more of a problem. Apparently, while looking over my shoulder to see where my friend was, I entered this enormous pothole straight on -- to the extent that the tire/wheel caught on the downtube and then bent the downtube into a rather graceful arc.

The frame, as a whole: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sashae/2301767041/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Graceful arc, with straight edge: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sashae/2301767211/sizes/l/in/photostream/

So, as I loved this bike dearly and would REALLY like for it to be operational again, what are the limits of alignment to fix damage like this? As there are no hard creases anywhere, is it possible that I could have the frame realigned, or am I looking at a full replacement of the down and top tubes? I desperately want to rescue this frame, but I also don't want to break my teeth if the steel has been weakened to that extent that it'd be failure prone.

Any thoughts or past experience with damage like this?

sasha 'bartender? motrin 800, water back.' eysymontt, nyc.

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,+'^'+ sasha eysymontt
sashae at gmail dot com - http://subtle.org/se
`+,.,+` new york city.