Sasha, Very glad to hear that you are OK. As far as the frame is concerned. I think it may be toast. The top and down tube may need replacement and that can be done but it is no longer original.
There will be another frame that will float yer boat.
Mike Schmidt Stirling, NJ USA
On 3/1/08 1:23 PM, "sasha eysymontt" <sashae@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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/
>
> Graceful arc, with straight edge:
> http://www.flickr.com/
>
> 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.