Folks I’m after some guidance on a frame that’s come up for sale with a dent in the top tube and I can’t decide if the dent is going to have a detrimental effect on the frames strength.

The Dent is in the middle of the top tube. The seller isn’t hiding the dent and has sent me the following pictures.

Im not asking anybody for a definitive yes / no it’ll be fine but any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers
Mark

If it was mine, it’d be a bit close to what I’d have as a pub bike.

If it was for sale, I’d move onto the next less broken frame

I have a road bike with wafer-sin steel tubes and a dent of a similar size (area wise) to that, though not as deep.

It’s fine. I’ve ridden it for 3 years and no bad things have happened.

That frame would have to be bloody cheap though as they weren’t expensive in the first place.

As per above. If it was mine I would ignore it and keep going (you should see the state of my commuter bike!). However unless it was VERY cheap I wouldn’t buy it. Actually I probably wouldn’t even if it was very cheap.

Is a 96 explosif, they seem to sell for around 150 in good nick. This one is 100, I want it as an MTB rather than a pub bike so I’m swaying away from it more and more

My road bike also has a dent that size from a scaffold pole falling on it

It would need to be free for me to be considering that tbh as at least mine is smooth where as that looks like it was a pointy impact with some folding of the tube

As for how weak it is honestly I have no idea

For £100 – no way. It would have to be dirt cheap with that sort of damage to top-tube. Even then it would be for towpath use.

If it was *just* a dent I’d be ok with it, but it’ll have introduced stress-risers where it’s pinched from the narrowness of whatever has fallen on it (really only echoing what Junkyard has noted ^).

Steel will take a lot, but I don’t think I’d trust it very far as it is.

Not for £100, no way. £50 max.

Under the tube or ontop of the tube = no

Side = ok

To buy? Hahahaha no.

50 quid delivered top price no way is it worth 100 quid + a powder coat and dent fill

Dent fill? Would anyone do that?

Weld a wee patch over it? The beauty of steel, a skilled welder can sort almost anything!

As a regular on Retrobike I see SO many Konas with dented top tubes. Even with the sloping top tube they seem to get dents in them easily, possibly due to long stems slammed onto the headset and flat bars.

Personally I wouldn’t touch it even for £20. Not worth it. The Explosifs are very light for a steel frame and the tubes are pretty thin. That isn’t just a ding, that a proper bad dent. I wouldn’t trust it.

Widen your search to include a Kilauea as well, they are just as good to ride.

No way, Pedro. And with the rust and the paint flaking round the edge… it looks mostly benign but there could potentially be a nasty patch hiding. Fair play to the seller’s honesty, but £100 is taking the piss, it’s a pub bike or a commuter now. Might be the first time I’ve agreed with Hora 😉

“Widen your search to include a Kilauea as well, they are just as good to ride.“

I’d widen it further still. I’ve had a Hot and a Lava Dome from the same year; the ride was exactly the same. So I sold the Hot.

Cheers for the advice chaps, I’ll give this one a miss and keep my eye out for another.

Nah, it’s creased – that’s a short step to crumpling. It’s fixable – fill it with brass, or replace the tube – but not really worth it unless it’s got sentimental value.

As what Ben says, one jump and its collapsed on landing- maybe ….
but I wouldn’t trust it and it will always be in the back of your mind

This has been fine since 1995… but its not creased like that.

I’ve got a very similar dent to that Explosif in my old Cindercone – put there by MBUK 😉

i’ve just seen the ad on ebay…the dent is at the side of the top tube rather than on the top of the tube…having said that the paint has come off and it looks to have corroded the steel underneath…how badly this will have affected the steel is anyones guess as the frame is 17 years old…if it was my money…i’d walk away and look elsewhere…