Hi,

I had a moment two weekends ago where I forgot about the two bikes on my roof rack and ploughed straight into a coach house (slow speed so not to bad on the damage).
The only really significant bit of damage was on my buddys steel hardtail which rotated on the rack arm, squashing the rack arm and taking all the paint of a small section of the bottom of the downtube.
It also dented the downtube near the bottom bracket. Do you think this will affect the strength of the frame?
Cheers

Depends how big/deep the dent is, and probably where ot is on the tube.

FWIW,when my bike was a couple of rides old I had a stone flick up and dent the down tube, about 3″ up from the BB. This was a lightweight aluminium thing. The dent incident was around 6 years ago. I’ve only just retired that frame… Only time it ever crossed my mind was when I had the bike upside down – the only time I could see the dent.
edit – dent was around the did. of a 5p piece and probably about 1mm deep in the centre. Pretty much central to the lowest point of the tube diameter – hope that last bit makes sense!

tbh you need a post a picture. Is it a tiny little dent and a tiny amount of paint or a massive dent and a load of paint?

Downtube is under tension and it’s steel so will probably be okay. But you can’t really expect any kind of real answer without pics.

Has he asked you to replace it/claim on your insurance or have you offered?

What makes you think that was the only significant damage? You mean the only visible significant damage.

It’s only a small dent really. I offered to replace it but he’s ok with it. Not seen it properly myself yet but if I think it’s really bad then I’ll get him a new one.

Pics would help a lot, but as a rough guide if it’s a smooth dent it’s fine, if there’s a fold or crumple the tube needs to be replaced.

Ok sounds good then, it’s a smooth dent not a fold or a crumple.