I recently purchased a Surly Pugsly as a rolling chasis, this was shipped by road from portugal
On arrival it had a dent in the seat post downtube, not massive but enough to stop the seat post dropping down to the correct height for me.
Any ideas on the best way to repair this without further damaging the frame?
pics
The guy i bought it off is also now refusing to discuss the matter... what you see on the frame is how it was packed minus the crap cardboard around it!
Cant afford to spend a lot repairing it as i've also shelled out for all the bits for the bike!
I thought the same Chew its in a very odd place for it to be dinged like that during transit, but i have no way of disproving what the seller has told me
The only thing i could think of was to put a small dia seat post in and gently tap with a fine adjustment tool? do you think that would work or make it worse?
I was thinking of getting it resprayed anyway so if paint cracks its no big deal.... that ding is just gonna annoy the crap out of me
RayKickButts wrote:
The only thing i could think of was to put a small dia seat post in and gently tap with a fine adjustment tool? do you think that would work or make it worse?
Agree this is the method to try. Depends on how you wanna go about and I don't know how treated the tubes are.
Ideal theoretical way I would attempt to repair this would be to have a tube or something on the outside to limit any deflection etc, have the tube heated a bit to give a bit more give in the material (but watch out that you can ruin the paint like this..) and give it some taps from inside the tube (but access is gonna be difficult for that.).
Actually, I'd just hacksaw my seatpost to be honest.
Hacksaw the seatpost. Then buy get a riv nut gun. Drill a hole smack bang in the dent. Get a salsa cage bottle mount etc then drill another one and voila. New bottle mount and sin covered x you can a set for roughly 25 quid with nuts included. Just make sure it has some m5 ones.
I would say that the force required to create the dent, (i.e. hard impact concentrated on a small point on the outside of the tube) is going to be difficult to reverse from the inside where you have a lot less room to apply an equal or greater force return the metal to its original position.
The only suggestion I have is to use something like a headset expander bolt and a looong allen key. Slide it down to the point where the dent protrudes inward, tighten expander bolt and see what happens. At least with this method you're applying force to the dent at the point of maximum deflection, and so have a better chance of maybe "popping" it back out.
Get a long 'old' seat post of the correct dia, then file into a round * (take off the sharp edge) at the point that the post is going to touch the dent "only". Slide it into the seat tube (with plenty grease) tap it firmly to the dent then rotate it L then R then give it another firm tap then L and R and so on and so on till you can get it all the way.
You could possibly repair that with an internal tube swager, these are used in the manufacture/repair of heat exchangers.
Another option if you're having the frame repainted anyway, would be to have some sort of fitting welded to the frame in the middle of the dent, then attach a slide hammer to 'pull' the dent out. Any decent automotive body shop should have the gear to do this.
Although all the above could result in a knackered frame, as long as you've got 100mm min seatpost in the frame, i'd go with the cutting the seatpost down option
To be honest I think the fact that the dent will make you twitch, is easier sorted than it stops the SP going in enough. So, does it stop the post going in enough for your riding seat height?( assuming you use the shortest post you can get away with). If so, and given that you are possibly gonna get the frame resprayed anyway, could you not get the dent filled before re-painting? Seems easier and cheaper In the long run, not sure I would be keen to start taking all manner of hammers etc to my frame, even given the fact that Surly frames are pretty robust..
How far from the top of the ST is the dent?
JPW's idea is a good one - lemons/lemonade etc, create a new anything cage or vari-height pump+bottle cage mount using the ding as the top hole, it seems quite central on the tube. A frame builder could braze the bosses in so that they all look equally smooth. Ian's idea is cunning, prob most likely to reverse the dent, a 1" quill stem with a 190mm extension (longest common spec I'm aware of) may be long enough to do it?
But I don't think any pulling/pushing methods will reverse a dent particularly neatly, if it's bugging you you'll want a neat, smooth finish which is fair enough so I think making a positive of it somehow (and justification for a great new paint job) might be better than potentially making it worse.
The riv nut mounts flush with the tube with all the thread being internal. Had to do it with my hard tail half a year ago as the lugs sheared off completely. I was gutted. Once I riv nutted it you honesty can not tell the difference with a cage on it you just need slightly longer bolts.
Or you treat yourself and find your local fabricator. They deal with most things obscure trust me. After that take it down to the powder coat shop. You'd be surprised at how cheap it is.
I'm just pissed off as this has put a dampner on my first fatty purchase, it will drive my OCDness mad knowing its there and that the guy sold it to me as in pristine condition!!
