Top tube dents

[Carbonman1]

Hey Dudes of the Oracle...

    My brother gave me a proflex 857 frame that was left behind in one of his apartments.  It is a large frame and in pretty good condition except for two matching dents on each side of the toptube  about an inch behind the headtube.  These dents are in the top hemisphere of the tube and correspond to a location consistent with a couple of 'minor' front wheel twist crashes.

  The question that I have is:  Has anyone seen a proflex frame fail as a result of this type of damage?  My LBS gurus seem to think that it is rideable, and I quote " Aluminum gives you indications before failure, unlike carbon fiber."  What do y'all think?  I would hate to take such a fine frame for that final walk behind the shed.  Any repair suggestions?

[Old Proflexer]

I bought my wifes 857 via the net and when it arrived several years ago - it had the same dents.  proflex supplied at plastic unit that slipped over the top tube in that area, snapped into place and prevented the dent's you describe.

I located one several years ago from proflex and installed it - it is very similar to black pvc pipe.  In addition, they had some thick flexible plastic strips that adhered to the sides of the crosslinks to prevent marring the tubes.

With that being said, one could easily fashion replacements out of hardware store parts should it look to be necessary in the future
(i.e. excessive dudelike faceplants or those gnarley twisty crashey experiences).

I stripped her frame, had it sandblasted, filled the dents with jbweld and had it powdercoated.  
haven't had a problem with it since.

best to keep the rubber side down -

OP

[Carbonman1]

Hmmm,  

  thats an interesting solution.   I'll have to beat a path to the local hardware store for some thin pvc.  I hate to strip the frame though, as it is quite pretty in its overstickered glory.  Did Proflex use straight guage or butted tubing on those frames?  The material seems pretty beefy.   BTW where did those frames tend to crack?

[loaded]

The most frequent place i've heard of cracks on the X55,x56 and X57 frames were around the swingarm pivot, either where it attatches to the triangle or on the swingarm itself.

Hope your frame turns out to be OK
Cheers, [smiley=beer.gif]
Luke