Help me with info on this bike

rwinthenorth · #1 04-07.-2007

I just got a bike and need some info. 1. The bike is a Van Tuyl. I'm not sure what date it is but probably mid 80's -90's? 2. This is a Columbus tubing bike. Very light. I'm assuming it's steel. It's set up with full Campy Record 8 speed. 1" Campy headset and a Italmanubri ITM Eclypse quill stem. The fork looks like Chromolly, also Columbus. Very smooth to ride. The previous owner even put on Chorus pedals. With all that is great, I have a question.

There are two small dents in the top tube, same side. You can't see them in the pictures as hard as I have tried to take a decent photo. There are no cracks anywhere although there are some scrapes and scuffs. No big deal. I want to ride this bike. Do these dents in this tubing put me at risk and if they do, being steel, can it be repaired?

If I have to, I'll strip the frame for parts for the money I spent on it. But I got on it, and it is a sweet bike. Any feedback would be appreciated. Oh yeah, I don't race, so this would be just another nice training bike.

Kelderek · #2 04-09.-2007

It's hard to judge without actually seeing the dents, but if they are small enough to be difficult to catch on a photo... If the frame is steel and there are no cracks, I wouldn't worry too much.

It would be worse with an aluminum frame with oversized tubing. In that case, the walls of the tubes would be thinner and the oversized tubing would mean more stress applied to the material. This would result in an increaed risk of "beer can effect", i.e. the tube collapses like a beer can under stress.
With the relatively small tube diameter of this bike, the risk of this happening is reduced and I suspect that the wall thickness of the tubing is sufficient to prevent it.
Furthermore, steel is a pretty tensile material, it does not fracture immediately with catastrophic result. Keep an eye on the dents for any cracks forming or changes in appearance.
Also, the dents are not in an area where a lot of stress is applied, it would be more troublesome with dents close to the weldings or close to the crankset.

alfeng · #3 04-09.-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by rwinthenorth

There are two small dents in the top tube, same side. You can't see them in the pictures as hard as I have tried to take a decent photo. There are no cracks anywhere although there are some scrapes and scuffs. No big deal. I want to ride this bike. Do these dents in this tubing put me at risk and if they do, being steel, can it be repaired?

Dents in steel tubing are often cosmetic ... particularly, shallow dents.

I know someone who had a Schwinn Paramount 20+ years ago, sold it, bought it back a few years ago. When he got it back, it had a SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE dent in the top tube than the dent's in your bike's top tube ... the Paramount's dent must have been DIME sized & just as deep ... and, the dent was all the more evident (when I first saw it ... maybe it was actually smaller, or maybe it was larger!) because the frame is yellow.

As far as I know, the frame did not ride any differently than it did when it was new (at least, he never lamented buying the bike back) ... his only concern was getting a freewheel with 34t cog!

My friend looked into repairing the dent -- he learned that dents in tubing can be "rolled" out, apparently ... but, at a fairly high cost (IMO) ... or, at a higher cost, a (good) framebuilder can replace the top tube (this would involve replacing the lugs, too!). In the former case (rolling), I suppose the paint could be touched up, but in the latter case (replacing), the frame would probably need to be repainted.

rwinthenorth · #4 04-10.-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by alfeng

Dents in steel tubing are often cosmetic ... particularly, shallow dents.

I know someone who had a Schwinn Paramount 20+ years ago, sold it, bought it back a few years ago. When he got it back, it had a SIGNIFICANTLY WORSE dent in the top tube than the dent's in your bike's top tube ... the Paramount's dent must have been DIME sized & just as deep ... and, the dent was all the more evident (when I first saw it ... maybe it was actually smaller, or maybe it was larger!) because the frame is yellow.

As far as I know, the frame did not ride any differently than it did when it was new (at least, he never lamented buying the bike back) ... his only concern was getting a freewheel with 34t cog!

My friend looked into repairing the dent -- he learned that dents in tubing can be "rolled" out, apparently ... but, at a fairly high cost (IMO) ... or, at a higher cost, a (good) framebuilder can replace the top tube (this would involve replacing the lugs, too!). In the former case (rolling), I suppose the paint could be touched up, but in the latter case (replacing), the frame would probably need to be repainted.

This is great news. I really wanted to take this bike out. Thanks guys for the info.

Anybody know anyhting about this bike (anybody from Holland speak english?) to lend a little history. I don't know much about Van Tuyle. There sight is in Dutch. Doesn't help. Any more info would be great. Thanks.

Kelderek · #5 04-10.-2007

Try to translate the entire site from Dutch to English using Babelfish:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

The result will not be perfect, but usually good enough to understand!

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