WJV

Lucky me, $100 Tommasini frame on CL. My size too!! I call the guy, he says its in good condition with a few scratches. I drive a ways to pick it up before someone scoops me. Sure enough too good to be true, which is why I hate Drew! (No rhyme intended)

The frame has a few stickers on it which is fine with me, I can take 'em off easily enough, on the top tube are the remnants of a sticker apparently of the previous owner "Drew." I don't know what blew up Drew's dress but he decided he didn't want to run a front derailleur. So he removed the shifter boss braze on with what looks like a pair of vice grips. It left the frame dented and naked. Well he wanted even more weight savings and took off the derailleur braze on as well, but thankfully didn't dent anything.

Well I bought it anyways (sure didn't pay $100). Think its safe to build up as a single speed or something or cut my losses to wall art? Does anyone know if it would be repairable? I guess a full new down tube would have to be put in? Anyone know of a frame builder/repairer in the Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati area?
Thanks
WjV

swif

You just know it was those damn hipsters.

Sirrus Rider

Drew should have a particular male appendage removed with said vice grips!

soderbiker

it amazes me how people want a "track" bike so badly that they are doing this to their lovely framesets they acquirer.
these types of people ( who damage bikes like this ) no nothing of cycling and the love that went into most of these frames and how beautiful they are .
just want to have the an "Old steel" frame to look cool on street corners in the city .
its just "sadens" (<- is that correct) me to see this .
and i see it quite frequently .
e.merckx on ebay now with the same damage . all braze-ons removed . sad , just sad .
my rant for the day
T

Dr.Deltron

I would bet that any good framebuilder could fix that all up without having to retube.

But that's still going to put holes in that pretty paintjob.

I also have to give kudos to the hipster hackers, when they destroy a nice frame for their fixie fix, it just makes the frames we have more valuable!

RobbieTunes

When folks do that to pretty frames, they often have no concept of what they are damaging, no intent to deface or harm, just the end result in mind.

"Caveman see bike, caveman want fixie, caveman make fixie."

We can only educate caveman; show him that the graceful curves of a fine lug, like the soft curve of a.......oops, sorry. Off track. Well, we can only put our interests out there, and hope some catch on.

Sooner or later, said caveman will appreciate a C&V bike.

Dr.Deltron

HMmmmm....where da braze-ons all go???

bonechiller

This is absolutely the worst thing about the fixed gear trend. I blame Fixed Gear Gallery for encouraging everyone to hack up vintage road bikes in order to have "clean lines" or whatever nonsense they're hoping for.

The sad thing is how many more of these frames we're all going to see as this trend starts to pass and the bikes enter the used market again.

WJV

Maybe that would be the best course of action, sell it back to one of these kids. Perhaps they will be content with having one pre-mangled frame instead of seeking another perfectly good frame to hack up. So what do you think, if i sell it with big "Perfect fixed gear candidate" as a selling point, would it save another frame destined to be cut?

MadeInItaly

I hate Drew too.. What a shame.

nayr497

I say you get this posted in the FG/SS gallery as a sticky in order to dissuade anyone else from doing such a horrible thing to a Tommasini, or other beautiful classic road frame. This is unforgivable when you can pick up 5/8/10 stock frames now for $350 and suddenly become a fixed gear "cyclist".

Drew needs to be worked over with pliers and a hammer.

And, I completely don't buy into the idea that Drew didn't know what he was doing. Tommasini's are too incredible to think it was okay to do that. I just think he is such a **** that he didn't care

Poguemahone

In Drew's defense, I once worked with a guy named drew and he was a total idiot.

Once he was going on about how he was a master of some martial art or other and I told him that I was a master of the Martial arts as well.

Drew: "which one?"

I: "Lap Gok, the dreaded secret Irish art of Self Defense"

Drew (with awe and wonder): "I've heard of that! It's deadly, dude! You know that?"

I: "Yes."

Drew: "Geez, man, could you show me some moves?"

I: "No, it might kill you."

Little did Drew know I found out about Lap Gok in some weird Monty Python book I had, which had an ad for Lap Gok, complete with a picture of a Leprachaun in a Kung Fu pose. Drew also once asked me what happened to the old X-factor comic book, and I told him Gatorade had bought all rights to the name. Drew was none to bright; perhaps this was his frame.

mackerel

I hate Drew as well.
I knew him when he was a young child.
He pulled the ears off his pet rabbit with a pair of vice-grips.
He said he wanted a hamster instead.
What a jerk.

USAZorro

Seems you liked it well enough to buy it. Yeah, it's a shame what was done to it, but sounds like you must have gotten a pretty good deal.

txvintage

Drew is a di........p stick.

luker

Yep, too bad about the damage. To answer your original question...no, I'm pretty sure that the dents won't kill you. You could single-speed it and make it live again, or let a good frame builder repair the damage. The paint would not be easy to match but not out of the question...if you did the paint yourself you'd be looking at maybe a hundred dollars in repair bills.

Not too bad, $200 and some paint for a good Tommy...

sciencemonster

Not to sound like too much of a heretic, but couldn't you slap on a clamp on shifter and cover up the mess? Once a bike is screwed with, it's totally game for fooling with. I'd cut of the other boss and cover over the both with a clamp on. Same with the derailler. What's done is done. Might as well salvage the cool paint job.

Is that bad?

drpaauwe

Yeah, like sciencemonster said. Use clamp on DT shifters. Or use bar-end or integrated shifters. A clamp on front derailler should still work fine too, right? As long as it's structurally sound, who cares.

GV27

I'm in the "a good frame builder can fix it but you'll have to paint it" camp.

Drew is the lowest form of life.

guygadois 

Werd is Drew spelled backwerds.

-GG-

RobbieTunes

The fixers here wouldn't do that to a frame. The art major chicks would filet 'em if they did.
They haven't bought into the deep V rims, either. Instead, they like the 27x1 chromies, 6" of wrap on the ends of long low track bars, no brakes, and mtb toe clips. I admire them, but how they keep those baggy pants out of the chain ring, I don't know.

55/Rad

The frame is painted in the rare "quattro colori" color scheme, one that was used in the mid to late 80's. There were a couple of versions of this scheme, one being based against a white and the other against a red - which is the one I own - similar to the photo below.

When I got mine, I called Tommasini to see if they has a restoration program as I wanted it painted as original. I was told that the long time painter who likely did the paint on these frames had recently retired but was looking for some interesting projects to fill the time. I haven't sent it back yet but I got all excited at the possibility.

Best of luck with yours...

55/Rad

cudak888 

I propose the following adaption of the word "Drew" into the C&V vocabulary (much in the same fashion as the term "Fred"):


-Kurt

RobbieTunes

What we also need is a less sensitive word for fixie, which sounds like a type of skirt or something.

"Fixed" kind of implies neutered, and that leaves me queasy.

"Dung bike" is a little harsh, I think, because a fixed gear can be a good spring trainer, so the speed freaks tell me.

Maybe something in German, they have good gutteral words.

cudak888 

"Fixed gear" in German: "Reparierten Gang." Sounds like a punk hipster rock band.

I prefer "Farked Gear"/"Farkie" myself. Immediately offensive

-Kurt