Originally Posted by
dglevy
Hi all, I have a friend who is looking at a 2003 steel framed bike to purchase. The description looks good. If the bike is still available, we are going to go look at it tomorrow. I will inspect the frame for cracks, of course, but I'm wondering how to check to see if it's bent. I found
this thread on BF. The consensus is to measure both sides with string but I don't want to get into that if I can avoid it. One comment was that one can ride the bike with no hands on the handlebars and, if it won't track straight, then the frame is bent. Is this a reliable measure?
Riding no hands is definitely not a reliable way to tell if a frame is bent or not. I would not recommend this method. If you don't have access to a frame alignment gauge, I would highly recommend string and ruler method,
The reasons why "riding no hand is not reliable".
1) If the headset is loose, the bike might be twitchy and you won't be able to ride no hand
2) If the headset bearings is too tight, the bike will want to pull in one specific direction
Neither of these poor ride feel actually lets you know whether the frame is true or not
Also, I once repurposed a vintage Specialized Crossroad from the original flat handlebars into drop handlebars with STI controls and that bike, no matter what I did was very difficult to ride with no hands. So, the test riding it with no hands on the bar method wouldn't let me know whether the frame was okay or not.