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A bad week for Bianchis

Old 08-29-21, 12:36 PM
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Gashepherd
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A bad week for Bianchis

I have never bought a Bianchi before, so last weekend I found 90-91? Bianchi Virata looked mostly original, bought it sight unseen had a friend pick it up for me. After he got it home he checked it out and found this,


so, I checked out the photos, may have cried a little 😢 and possibly pouted a little 🤬 but then I decided to go on with my life. Fast forward to Friday I find a listing for another Bianchi, this time it's a 96? Volpe this time it's close by so I checked it out in person, but she was in a hurry (had to get her daughter to soccer) so I looked at it quickly and picked it up, cleaning it up on Saturday evening I find this,


I still don't know how I missed this, but I did. I think that I maybe should steer clear of Bianchi in the future, but for the time being how much do these dents affect the structural integrity of the frames, is there any way to make some sort of repair on these frames and how much impact on the resale, thanks for any and all input - very humbled and slightly embarrassed - Gerry
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Old 08-29-21, 08:38 PM
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A dented tube is never as strong as a non-dented tube. Unfortunately it's impossible to predict when or if it will fail. However, frame blocks can decrease the size of the dent and the risk, though at the expense of the paint job.

Given that it has happened on two bicycles in a row, is there a chance that it could be due to how you are transporting the bicycles?
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Old 08-29-21, 09:53 PM
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Originally Posted by T-Mar
Given that it has happened on two bicycles in a row, is there a chance that it could be due to how you are transporting the bicycles?
that is one thing I can be sure of, the dents were a pre-existing condition as I haven't transported the virata yet, and if you notice the chipped areas around the dents have a fair amount of rust on them (more that a weeks worth anyway) so, I'll go with bad luck and not taking the time to look them over well enough

Last edited by Gashepherd; 08-30-21 at 07:28 AM.
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Old 08-29-21, 10:16 PM
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I talked to an employee at one of the local bike shops about the dent on the virata, he suggested that being on the top tube there wasn't a lot of pressure in that area so I should just bondo the dent and call it good, I was rather surprised
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Old 08-29-21, 10:33 PM
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Dents aren't bad (not great, but not bad). Dents that form creases on the other hand, no bueno.
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Old 08-30-21, 07:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Gashepherd
... noticethe chipped areas around the dents have a fair amount of rust on them..
Good point!
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Old 08-30-21, 08:17 AM
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These bikes are 2 distinctly different sizes.

If you find a frame/bike that fits you, then you have a nice pile of parts to build with. The RSX brifters can be combined with the 600 tri-color "ultegra" build kit from the other one and youd have a nice setup.
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Old 08-30-21, 02:01 PM
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I would have no problems having those dents rolled out and riding those bikes. The top tube is not as crucial as some others, and I've ridden a Mercian with a nasty top tube dent for more than 15 years, and some of those miles were at speed, too.
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Old 08-30-21, 02:14 PM
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Originally Posted by Gashepherd
I talked to an employee at one of the local bike shops about the dent on the virata, he suggested that being on the top tube there wasn't a lot of pressure in that area so I should just bondo the dent and call it good, I was rather surprised
I would agree for the most part take a strait edge too the tubes and string the frames for true pretty easy to find instructions on this online if there strait and true fill in the dents and touch up paint wax and you should be fine. From experience I can tell you one out of three vintage bikes have dented top tubes and I have only seen a couple top tube failures having worked on a thousand or more beat up vintage bikes. Both these dent's look to be garage door storage dents and not ride crash dents

Last edited by zukahn1; 08-30-21 at 02:27 PM.
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Old 08-30-21, 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Gashepherd
I talked to an employee at one of the local bike shops about the dent on the virata, he suggested that being on the top tube there wasn't a lot of pressure in that area so I should just bondo the dent and call it good, I was rather surprised
frame blocks first, at the end of the dent there is a raised portion at each end, be best to roll that out prior to adding bodyfiller.

For a while, I found almost every bike to pass my way had a top tube issue. very annoying.
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Old 08-30-21, 03:44 PM
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Originally Posted by zukahn1
Both these dent's look to be garage door storage dents and not ride crash dents
That what I figured as well, they look like either something was dropped on them(the virata) or they were dropped on something (the volpe) from the location of the dents
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Old 09-11-21, 04:16 PM
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After another bike fell against it, I've still got a bit of a dent on a very thin downtube after successfully massaging most of it away. I am thinking of using a hot glue gun to temporarily attach a handle to pull the dent out. It may be possible to preserve the paint.
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