What are your thoughts on dings in steel frames?

dirttorpedo

Senior Retro Guru
I have a line on a 94 Kona Cinder Cone. Apparently it has a small ding in the top tube. What is the general consensus on small dings in a frame - walk away or ride it with confidence?
 
A small ding, say under 5mm diameter, and I don't worry. Frequently from barend bolts striking the toptube in a crash. Pretty much cosmetic, IMHO, and I have no trouble admitting that my retrobike has history, and has been ridden, raced and crashed on occasion. A ding of this size can easily be filled if you're refinishing the frame.

A ding gets much larger than that, and it begins to deform the tube's shape. If the ding's at 12oclock on the tube, and a straight edge placed at 9, 3 or 6 oclock shows any deviation away from straight at the location of the ding, and I'd worry.

J
 
Re:

Small dings are quite normal, a couple of my steel bikes have small dings in them even after being refinished (I did have one larger ding filled with braze before painting). I think it adds to the character of the bike, shows its history, and being steel a small ding in the tubing isn't a big deal :D

I guess it all depends how big this ding is, and how far it's pushed the tube wall in.
Although with steel you'd be surprised how much abuse the tubing will take before it's time to think of tube replacement (or looking for a different frame).
 
Don't worry about it, if it hasn't deformed any of the other tube it will be fine. It's all patina and history to the bike.
 
No problem.

After seeing a bike with the top half of the top tube cut off(looks like a trough) riding around year after year a small dent is nothing. a large dent is nothing either :?
Imho :)
 
I have a 94 cindercone with a big ding in the down tube it runs along the tube so I don't worry about it, very under rated frames cindercones ;)
 
Re:

Its a done deal. I picked it up yesterday. The ding is shallower than I expected and a bit broader. Came with a decent selection of parts too - original headset, stem, bar, brake levers, seatpost and saddle. Not sure if they're original, but also came with some Diacompe 987's and a cartridge BB.

Definitely needs a respray or something. I'm leaning towards powdercoat. Orange would be nice. Lime green is a possibility. Otherwise I'll just plunk for a cheap black or white.
 
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