Crashed Raleigh 64' Repairs?

[Raleigh64]

So recently my Raleigh 64' was crashed in an accident.
Currently the head tube, down tube, and one of the forks are bent. Are the repairable?

Here is the bike as I bought it.

[attachment=710]

Here is the bent head tube..
[attachment=711]
[attachment=712]

Here is the Bent Down tube...
[attachment=713]

and the bent forks.. (I'm not sure if you'll be able to notice in the picture, though i'm confident I can fix this one)

[attachment=714]

Is it repairable?
Mechanic or could I do it myself?

All input is greatly appreciated! Biking season is coming up and I would love it if I didn't have to dish out more money for a new bike.

Thanks

[Bill]

awww that sucks. I mean just even the crash! As far as fixable, from what I see you would definitely want to take it to a LBS for an opinion.

[Raleigh64]

(02-27-2010, 04:39 PM)Bill Wrote:  awww that sucks. I mean just even the crash! As far as fixable, from what I see you would definitely want to take it to a LBS for an opinion.

I have taken it to a shop, and they said that it was irreparable, but I'm a little skeptical, what would be wrong if I just bent the head tube forward, and straightened out the forks?
Is it structurally, destroyed?

[jr14]

Yeeesh.....TECHNICALLY, it's repairable. Damn near anything is if you have the money. It all depends on what you're willing to sink into it. If it means that much to you, find the closest custom framebuilder, and have them hack off the bent tubes, and weld in some new ones. With a little paint, you'll never know it happened. Although you could buy a new carbon fiber frame for the same price.

And I may be mistaken, but it looks like the headtube isn't bent, the steerer tube on the fork looks bent, and since it sustained further damage in the crash, I would look at the steerer tube first.

How in God's name you managed to bend the downtube, and still be around to worry about it is beyond me. It takes incredible forces to bend a downtube. Were you hit by a passing tractor trailer? Large bus? Mobile home?

I would troll ebay or craigslist for a new (to you) frame of approximately the same size to keep cost down.

*edit* DO NOT REPAIR THE FORK!!! Once the fork has sustained damage like that, it WILL catastrophically fail while you are riding. This will mean a crash similar to the one you were already in. On a road bike, the main shock absorber is the forks (and tires), but most of the initial force from a bump travels through the fork first, making it the most likely candidate to fail.

*2nd edit* YEAH! 200 posts!!!

[DaveM]

I'm with JR14, you "could" fix this, but I wouldn't. He is right that it is probably the steer tube of the fork that is bent. The legs may also be bent but can't tell from the photos. It could probably be bent back, but there is a risk of failure after that.

It doesn't look like the head tube is bent, but it might be ovalized at the bottom where the headset presses in which means you'll have trouble with headset adjustment/looseness. It is possible to bend back the downtube, but it's not that easy and again you have risk of failure.

Sucks if the bike has a lot of sentimental value, but this isn't a particularly high end bike from that period anyway. Unfortunately, probably time to move on.

[jr14]

Hey!! Dave!! We finally agreed on something!!!!

[Bill]

Just a thought, you could look around for another same year same model frame and forks. Strip that one of all the usable parts. Then you could restore to your liking!!! Either way I wish great luck.



Bill

[jr14]

Parts for a '64 are hard to come by.

[Bill]

True, but http://www.craiglist.org sometimes has rare find stuff on it. Other sites as well.

[Bill]

Just wanted to state something that Raleigh made a the same line of forks for a small short time. The '53 Roadmaster I have picture on this site under Show off your bike has the same style. Now as far as the same diameter, size, etc maybe a different story! As I was saying if you perhaps come across another Raleigh made in the 60's you "may" get lucky and find that it may fit this bike! The 3speed Commuter/Touring possibly could have the exact same forks as this one. Again make sure you take the proper measurements!



Cheers,
Bill

[GeorgeET]

Looking at the damage it looks like a head on with the steering head being bend backwards this alone would IMO cause the gap to be in rear not front. So the forks got bend backwards more than the bent frame causing a gap in front. Do not understand how the wheel survived.

Anyway I have been looking at Raleigh bikes history recently and Raleigh did indeed use the three speed frame in their low end sports bikes as Bill says. It was a common steel frame.

Raleigh like the once mighty British motorcycle industry did not keep up with new frame materials and advancements and lost their position in the marketplace.

You need a new frame and forks. Which IMO is the bike.

[Bill]

Ok I used one of the pictures and really never noticed this until this morning. You will see in the picture I used, to mark where I am talking about. The first being on the frame is it me or does it look like the down tube/head tube joining joint is bent? Second I can see where you are talking about, that much force to knock the race out probably screwed up that part of the head tube which we cannot see. Shame though looked like a nice bike to restore low end or not .

Bill

[marathon marke]

I've seen this type of damage before, and with a direct, head on impact, the wheel can often survive. Wheels can sustain a lot of force when impacted in this manner. And when that happens, it's very common for the down tube to bend at the edge of the lug, as this one did. It was a nice bike, but I'm sorry to say that the cost to properly and safely repair this frame would be impractical.