So I bailed pretty hard and my frame’s right leg has a meaty dent in it from hitting the corner of a wall hard.
I read on bike sites that dents in tubes seriously compromise the strength of a frame, like the shock transfer through the tubes is compromised so a lot of frames crack quicker. If you look on Sunday BMXs they do a new wavey downtube to protect against dents because they so strongly believe that dents weaken the overall frame structure.
I know unis are a bit different due to frame shape, but will my frame crack faster as a result of this? I know there are other factors to consider like how hard I ride and stuff, but just wondering this theory… because i’m using a nice frame… Koxx XTP. i want to keep it for as long as possible.
if the overall strength really is compromised for good, then i guess there’s nothing i can do and no more will be said but i just want confirmation from the brains on this forum
I’m assuming that you have an aluminum frame. Aluminum is an odd material in that it is relatively soft, and brittle. I’ve seen demonstrations where they show stress fractures in bike frames due to just normal riding.
If you introduce a dent into a tube you create an interruption in the surface which also interrupts the ability of the material to spread the stress along the piece and acts as a focal point for the stress.
From all of the KH frames out there, and the fact that we don’t hear about too many broken ones, I would say that your frame is probably alright, but I would keep an eye on it. One of the problems with aluminum is that it doesn’t give much of a warning before it breaks catastrophically.
Ti is not as prone to fracturing as Aluminum. It is a resilient material. If it wasn’t so expensive, and hard to work I would be that all frames would be Ti.