Brian Johnson

Hey all,

My neighbor suffered a garage vs. bike incident. Her bike was mounted
in an upright bike rack on top of her car (facing backwards) and ran
it into the top of her garage. (So the seapost/seattube struck the
top of the grarage door frame.) The bike mount and factory crossbar
were plucked from the top of the car and the bike fell to the
concrete driveway.

She took it to a local bike shop for inspection and they recommended
that the bike was essentially totaled.

The bike is about 5 years old-- Reynolds 853 steel LeMond. Handlebars
are obviously toast, as is the saddle. The composite fork is painted
and shows some scrapes from the fall from the top of the car. There
is no binding in the headset when the handlebars are turned and there
don't appear to be any obvious kinks in any of the frame tubes.

The bike shop measured the frame and determined that it was bent out
of alignment.

Does anyone out there have any experience with having a steel frame
re-aligned? How much does it cost? Is it worth it? Are there limits
to the amount of deflection that can be corrected?

Thanks for any info!

Cheers,
Brian J.

* * *
My father asks : "Do you live here or ride bikes?"
http://liveorridebikes.blogspot.com

My life as a Crossniac:
www.crossniacs.com