Dented Cannondale… see ad:
I’d email the seller and make sure there is nothing else to disclose. Ask all the questions you can. And be prepared to get what you see. I don’t think I’d pay very much for it. But then again I know nothing about mountain bikes. I assume that’s a mountain bike:)
I would, would expect to pay significantly less than the frame would be worth in mint condition. Obviously.
Not sure about the price you should pay, but structurally i wouldn’t hesitate to ride on it.
WOW! Your answers surprise me. Maybe I’m paranoid but I thought dented aluminum was impossible to gauge structurally and liable to break in catastrophic ways.
I wouldn’t ride it. The BB area of a frame takes quite a bit of stress and it’s not worth breaking any bones just to save a few dollars. You could ride it but why would you want to?
Well I couldnt ride the frame as its too big for me…
But my Cannondale Scalpel has a dent in nearly the same place that is nearly the same size and I havent hesitated to keep riding it. Recently I have been thinking of a 29’er hardtail, but I ams till waiting for the objective 29 vs 26 test results from cyclingnews.com to see if it would be worth switching, or to keep with 26.
Kevin
As a cannondale dealer I would say not to ride the frame, but that is only a liability statement.
But it for the lefty and the wheels, they retail for MUCH more than taht frame. That Lefty is about $650 if I remember right, without pulling out my price list.
I like my front teeth too much to ride that frame.
Guy in the LBS today showed me a head tube that had got completely ripped off the top and down tubes - kinda neat, but of course scary. This is the third time this rider has done this - he jumps his mtb a lot. Bottom line - though it really depends how that dent got there - don’t. j
.
that dent’s, what, 1/2" by 1/4" ?? i can’t see why one would worry about an ensuing catastrophic failure. it’s a bike, not a space shuttle.
Cannondale uses some of the thinnest tubes available, that why they are generally so light. I would never ride a dented cannondale, As a matter of fact, I dented my CAAD 8 and didn’t want to use it anymore, I ended up selling the frame for 100.00 (with the fork headset,seat post and FD).
I don’t see how a dent in the down tube would cause worry if you can replace the entire thing with a cable:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1260091;search_string=smp;#1260091
The down tube is meant to withstand tension between the head tube and bottom bracket. As long as the welds are OK on the BB, it wouldn’t bother me at all.
However, the bike is also missing a saddle, brakes, a crank, handlebars, some other stuff. That would worry me a lot more. Mainly the saddle thing. I like my saddle because it keeps the seatpost a comfortable distance from my ass.
Dents are just a fact of life for lightweight alloy MTB’s
Have a look at the inside of your chainstays on most alloy bikes - usually some pretty freakin massive dents put right there by the manufacturer???
The dents in my scott freaked me out at first, but they dont seem to have killed me yet.
I guess it would make a good dedicated bike for a CompuTrainer or indoor trainer but that’s about the only scenario where I would ride it.
I don’t know that I’d purchase the frame that way, but if I were to dent my frame in that manner, I’d probably continue to ride it rather than scrap it. I’d certainly be double checking the welds to make sure they weren’t cracked at all, though.