Have I killed my bike?
Discussion
Follow an incident with an unexpected height restriction and a roof mounted bike rack and a very stressful day at work, my bike is now a little dented, as is my car. The car is being fixed, but what I am worried about is my bike. It is a trek crossrip, which has an aluminium frame. As far as I can tell there is lots of scratches and only one bit of actual damage. A rather large dent on the down tube where the bottle rack was and where the bike rack was holding it. Thoughts? Is this just a dent I can ignore (even though it will remained me of my stupidity for ever) or is it going to catastrophically snap at some point? As far as I can see there is no cracks or any other serious damage.

Due to recently bringing a little person in to the world, and my wife now deciding she wants more so we have to move house, and having to pay the excess on the car (basdard insurance company is wanting both the excess for damage AND a windscreen excess. I'm not convinced this is right, but that's another matter for another area of PH) I'm not really in a position to replace it, but I stand the thought of not being able to cycle.
Thoughts? It's fine? It's a risk, but give it a try? Or no, go get a new bike (I'm hoping I can get a frame. The Planet X London road possibly).
Due to recently bringing a little person in to the world, and my wife now deciding she wants more so we have to move house, and having to pay the excess on the car (basdard insurance company is wanting both the excess for damage AND a windscreen excess. I'm not convinced this is right, but that's another matter for another area of PH) I'm not really in a position to replace it, but I stand the thought of not being able to cycle.
Thoughts? It's fine? It's a risk, but give it a try? Or no, go get a new bike (I'm hoping I can get a frame. The Planet X London road possibly).
Well it's not great, but as someone else said the downtube is under tension so it's unlikely to buckle.
Personally as long as the bike is otherwise straight so doesn't wobble down the road as you ride Id use it, but inspect the dent for any sign of a crack forming in the dent, any sign of that and it's a 'wall hanger'
If/when it goes it's unlikely to be a catastrophic failure so you'll get a bit of notice before your teeth hit the kerb
Personally as long as the bike is otherwise straight so doesn't wobble down the road as you ride Id use it, but inspect the dent for any sign of a crack forming in the dent, any sign of that and it's a 'wall hanger'
If/when it goes it's unlikely to be a catastrophic failure so you'll get a bit of notice before your teeth hit the kerb

deckster said:
Pah. All you "it'll be fine" merchants should be ashamed of yourselves.
It's clearly terribly unsafe and you absolutely need to spend the next month looking at websites and test-riding new bikes.

If only I could. Children are far to expensive! If it wasn't for children I'd have a Honda CBR600RR and a nice carbon road bike with DI2 (I probably wouldn't, I'm sure my wife would find a good reason I should buy a new kitchen or a holiday, but a man can dream).It's clearly terribly unsafe and you absolutely need to spend the next month looking at websites and test-riding new bikes.

SteveSteveson said:
deckster said:
Pah. All you "it'll be fine" merchants should be ashamed of yourselves.
It's clearly terribly unsafe and you absolutely need to spend the next month looking at websites and test-riding new bikes.

If only I could. Children are far to expensive! If it wasn't for children I'd have a Honda CBR600RR and a nice carbon road bike with DI2 (I probably wouldn't, I'm sure my wife would find a good reason I should buy a new kitchen or a holiday, but a man can dream).It's clearly terribly unsafe and you absolutely need to spend the next month looking at websites and test-riding new bikes.

Pulled the trigger on the new frame. Planet-x London road in olive green.
Now comes the growing list of new bits (what can I sneak past my wife..). Obviously do the chain and cassette. New bar tape, compressionless cables. I wonder if I can get away with new peddles and bars... unfortunately wheels and groupset are out of the question, but may as well upgrade or update what I can.
Just got di2 and I can say it is awesome. I need to charge the battery as the front is no longer shifting."Here. Look at this shiny babble you can't have. Look how nice and shiny it is. Look how it sparkles. Do you want it? Well you can't" b
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Now comes the growing list of new bits (what can I sneak past my wife..). Obviously do the chain and cassette. New bar tape, compressionless cables. I wonder if I can get away with new peddles and bars... unfortunately wheels and groupset are out of the question, but may as well upgrade or update what I can.
AndStilliRise said:
SteveSteveson said:
deckster said:
Pah. All you "it'll be fine" merchants should be ashamed of yourselves.
It's clearly terribly unsafe and you absolutely need to spend the next month looking at websites and test-riding new bikes.

If only I could. Children are far to expensive! If it wasn't for children I'd have a Honda CBR600RR and a nice carbon road bike with DI2 (I probably wouldn't, I'm sure my wife would find a good reason I should buy a new kitchen or a holiday, but a man can dream).It's clearly terribly unsafe and you absolutely need to spend the next month looking at websites and test-riding new bikes.

d 
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