Is it safe to ride a steel bike with a dented/buckled frame? I just noticed, to my great sadness, a small-ish buckle/dent in my diagonal lower tube. (I'm riding a Cooper T200 single speed.) I just moved house; I hope I didn't do it. I probably did.

It's about half way up and looks like it's been bent against something, or crushed between something - the tube itself is still straight, it just has a bit of a ding. It's probably only dented in a fraction of an inch.

A fraction of an inch is no longer a perfect circle, though, and it'll inevitably weaken it. Question is, enough for me to worry about? Or should I just keep riding and forget it?

I ride on roads, to work, nothing strenuous, but want to be able to hit the occasional pothole or what have you without constantly thinking that my frame is going to collapse under me.

Does anyone have any actual experience with this sort of "injury"? Any suggestions how I might fix it, short of replacing the tube? I don't care if it looks a bit rough, we're through the honeymoon period, it's just a functional machine now. :-)

Thanks all.

Edit: added pictures, even though this is answered. Note that the other side of the tube to the visible dent is still perfect. (These are the same dent, from slightly different angles.)
All steel frames of any age get a few dings from serious use.

The failure point for steel frames is usually the highest stress points: the joins. That is why we used to have fancy tubing sets likes Reynolds 351 double butted, and I notice that your frame does too.

So, if the dent is away from the joins I say the frame is ok for general use. Steel is quite a forgiving material, but I wouldn't be doing bunny hops on it :-)

If the dent is within 25% of the tube length, but more than 10cm (4 in) from a join, then I would be using it, but cautiously. If it's closer than 10cm from a join then I would get a shop to look at it.

I would add that I've ridden high-end bikes for decades after their first (heart breaking) dents. One of them has just died, but a fork failed (at the join), not the dented frame.