designwithenergy

no... actually I only took it down a very minimal amount enough to make it all the same level, but not more than about 1-2 mils. The damage was not deep. It was mostly into the clearcoat... and a few minor spots had some cracking longwise. It was not severe even though it looked bad. I do not believe we'll ever have any issue with the downtube ever again. It's not subject to the highest stresses during riding, and if the frame were to fail- I would expect a joint to suffer more stress and fail than the broad side of this downtube. It smoothed it out with 320 Grit, and then coated it generously with the high quality 2 part Epoxy (Tap Plastics, Highest grade Marine Premium A/B 4/1) and then put a good piece of high grade Carbon Fiber (again the best I could source through Tap Plastics) and then wrapped it with Vinyl nonstick backing paper (wax side down) and then used Gorrilla Tape around the entire tube with super good wrap tension. It squeezed out some of the excess through the edges (which I cleaned up later). Then applied heat with electric heater 90deg) but not too close) and let ti cure most of the night. After that it i took off the wrapping - which came off very nicely, revealing a smooth tight and straight fix. It's no worse than anything I expect CalFee could have done, minus the high ....well... FEE. I will keep you all informed, but I SERIOUSLY doubt I will have anything else to add except it just worked! The bike has been ridden very hard since, and not a bit of sign that it's doing any thing but what it should... staying put. The Marine Grade Epoxy is tough as nails, and so is the carbon. It's probably not the most brittle version, which should make it stronger than an ox - expecially since it's got all that expoxy compressed into the wound, and the carbon fiber mesh over the top with another 1mil coating for good measure. It's not going anywhere. I fix stuff.