>>1063415>>1063426>If a metal tube made out of any material gets a dent in it it's done.This is bullshit, not all dents are the same: whether or a dent significantly weakens a tube depends on it's shape, depth, placement, etc. For instance, a tiny dent in a toptube where handlebars have smacked into a frame is going to make that section of tubing slightly more vulnerable to further damage in the future, but it's not likely to lead to imminent frame failure at that point unless that section of tubing is impacted in a future crash, and the normal stresses caused by riding aren't going to stress that part of the frame enough to make a stress fracture (crack) develop. Even if a crack did start to from at that point, the rider would likely notice* before the tube failed entirely. Consider also that untold billions of steel bikes have indented/dimpled (read: intentionally dented) stays to produce a desired tire clearance, and failures at those dents are uncommon.
* - downhill riding is an exceptional category because a downhill bike will experience impacts and shocks with more force and more frequency than a typical bike, and the rider is unlikely to notice in the middle of a run that some part of their bike doesn't feel right, so the risk of catastrophic failure as a result of (any) damage goes way up
