Tubing

What’s good tubing? I know 531 is good, but not much more than that. Tubing effects the strength, lightness, stiffness, etc of the frame, but does it do anything else?

Reason I ask is because I’m looking for a steel frame, but I wouldn’t mind knowing about aluminum tubing too. Or carbon, if there is a difference.

Summary: tarckbike, teach me about tubing (and in the process help me figure out what kind of tubing I should look for).

531 is “good” compared to hi-ten. Didn’t we cover debunking the myth of 531 a few days ago as generic retro grouchery?

What kind of frame? For what purpose?

Something I can put fenders and racks on, kinda Randonneur-y, but not necessarily. Not really full blown touring, but possibly.

But I’m also just curious about tubing in general.

4130, tange, reynolds, or some other rando steel shit. no point in touring/commuting on aluminum if you dont have to.

steel all the way. more expensive tubing will be lighter but in the context of a loaded bike a pound or so in frame weight is pretty minor. I would be more focused on finding a frame that has the right braze ons and geometry for what you are trying to do.

surly long haul trucker is a good place to start.

whatever, 531 is still made by dwarven hammersmiths out of the ore from dragon lairs

Oh yeah, I knew steel was where it’s at. I just figured I’d take a question I had about a specific thing (what tubing do I want for one bike) and a general one (please tell me about tubing cause I have no idea) and combine them.

4130

nothing wrong with 531.
i think reynolds just reissued the 531c and touring tubesets.
also columbus is making the “SL” again but i think the butting is just a bit more aggressive.

i’d go with the assumption that if the frame has a 531 sticker on it, it will ride ok.
the old raleigh internationals and competitions are all popular.

genius

someone needs to photoshop grant petersen into some LOTR shit

best touring bike = early 80s stumpjumper.
if you want 26" wheels. kind of handled like a road bike.
they were made with “touring” tubing too.

I’m not actually looking to tour, just to have a bike I can throw rack(s) and panniers and possibly fenders on. Also something geared. But I’d prefer 700 somethings.

chromo/531/4130 is just too heavy for me. Had two chromo bikes before and always disliked how heavy they were. Had a heavy aluminum/hiten bike, now have a very light aluminum/carbon bike, and a light 853/carbon bike. I really love the 853/carbon bike.

I used to care about the weight of my bikes, but I really don’t anymore. IMO, how a bike rides is much more important that how much it weighs, so 531 and DB 4130 is totally fine for me. It’s also nice to not have to worry about putting dings in thin ass tubing.

Possibly fenders?
Definitely fenders.

[quote=“bward1028”]best touring bike = early 80s stumpjumper.
if you want 26" wheels. kind of handled like a road bike.
they were made with “touring” tubing too.[/quote]

touring and mountain bikes were kinda the same thing in the beginning

my new bike is columbus tubing. the decal says accioia and aelle. no i am not knowledgeable in steel tubing

[quote=“Rusty Piton”]Possibly fenders?
Definitely fenders.[/quote]

<3

[quote=“blickblocks”][quote=“bward1028”]best touring bike = early 80s stumpjumper.
if you want 26" wheels. kind of handled like a road bike.
they were made with “touring” tubing too.[/quote]

touring and mountain bikes were kinda the same thing in the beginning[/quote]

the 80s was the beginning?

all evidence says that my farliegh is 531, its not mad light, but it ain’t heavy either. as far as i know it rides very nicely, but that’s compared to the shit i rode before this.