Once upon a time, I read one of Grant's posting explaining why the identification of tubing is not as important as what many will make it out to be. Coming from a tradition of Italian racing bicycles, I cynically disagreed then, but have since come around as I read more, and learned more. There are many things orders of magnitude more important than the specifications of the constituent tubings. For example, if the frame dimensions fits your riding style, if the tubings are well put together, and (if you're a Jan Heine "planing" adherent) what the tubing thicknesses and diameters are, all come immediately to mind. Furthermore, bicycle tubes hardly ever fail from lack of tensile strength, especially Rivendell's bicycles that tend to be overbuilt (as is their philosophy) to last a lifetime. Grant touched upon topics like the consideration for where strength *is needed*, like chainstays tend to see higher stress than seatstays so using higher strength alloys (or thicker tubing) make sense there; he also had a little discourse on why he believes fork blades should have a lower yield.
>From this short discussion, it should be clear that having a tubing sticker doesn't make any sense, especially one that specifies the UTS, yield and elongation (because it's highly likely not all tubes use the identical alloy). I'll rather the experienced designer/builder pick whatever is suitable for its intended use, regardless of whether it's 953, 853 or 725 (to use Reynolds' parlance). Many highly-regarded builders are aligned in this vein. Put another way, what good are these data going to do for the end-user? Finally, I think that Rivendell's new tubing sticker is tongue-in-cheek. On Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 12:28:49 PM UTC-8, John Hawrylak wrote: > > Zach > > thanks for the reply. The % of elements indicate it is Cr-Moly 4130 > steel, 1% Cr 0.2% Mo, is the major alloying elements giving the steel > certain properties. In contrast, Reynolds 531 used Mangenese instead of Mo. > > The 2 values are the yield stress (used to design the frame) and ultimate > tensile strength (where it breaks). You can compare these values to other > tubing manufacturers like Columbus, Reynolds, True Temper, Tange, etc. The > higher value indicates a stronger steel. > > John Hawrylak > Woodstown NJ > > On 11/22/15, Zach Duval<zrd...@hotmail.com <javascript:>> wrote: > > Actually, the sticker mentioned above, and that same sticker on my Sam, > are recent developments; I was surprised to find it when the frame arrived. > Grant has in fact repeatedly stressed the unimportant of specific tubing in > a frame; however, he does seem proud of these proprietary tubes. > > I like the science-year feel I get from seeing the sticker on my frame, > but I confess the percentages mean very little to me. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/S_3ox4wOlCA/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com > <javascript:>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
