Hugo Drax

Which 531 road bike was the worst? Or put another way, which brand/bike made the poorest use of 531?

fender1

I passed on a Free Spirit "Ted Williams" that was 531 main tubes I think. Just did not do it for me.

ga_mueller

Watch it, Hugo. Lest you earn the title of "Most Negative Poster..."

unworthy1

tough call, but just cause it's been in the CR list lately, I'd nominate the Crescent (Sweden). Seems like nobody has anything good to say about the workmanship (gives Peugeot a contest) or geometry (toe-clip overlap!) but they did make them with 531, and everybody liked the early "Swedish Bikini Team" adverts

Hugo Drax

Knowing the worst is as important as knowing the best.

John E

How about the worst frameset with a double-butted CrMo main triangle? My 1971 American Eagle (Nishiki) Semi-Pro (Competition) was heavy, spongy, and dead-feeling. When I finally broke the BB shell after 20 years and put most of the components on a lowly Peugeot UO-8 frameset, I realized just how bad the Nishiki had been. The Peugeot's steering response was slow, but in every other way it provided a superior ride.

repechage

I do not know about the worst, but there were some misleading bikes in the early 70's, saw one that had a "531" transfer, only 531 and quite small, a reference sheet at the shop for which I worked stated that it indicated that only that individual tube was 531 and non butted to boot. Got to love those marketing guys.

But a bit earlier I was impressed where a Penton Motocross and trials Motorcycles had Reynolds 531 tubing transfers on the frame and swingarm, very cool.

mastershake916

Yeah, quit with the worst.

John E

I now realize that I may have two different types of Reynolds 531:

1960 Capo: ornate brazed-on decorations on fork crown, seat stays, and dropouts; 27.2mm seatpost (definitely full 531 frameset with double-butted main triangle; diagonal 531 decal);

1959 Capo: identical lugwork, but no ornamentation; 26.4mm seatpost; (straight gauge???)

nlerner

John, my 1951 Raleigh Clubman is a double-butted 531 frame (according to the Reynolds decal) and takes a similar-sized seatpost. Seems there were several gauges of 531 being used.

And my 1960 Capo takes a 27.0 seatpost!

Neal

cudak888 

Another vote for Crescent, followed closely by Peugeot. These two made the Ted Williams 531 machines look as if they were finely-crafted machines

-Kurt

cyclotoine

I vote my 1975 jeunet, the lugs are totally unfiled (is that a word?) and the brazing is sloppy as hell, the chrome, however, is good, the brake bridge is split as it is two pieces of half cylinder... Honestly it's hideous, rides fine but nothing special, not lively at all... 26.6mm seatpost (straight gauge?) Italian BB, french headset. It's my beater fixie.

Henke

I ride a full 531 MCB frame from the late sixties, with nervex lugs and campy drop outs, and the finish is great on mine. It's known that some batches had lower quality finish, but on the other hand, most batches didn't. Maybe they shipped the lesser ones westwards, eh? The geometry is tight in a way that if you suck you might put your toes in your frontwheel, but it makes a very lively city ride where quick steering and accelerations are needed. Worst 531 bike I've ridden? Paramount, no doubt.

awc380

Worst? Seems like a privileged question...

I wish I HAD enough old 531 bikes to even be able to discern a 'worst'.

Grand Bois

Could it be a metric-size (French) tube? Both of my French 531 bikes take a 26.4mm post. If the outside diameter is 28mm, it's a French tube.

My '59 Carlton takes a 27.0 post. It has no stickers, but I assume that it's 531.

ollo_ollo

I recently sold a Bridgestone RB4 Mixte that had a straight gauge Chrome Moly (not 531) seat tube, the rest of the frame was Hi ten steel. Shimano 6 spd indexed stem shifters & actually had a good ride with decent build quality. Probably the least use of chro-moly I have seen though so maybe qualifies for "Worst". Don

mozgj

Here's a legend I heard.
Somewhere in the 60s or 70s, the Kharkov Bicycle Factory (aka "XB3", the only serious manufacturer of sports bikes in the USSR at the time) signed a contract with Reynolds to produce an experimental batch of bikes using Reynolds 531 tubing. However, workers at the factory weren't informed that butted tubes were to be handled differently - for instance, to shorten a regular tube, one can saw off either end, but to shorten a butted tube, one should shorten both ends equally. Unsurprisingly, the bikes turned out fragile and uncomfortable, and many frames broke after only light use. Mayhem and misunderstanding followed, the higher-ups at XB3 thought "WTF, this Reynolds steel sucks!", the higher-ups at Reynolds thought "WTF, those Russians suck!", and the deal was off. Thus ended the glorious history of quality Soviet 531 frames.

But I suppose you can still find one of those experimental frames somewhere... And it will be the definite winner of this thread.

Six jours

Now you've done it. The Nishiki guys will be here any minute to tell you that Nishiki is the best frame ever made. And also that your mother wears combat boots.

Road Fan

My Masi GC has toeclip overlap, it's not a sign of quality or lack thereof. In small frames overlap is hard to avoid, and to avoid it implies a difficult tradeoff.

Road Fan

phoebeisis

Hey,I thought that was a "new" trick.I recently bought a Trek 800 mtb; it must be about early mid 90's vintage-21 speed.It actually is a heck of a nice riding bike,and the Cheapo shimano shifters derailleurs-altus/acera work very precisely??!! Well, this trek says" CRO-MOLY SEAT TUBE" made in the USA domestic and foreign parts. I guess Trek was struggling to keep making bikes in the USA,and this was a cost cutting effort. The bike rides very nicely; I sure as heck can't tell that it has hig tensile or whatever non cromo tubes, but it does.
Shame they cheaped out, but I can understand it. It should convince me that cromo isn't necessary for a good ride, but...
Thanks,
Charlie

USAZorro

That fella's definitely whacked (and his mom wears boondockers - to bed even). I know this for a fact because a capitol N is just a Z turned over on it's side, and Z is the best letter there is. So there!

I think the whole thread is just a bit silly. I have a Super Course - which has straight gauge 531 (in the main tubes only), and isn't finished very artistically - to say the least. Nevertheless, it rides quite nicely. Of course, if I had owned more that 5 frames made of 531 in my entire lifetime, I suppose I might have come across one that was a complete loser - but so far, so good.

East Hill

I have only two 'traditional' diamond frame bikes which do not have toe overlap, and the way the framebuilders have gotten around that problem is to have 24" wheels in front.

East Hill

Radfahrer

Back in the late 70's (dating myself), I owned a Gitane, not sure what model anymore, but it was definitely not a 531 frame. My favorite LBS at the time sold faux 531 stickers that said "Guaranteed NOT Built with Reynolds 531 Butted Tubes Forks and Stays".

I need to see if those are still available...

repechage

Then not a Falerio designed Gran Criterium, he would make the head tube slack as needed to kick out the front center to avoid overlap. Not that it made a sound handling bike, infact many top Italian builders and others did the same thing, sometimes making the seat tube steeper at the same time for a shorter top tube. At one time there was a UCI reg that essentially mandated an overlap safe front end geometry on road bikes, I have not referenced the UCI regs in decades, I hope they have changed a bit.

cyclotoine

ha I ride 62cm bikes and most have some degree of toe overlap. When your feet are size 46-47 and you have the cleats slammed back as far as they can go or XL clips... you're gonna get overlap! My toes will hit the fenders on my touring bike if I move them far enough ahead. 180mm super record cranks on my Faggin make toe overlap (not to mention your heels almost hitting the rear derailleur). DO I think any of these bikes are poorly designed? No. And track bikes? Forget about turning the front wheel, you shouldn't be turning it that far anyway.