Originally Posted by
Chombi
Other than the helical ribs in the tubes, what other differences would SLX have with SL tubing anyway. Is the metallurgy different between the two, or is it just a material/weight reduction being done with SLX tubing.
I think that its unfortunate that SL tubing is being overshadowed by SLX in most instances, I think, mostly because the SLX was the latest and top of the line tubing from Columbus at that time. I bet that most people given two unlabeled bikes with the two different tubing will not be able to tell which is which when riding them back to back anyway.....
JMOs
Chombi
SLX and SL have the same wall thickness, but SLX actually weighs more because of the helical reinforcements in the butts. Columbus claimed that the reinforcements in the butts made the SLX stiffer, but if that's true the difference is very slight since most of the noodley feel is due to the thinness of the walls in the center sections of the tubing. I believe the only Columbus tubeset that had the helical reinforcements in the center (non-butted) sections was TSX. They're all the same Cyclex metallurgy.
