Originally Posted by
nfmisso
"Reynolds and the Taylors had a close relationship, and Reynolds actually produced custom plain-gauge 531 tandem tubes, and double-butted curved tubes, for the marque. The tubesets may have been initially exclusive to the Taylors (they may have owned the tooling[SUP]
2[/SUP]), but as early as the late 1970s (as Taylor business slowed and extra tubesets sat in stock at Reynolds), they were available for purchase by other framebuilders[SUP]
3[/SUP]. Alex Singer may have used Taylor fork blades (and possibly other tubes as well) for their tandems[SUP]
4[/SUP] - Ken Taylor has verified that some tubesets were sold to French builders[SUP]
5[/SUP]."
from:
http://www.blackbirdsf.org/taylor/
Jack Taylor generally used plain gauge 531 for their tandems.
Jack Taylor bikes were all custom built to order by the '70's - no flooding of the market.
nfmisso; I believe I would have to disagree with the idea that the Taylor specific, tandem oriented Reynolds 531 tubesets were plain/straight gauge vice being butted tubes. I have pinged the tubes on a number of Taylor tandems to confirm all were clearly butted tubes.
And although I personally not in possession of any evidence that any of them being produced for Taylor use were straight gauge, I have found a few contrary examples of decals on known Taylors which did not include the word "butted" one or on all the decals. Two examples of each case are below;
Likewise, somewhere in the internet ozone is a listing (remember the source was Ken) of the other builders who are known to have used the proper Taylor-Reynolds tandem tubesets with permission... I believe all were builders who had apprenticed with the Taylors (Colin Lange, etc.)(if anyone has a copy; please post it).
When it comes to Reynolds tubes sold to the French builders, I don't doubt that at all...as "business is business" and when the Taylors began to slow down they probably would not have been needing as many sets as their original production contract at Reynolds would have covered. The excess tubes would have had to be disposed of.
An interesting thread. Gap filling and/or corrections welcomed.
fwiw;
/k