Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
More important than the tubing number is the geometry and butting profile. Those two things will make more of a difference when it comes to weight and handling. A butting profile affects weight and flex. Bike geometry affects flex and handling. All those go into if a bike then feels right or not.
853 comes in regular 853, 853 pro team(lighter), and 853 DZB(double zonal butted). As an example I know well, Columbus Zona(quality tubing) comes in a host of butting profiles. The same diameter tube can have long butts, short butts, thinner gauge butting, or thicker gauge butting. So saying 'I want Zona tubing' is sort of like saying 'i want an apple' to a grocer- ok, what apple do you want- a granny smith, honeycrisp, disgusting red delicious?
All that is giving background for why it would be best to ask Gunnar what the specs of the tubing are. Are the top and down tubes .9/.6/.9 with long butts or are they .7/.4/.7 with short butts? Are the chainstays .9mm or .7/.5mm?
What they use will affect handling, feel, and weight. I just think that is more important than focusing on which model of tubing is used.
Email/call Gunnar. Good chance Richard Schwinn will answer/respond and he can go as deep or general on details as you want.
Richard is a very chatty and helpful guy. Especially if you get him on the phone. He will answer all of your questions.
My new Gunnar Hyper-xf is a bit heavier than I had anticipated, and also very stiff. But that's only one data point for a custom geo frame, so don't draw many conclusions from it.