Originally Posted by
79pmooney
And 853 was the last, best, strongest of the Reynolds alloy development before the 9-hundred SS series. Very good stuff. You can make a very light frame from it. Not easy to work with and Reynolds (at least used to) requires builders to get special training and certification to buy it.
I'm pretty sure the special training/certification applied to 753 back in the '70s. Haven't heard about such a thing for 853, which was developed in the 1990s after most frame builders using it were already backed into a pretty niche market. I have a 1999 Schwinn made in Taiwan with an 853 frame, from just a few after the tubing was released.
-Gregory