Originally Posted by MichaelW
The best tubeset of the 1980s was Reynolds 753. This was the original heat treated steel for bikes and had to be silver soldered to prevent heat damage. You needed certification from Reynolds to use the stuff. It was mainly used by custom builders for road or ultralight touring bikes.
Earlier tubesets were beer-can thin and ultra-light. They suffered from dents and I believe that later versions wer a tad thicker.
You cannot say that 753 was the "best".
It was the lightest, however, it rides a bit harsher than did 531. I have a 753, love the bike.
All of the premium tubesets were roughly the same in terms of material and at comparable quality levels, in terms of weight.
The Columbus SL family were fine tubes, the three primary sets were SL, SLX and SPX.
SL was the butted premium race set. SLX was lighter, thinner and smaller butted sections. SPX was a heavier version of SLX made for the heavy riders and the Classics such as Paris-Roubaix.
Though SLX was lighter than SL it was at least as strong due to the Helical reinforcing spirals on the insides of the tubes through the butted sections. SPX also had these.
I have bikes in SL and SLX. They are both full Super Record. The only real difference I feel between them, to be honest, is that the SLX is lighter. Noticeably.
I cannot say though that the SL or SLX ride any better, or differently, than the bikes I own made of 531 or 531C or even 753.
The ride qualities were determined more by the framebuilder than the tubeset.
853 while lighter will not offer a significantly different ride than SLX or 531. What difference there is will wheels, tires, geometry, etc. 853 being an air-hardening alloy lends itself better to the mass production techniques used today.
As said, I do not expect you will notice a difference in ride between the SLX and 853, due to the tubeset - other than the fact that 853 will be lighter by probably as much as 3/4 of a pound. If you can notie that difference.