Originally Posted by
caterham
TMK, Falck was primarily an industrial tubing manufacturer that branched into cycling whereas Reynolds and particularly Columbus existed largely as suppliers of bicycle specific tubings- a relatively small & narrowly focused market.
There's not as much difference between the companies as you suggest. While Reynolds and Colombo both started out as bicycle tubing manufacturers, they both quickly diversified in the aeronautical, automotive and other industries. In the case of Colombo, the bicycle tubing almost became a sideline and a separate company, Columbus, was formed in the late 1970's to give more emphasis to the bicycle tubesets. However, even at the height of their popularity, circa 1985, bicycle tubing was only 20% of total sales of the parent company.
Originally Posted by
caterham
I see no reason to just assume that either Columbus and/or Reynolds were the original innovators of seamed billet,drawn tubing.In fact, I would be more inclined to think it an already well-proven, if not common process by the mid-50's(ie: post WWII).
It was never stated that Reynolds or Columbus were the original innovators of seamed, billet drawn tubing. I only find it curious that, if what you suggest is true, neither Reynolds nor Columbus bothered to implement it for decades.