some of you might enjoy looking at these bikes:

www.531forever.com

Nice bikes. When I see someone with so much NOS stuff (esp. highline like these) I always wonder why I can't find them?

The LBS I mentioned in the Merckx thread does have a few 80s roadbikes on the rack NOS. Nicest is a Ciocc with DuraAce SIS 6 speed and a handful of Nishiki Olympics. No 531 frames with full Campy though.

I remember the old debates between Columbus and Reynolds riders. Personally I was hoping to afford a Vitus framed Motobecane but the guys with the top bikes would go back and forth between English and Italian tubing all day.

When I was growing up, the LBS owner had a barn full of these Allegro's. Literally hundreds of full campy NR equipped racing bikes. He went to Switzerland and bought a container of them at the start of the bike boom. I went thru 3 of them myself as racing/training bikes. Many, many Allegro stories up here(points to head).

Lovely frames. One of those would build up into a nice old-school fixie.....

Always hated clips and bands for cables and derailleurs. Bare wire works best for me along the top tube

Also like it when you see a frame with a brazing that you cannot imagine has a function! Saw a campy lever boss at the top of a seat tube once, for a parking brake!

British riders used to be much more loyal to the local product than they are today- the tubing, the big companies, the local frame builders, the component people. Italians still are, from my limited experience, French too, when they can get the stuff they need. Last time I was in the States, I saw a lot less Italian hardware and a lot more Treks, Litespeeds, etc. Wonder if the American component industry will grow much more on the back of Lance's success?

According to my experience, and according to Sheldon Brown, almost all of the difference in feel between a CrMo (Columbus) and a MnMo (531) frame is attributable to geometry, rather than the steel alloy itself. Yes, my 1981 Bianchi (Columbus) is considerably stiffer and harsher-riding than my 1959 Capo (Reynolds 531), but the latter has long, skinny stays and a long fork rake, and was designed for long rides on cobblestones.

John:
I could never participate in the debate as I didn't have the money to buy bikes made out of either tubing back when the arguments were current. Recently,I put together a bike for my wife out of 531 and I ride a Columbus Basso and a newer generation Columbus Colnago. The new extremely thin walled Colnago has a superb ride but the older tubes are right up there. B/c of my short inseam (30" on 6'-1" height) my wife and I can swap rides and I can finally form an opinion on Columbus/Reynolds. Basically I think it's a wash. The bike's geometries are similar and I can't pick up much of a difference. All of those years and a "no decision."

Flaneur, US made bikes are alot more common. With the success of Armstrong and the USPS team highline Trek's are alot more common than a $3K bike should be. Also, in the new market steel is becoming passe. Still lots of Italian around though. English bikes have fallen by the wayside al least in the new market. Always a demand for a clean highline Raleigh. Where I lived in South Fla there were a handful of succesful Motobecane dealers and those bikes were very popular.

Walter-

I hope you're right about steel becoming passe...

more cheap classic rides for those of us who enjoy them!

I have always resisted the temptation to buy a really expensive bike at retail. Even in times when I have the cash, it seems grossly self-indulgent, when I have a shed-load of nice bikes already. (not meaning that as a jibe at anyone else, you understand- it's merely an observation about myself).

I think the pleasure is increased when I reclaim and restore a nice frame that someone else has discarded/superceded. This pretty much rules out a lot of the Vitus and Alan alloy frames and the Peugeot carbon fibre stuff from the early 80's. Maybe it's the climate in northern europe, but I've never seen an example of one of these that I wanted to restore...too much corrosion, too many doubts about the jointing of the old CF frames. Maybe one day a really pampered one will present itself, but the sweet bikes that are more than 10 years old tend to be steel- I suppose it's statistically inevitable?

The "stiffest" bike I ever owned was a 531-tubed Charles Roberts. I swapped it out for a Gios, Columbus SL-SP, same size. The Gios handled differently--slightly steeper angles with longer fork rake. Lower bottom bracket made it fit me slightly better, but it was definitely heavier and more more compliant. My sprinting suffered but my climbing improved. The longer rake also helped stability over sloppy surfaces.

I am a big fan of my lugged 531 bikes...for my riding style and weight it performs exceptionally well.

I have a '73 Carlton Gran Sports, a 1982 Trek 750 touring bike, and a 1955 Raleigh Lenton Sports.

They all differ in their geometry and overall weight but are all magnificent bikes to ride.

This is just a perfect color for a bicycle.

Oh that is sweet !

I have been waiting three years for the pictures of the 1969 LeJeune CdM to appear.