I'm going to be putting in an order for a custom frame and I'm not too sure what tubing to go with. I have three choices: tange no.1, keisei 8630R, and Columbus spirit keirin. Im leaning toward the Columbus tubing but I'm worried about dents and durability in the long run. Anyone have experience with Columbus spirit tubing?

I haven't found tubing to make that much of a difference, once you're out of the gaspipe range. I've got bikes with tange ultimate, 4130, ishiwata 019, reynolds 531, and god knows what else, and they all hold up just fine and ride pretty well. Hell, I don't even know what tubes were used in my mikkelsens aside from 'mixed tubesets as req' - they ride great.

Yeah I know what you mean. But the Columbus spirit stuff is really thin. That's the main thing I was worried about. Oh the choices...

Neither of those.... regular run of the mill chromoly is what to get, the brand to get in that case would be reynolds.

My Hillbrick was custom made to be an everyday bike, which indeed is how it's working (complete with rack). She's made out of Columbus Zonal which, according to the sticker, is asymetric double butted (what's this 'asymetric' bit?). Anyways, she rides very very well, handles rough roads with aplomb. We have a bike lane near me where all the council did was tar and gravel the verge of the road, didn't even grade it properly, so it's as rough as blazes. When riding on that, you can feel the bike working underneath you but it doesn't get through to the rider - that's with a Brooks B17 and alloy bars. When climbing or chasing the pedals down the other side, she feels tight and sure footed - sure, a lot of that is the geometry, but the steel has to play its part to.

I'm happy with Columbus Zonal, but the bike is only 700km old - the 'new bike' goggles have worn off but it's hardly a 30 year test.



Richard

Asymmetric tubing is designed to be thicker in areas of stress. I know with carbon tubes the drive side will be a little thicker to handle the added loads from the drivetrain; I'm not sure if the same thing is done with steel.

asymmetric tubing simply means one end is thicker than the other.

Just like spokes, there's straight gauge, single, double and triple butted, but the tubing makers have a LOT more (brand)names they use. Actually, for tubing, there's more than triple butting.

sounds a lot better to use "asymmetric tubing" versus "single butted", doesn't it?

So Ive been looking up the different tubing but can't really find info on the tange tubing. I know the 8630R is double butted (0.7,0.5) but I have no idea about the tange. I think the spirit tubing is too thin for street use (0.5,0.38 I believe).

Decent quality steel bicycle tubing is seamless and butted at the ends.

I'm not sure you should be picking the tubing unless you really know what you are doing. To me, that is the job of the builder to determine. That being said, I would get a bike made from OX Platinum (True Temper). I love my 05 Poprad. I've used it for CX racing, SS CX racing and everyday commuting. It is probably my favorite bike out of the 16 or so in the garage.

There is a whole subsection on framebuilding that will be much more knowledgeable than this one.

From the list provided I'd go with Tange #1.

I've never been on a #1 or #2 bike I didn't like.

Yeah I just talked with the builder and he doesn't recommend spirit for everyday use.