Good moring,
Please do tell us about that frustration, Ian, now that you're on a roll.
Did you enjoy the video?
Not clear (to me) whether you think 501 is better or worse than 531 for the main tubes of a frame, bit.
Please share the Spec Allez Claris for £150 link.
But I agree with your thrust: this type of restored bike would not be a "bargain for someone looking for a cheap way into cycling".
I once bought a used bike with a 7 speed cassette and Shimano 600, it all worked fine but 7 speed cassettes in road ratios (around 12/13/14 to around 23/24/25) were getting hard to get and more expensive than 8 speed ones so I decided to move to 8 speed.
I went for 8 speed indexed (D/T) shifters and could never get all the rear gears to work, noisy or slipping, the bike was assembled from a lot of the pre 600 Tricolour series which probably wouldn't have worked with 7 speed indexing either, but I was using friction shifters that needed new friction parts plus a frame that flexed a bit too much under my weight going up hills.
I thought that the video was pretty basic, stuff we used to do in our early teens, but also not educational except for the huge amount of grinding paste, sorry grease that will get mixed up with rain water and small bits of gravel, used to hold the ball bearings in place during fitting.
The creator seems to be part of the modern notion that bikes need professional servicing at £100 plus year rather than it is quicker, more convenient and cheaper to DIY. I know that some here would rather go to a shop but I just don't have the time to get someone else to do it for me!
The ultra sonic cleaner which most people won't have does seem to have done a better job that a bucket of soapy water, but apart from that I just saw 90 minutes of routine work made out to be something special.
Any discussions on 501 and 531 always fall into the trap of suggesting that there is any such thing. The composition of 531 is known to have changed over time and there is almost no information on what 501 was. Added to which 501 was available in road and mountain bike sizes whereas 531 was commonly available in two road sizes, competition (DB/C/Comp/SL/Pro) and touring (Super Tourist/Special Tourist and sometimes Designer Select).
Added to which 501 frames were going to be sold in non specialist shops so needed to cater to all likely customers, including heavier ones. So could 501 have been drawn to the same dimensions as 531? Given that a complete 501 frame was around 300 grams heavier than a 531c (edit from 501c ) one and only about 100g heavier than 531st the answer might very well be
almost.
If you are building a frame with main tubes only made out of 531/501 then I can't see any reason to spend a lot more on 531 over 501 as the weight saving are tiny considering the massive differences in the weight of a carbon steel over a 531/501 fork.
I have of course made the mistake of talking about carbon steel as if it is all the same, it isn't. Generally carbon steel bike tubes are drawn to dimensions that mean they will last forever with heavy rider, but they don't have to be. Reynolds came out with carbon steel tubes (A and B) drawn to the loads that 531 was designed to cope with and a complete frame was about 1kg heavier than a 531 one at around 3kg. So it is clear that we have guess about the carbon steel parts by looking at the frame weight.
The steel for 531 was always bought on the open market and I was looking recently and two suppliers who were offering a steel with 531 type manganese and molybdenum levels (around 1.4% Mn and 0.2%-0-3% Mo) who were quite
flexible in the amount of chromium that would also be present. One had 0% - 0.3% and the other 0% - 1%, neither were adding it, just not removing it.
When you consider that 4130 is 0.8% to1.1% chrome that is a huge range.
The bike shown below went for just under £125 on its third listing (with the same starting price) just over a month ago and is typical of what can be had around here if you are prepared to wait for a month or two, I search within 25 miles of WR5 xxx which includes some of Birmingham.
This is currently up for £37 and ends in about 6 hours
Bye
Ian
