First of all the stainless steel tubing used to make bike frames (Primarily Reynolds 921, Reynolds 953, Columbus XCR and KVA tubing) is very different to “normal” stainless steel that some people may be familiar with for example 304 and 316/316L grades of steel. There are also different considerations when using it for a bike frame compared to when using it in construction and architectural projects. In this post I’ll… Read More »Why build Stainless Steel bikes?
1: Stainless steel is heavy. NOT TRUE for bicycles. This comes from the use of stainless in other industries. The fatigue strength of stainless relative to it’s ultimate tensile strength (UTS) is higher than non-stainless steel. This means that when you are building structures where the loads could be close to the fatigue strength you need to use a higher safety factor – meaning use more material, therefore heavier. Now, that… Read More »Stainless Steel Bikes | Myths and Legends
REYNOLDS TECHNOLOGY Reynolds sell their frame tubes direct. Most of the commonly used tubes are in stock but they have many more that can be ordered. Reynolds 953 stainless tube is often in short supply despite being a stock item. Reynolds 531 is still available only as a main triangle for lugged frames. They do also supply a range of dropouts, bottom brackets, steerers and lugs etc. COLUMBUS Ceeway in Erith,… Read More »What products do you use?