Reynolds 753

Hi guys,

I'm a bit of a novice on here and I wondered if I could get some advice.

I'm looking at building a bike for touring purposes and I've seen a really nice Reynolds 753 frame. I'd like to use it and build up with other parts, but before I do so I'd like to know a bit more about its compatibility. Does anyone have any experience with this tubing? How interchangeable are parts with it? For example, I'll need to get a chain set, bottom bracket and wheels for it - do you think this would be easy enough?

Thanks in advance!

Louis

Re:

Hello, welcome to the site.
Sounds like a nice project.
Most of the items you mention, bottom bracket, wheels etc, don't actually relate to the tubeset. Those depend more on the age of the frame and country of origin, but there are only a few potential designs which cover most frames.
753 as a tubing was pretty high-end race orientated, though I have seen tourers made of this (and even MTBs).
If you can give some more information on the frame, age, manufacturer even pictures, there will be many on here happy to help.
Cheers!

Re:

Thanks for the speedy reply! I've attached a couple of photos for you to see. There doesn't seem to be much information though.

Could you recommend any parts that might be compatible with it?

Cheers,

Louis

Looks a very nice frame. The question is what you mean by touring. For fast, light credit card and B&B touring it could be ideal. For loaded camping, forget it.

As MatBH5 says, 753 is a race-orientated frameset with ultra-thin tubes. These produce a wonderful bike to ride unladen. However they are on the light side for heavy loads - the frame will squirm and not be at all nice to ride. A light rack, mudguards and load of 5kg or so and you will have something brilliant.

Thanks for the tips! I might just make this one a commuter bike then and investigate other options for my touring set-up.

Really appreciate the advice.

Re:

Given that the frame has rear rack and mudguard mounts as well as pump pegs, I would say it has been designed for distance work.

It looks like it has over bottom bracket cable guides which might indicate late 1970's / early 1980's manufacture, this may mean you would be after a slightly narrower rear wheel hub compared to modern bikes, this is not a problem but it is worth being aware of before you start buying other parts.

It looks quite a big frame, how tall are you?

I'm 6' 4". It's a 63cm frame so yep, pretty large!

When you say narrower rear wheel hub, are there any specific parts you would recommend for this? Would I need to take measurements for this?

Re:

There are no specific brands you need to look for at this stage but it would measure inside to inside of the rear dropouts. Modern frames are 130mm, slightly older frames 126mm and then it gets narrower and narrower.

Like I said, this is not a problem it just dictates the maximum number of gears you can have on your cassette.

Looks like a good fit given your height.

Good point Neil - all the evidence suggests a 126mm hub. Note that 753 cannot be cold set, unlike 531.

Reynolds 753 can make an excellent touring/randonneur frame. It is not necessarily a race orientated tube.

Reynolds 753 came in many different tube gauges - it is not always the thin walled type - lots of later 753 is almost the same tube gauge as Reynolds 531, so it is not always too thin and not always too flexible. But because it is a used frame you are looking at, you may never know exactly what type of tube gauge you have. Knowing the seat tube outer diameter and seat pin size required for that frame will help to determine at least the seat tube gauge. Custom 753 frames can be spec'd with different toptube/downtube gauge dimensions etc

First thing you need to do is try and find out how old that frame is. I have a 1985 753 Randonneur with over bracket gear cables, so dating the frame by these features doesn't always work.

That frame has transfers from 1989+ Therefore, if those transfers are original, the rear OLN may well be 130mm

Most components are compatible with a 753 frame - they are just tubes that have the same diameters as other tubes in other ranges, you just need to check if the rear ends are set at 126 or 130mm - that will determine the type of hub and gearing you can use. The only way to check what tyre size you can use is fit a wheel and the size of tyre you want to use.