Columbus MS tubing

[FINNEY1973]

Re: Re:

I wanted mine in a Neon pink when I first saw the frameset. I thought the profiles would look good highlighted with pencil thin pinstriping in black, but Vernon refused point blank and said it would look stupid and cheap. I was a 16 year old that was into VW Beetles at the time and neon colours were big in the Vdub scene of the early 90''s. I saw a feature on the latest Klein Attitude mountain bike which was finished in this green and yellow "gator linear fade" and was instantly sold on this. A few bits of anodised purple here and there and It looked awesome and still does 22 years later. ...Luke.

pictures - simple as that

 

[danson67]

Finney

For a tubeset that is purported to be 85/86 ish but mine is 91/92ish (I think) it leaves a bit of a gap - more research required on the old interwebs

In archaeologist speak the tubeset is just a terminus post quem...an indicator of the earliest possible date of an event.

85/86 was only the years that it was apparently made by Columbus, and therefore probably available in large numbers for the big (mostly Italian) manufacturers.
Many tubesets and frame components remain available at framebuilding suppliers for years, even though they are technically not made any more. For example, Ceeway still have stock of many of the late 90s Columbus sets such as Cyber, EL OS, XLR8, Genius etc...and Columbus still draw SL and MAX tubing fresh even though they were officially discontinued decades ago only to reappear in 2014.

All the best,

 

[FINNEY1973]

Agreed Danson, understand the concept - just struggling to confirm the year of production (suspected 91/92) as it doesn't appear in any catalogues with MS tubing as standard. It's more out of curiosity than necessity.

 

[danson67]

Referencing the tubing chart, and this is probably a dumb question but i'll plough on regardless, the seat tube: is the tube extruded to each frame size (or should I say total seat tube length) or is it a case of cutting sections to length that or as close as damn it to the chart?
Huge amount of effort if every tube was custom for a particular frame size.

I just noticed your question...

Not quite custom for each frame size, but there are 3 lengths of seat tube (560, 600 and 630mm) in MS. Unlike 'one size cut down fits all' MAX (where the taper is all within the bottom 200mm), MS looks like it had just a small parallel section at the top where a little could be cut off to get exact lengths. You can see that the Top and Down Tubes also came in 2 lengths each in the MS set.

The venerable SL and SLX etc. came with one length of each frame tube, with easily trimmable 100mm butts on each end. However, by the mid 90s, butts were down to 40-50mm (better materials, less weight), so sized tube sets were needed. Reynolds have alway had more of a 'mix and match' approach, with loads of different tube lengths listed, but no bundled size sets as such.

These days Columbus try to make a smaller range of tubing, fewer different lengths, but if you look at the LIFE spec below, you can see that the butts are not equal lengths(40/100mm etc). The cartoon saw and a maximum cut length mark the longer end which can be cut. So the builder needs to make sure that they use the tubes the right way around, too. Generally you need to work out which end will have the longer butt once the length has been trimmed and build that into the more stressed head tube end:

Also, you'll see that the more traditional single butted seat tubes designed for lugs have straight walls to the top section, as usual, cut to any length..except for the lightest one (SLFI13) which is internally double butted and comes in 2 lengths.

On the other hand, the TIG seat tube (SLFI13...001) comes in 3 lengths, all with an external 1mm butt at the top (less distortion from welding) and with a bottom butt which can be trimmed by up to 115mm.

That's enough tube stuff for one evening

All the best,

 

[399road]

Mine''s got an extended seat tube too. For no other reason than I thought it looked cool. I'll sort some pictures in next couple of days and post them here. Wonder how many more MS frames are on Retro bike? ....Luke.

 

[FINNEY1973]

Nicely explained Danson, and good knowledge to boot, especially late evening!! Referring back to the MS chart on P1 of this thread. Seat Tube 28.6 tapering to 26.4. Given my frame is a 53cm, it could be 'assumed' they'd of used a 560 length to start with. However, my seat tube is nearer 29 at the junction with the BB shell and, get this, 25 at the top. Good job I've got a decent selection of 25 seatposts!

Looking forward to the pictures Luke, sounds an intriguing frame you have. There's a fairly decent amount (including ATB) bikes and frames featured previously on RB - a quick search via the custom search tool (top right) takes you to the previous threads & posts. Worth a look.

 

[399road]

Re:

Tried to post pictures, but what a load of hassle. It just says the file size is too large and with me being a techno
Phobe idiot, it''s beat me :facepalm: . I'll get a mate to sort it this week.

 

[399road]

Finally got posting pictures sorted. Here is my 23 year old unrestored MB Dronfield with its Columbus Multishape frame. Recomissioning begins in the next few weeks with an upgrade to Record as I go. This will end up the bike it always should have been if I had the money, but as I was only 16 when I had this built new in '93, I had to settle for Veloce. I've got some period correct NOS hi lite tyres to fit and that horrible 10 speed rear mech to replace first, along with some mint Record ergo levers and some hubs to have fitted, with a splash of purple anodising along the way.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Oooooh, that looks fab! Love the colour too. Don't think you need ano, but it's your bike

Mike

 

[399road]

Thanks, but it already has a few purple bits, so I'll go steady with the extras. The purple looks really good against the lime green and pale yellow. Can't wait to get it riding again. It was damn fast when I was a lad. ...Luke.