Columbus tubing ID help

[Simon Masterson]

Hi all, looking for some help identifying the tubing on a rather nice TT frame I bought. I don't know when it was made, but I'd guess late '80s-early '90s - rear spacing is 130, and the downtube stop very possibly suggests bar end shifting. Unfortunately I haven't got much to go on, as it was stripped by the previous owner, who described it as being of Columbus tubing, oversized (which looks about right), and 'Designer Select' - which I believe is a term used by Reynolds? The chainstays look rather beefy, and the fork looks like other straight Columbus forks I've seen. The tubes are round.

I haven't owned any Columbus frames before, but on the basis that it might not be of a single tubeset, might 'Nivacrom Custom' be the right transfer to use?







Cheers!

 

[hamster]

First thing to do is measure the tubes and try to find out the wall thickness of the seat tube. Also check if it is rifled inside - a unique feature to top-end Columbus tubing like SLX/SPX/TSX.

Designer Select was a badge Reynolds gave to a few framebuilders who used mixed tubesets. Generally this was to the engineering-led builders like (for example) Tony Oliver.

 

[Simon Masterson]

Re:

Thanks for that. I forgot to mention that I checked for the helical reinforcement and couldn't find anything. Will try to measure wall thickness tonight.

I also forgot to mention that it's fairly light - about 2.3kg for frame and fork.

 

[NeilM]

Re:

It has the look of a Dave Lloyd, although the forks are more like Rourke.

Have a look at the BB and see if you can find a frame number.

Dave used all the usual Columbus tubesets, as well as Reynolds 753, 653, 531 and was also keen on Deda Zero.

 

[Simon Masterson]

Re:

From what I've been told, it's the work of a local builder - one Geoff Mindham, who apparently made frames for fellow time triallists in the Norwich area. I haven't been able to find out anything much, unfortunately.

 

[Simon Masterson]

Re:

Just took some outer measurements with a calliper - c. 32 for DT, 29 for ST/TT. Based on this http://framebuilding.com/Genius.htm, could be Genius?