Reynolds 'R' decal - Plain Jane blades?

[Foreigner]

Bought a frameset, which had these forks on, no idea what tubing these are. No dropout stamps. 650 grams with 16cm steerer if that helps.

Any idea?

Thank you

 

[Chat Noir]

Interesting.

Various sites have details of decals, including Reynolds themselves, Lloyds, etc. Very similar to 653 and 708 fork decals, but they have the numerals on them. This is identical to my 731os forks decal and this was provided by Reynolds about 3 years ago for a renovation at Bob Jackson. I looked on Reynolds website just now and couldn't find them any longer. If you look down the seat tube you can identify if 731 or not because there will be 8 flats at the lower part of the seat tube: bizarrely I gave same advice on another thread this week about a 708 frame. The photos should show all!

Good luck

 

[pigman]

no guarantee that the forks are from the same tubeset as the frame. I frequently swapped out forks because i liked the rake/crown/profile... whatever

 

[Foreigner]

Thanks for you reply - indeed as @pigman has noted, these were married to a Gios frame (Oria RANF tubes), so not original. I checked few sites and have not seen this sticker anywhere, the only mention of 'R' was on another forum, link here and another one from this forum, link here

I have also seen your reply to a mistery frame post, so thanks for that as well. The forks above have nice details, so they may be usefull for someone with a small frame 52-53cm or so, may just offer them here once I (if so) find what they really are

Thanks again

 

[Foreigner]

Oh and BTW, looks nice that bike of yours, can we have a pic?

 

[vcballbat]

I had a feeling that I've seen this one before and a look in the garage gave me confirmation. It's on my Spaceframe Moulton which I bought new from Condor Cycles Gray's Inn Road London back in 2003. I have also seen this one on a 1997 Dawes Galaxy so maybe a generic fork decal used on various tubesets with the frame decal used for identification...my Moulton frame decal reads.. Reynolds 531 Designer Select. The fork is light so possibly a single butted steerer tube, you could confirm this by measuring the internal diameter top and bottom with a Vernier caliper..or a light plain gauge? Reynolds also engraved/etched the tubes so you may find something on the steerer tube with a magnifying glass..

 

[Chat Noir]

This is intriguing.

The Reynolds catalogue page attached shows this particular fork decal with the 731os frame set. However, the part number, EB708, is also used in 708 and 653, albeit with a decal to show this. Looking through the 1991 catalogue the exact same fork blades are used in 531 Designer Select (for what they call Paris Roubaix, strong rider, rough roads) and 531 Mix and Match, albeit with a fork decal in these colours but with '531' displayed. The second attached scan shows what Reynolds called their variable technology, essentially using 531 at the front end. Here's a photo of my Bob Jackson - we're about to depart to the south of France for 3 weeks (my partner also rides a BJ).

Exactly what these forks came off may not be solvable but decent forks, although my money's on 731.

Good luck.

 

[vcballbat]

Special guest appearance from Dawes Galaxy..

 

[vcballbat]

Looking at the part numbers for different tube sets including Chat Noir's lovely 731 the 753, 708, 653 and 531c all use the same specification fork and steerer tube. The 753 has the same fork tube but has a different part number because it is pre raked and then heat treated, the others are supplied straight. The 531c has a different part number steerer tube because it's single butted... maybe it would be lighter..?

 

[Foreigner]

This is intriguing.

Thanks, great knowledge passed on And that B Jackson is lovely. Have a great time riding it in south of France.