bikenut2010
Senior Retro Guru
nope no budget for 853 then, so 631 here we come 
Tube choice??
- Thread starter bikenut2010
- Start date
Lenton58
Dirt Disciple
Be different and go Kaisei:
http://www.bikeschool.com/store/index.cgi?sp=kaisei
There are more than a half dozen specs to choose from — all sorts of butts and varying wall thicknesses. This is great tubing apparently. Japanese keirin racing rules still call for all steel frames, and many of them are made from some flavour of Kasei.
Contrary to what some people believe, the Japanese have a tradition of possessing some the finest steels in the world stretching back hundreds of years.
Kasei was the name given to the company that made Ishiwata when it was bought years ago. Many of the Ishiwata employees were encouraged to stay in order to retain the integrity of the production. The plant is in Fukushima — an unfortunate place as of 3-11 when the Daichi-Fukushima nuke was smashed by the tsunami.
http://www.bikeschool.com/store/index.cgi?sp=kaisei
There are more than a half dozen specs to choose from — all sorts of butts and varying wall thicknesses. This is great tubing apparently. Japanese keirin racing rules still call for all steel frames, and many of them are made from some flavour of Kasei.
Contrary to what some people believe, the Japanese have a tradition of possessing some the finest steels in the world stretching back hundreds of years.
Kasei was the name given to the company that made Ishiwata when it was bought years ago. Many of the Ishiwata employees were encouraged to stay in order to retain the integrity of the production. The plant is in Fukushima — an unfortunate place as of 3-11 when the Daichi-Fukushima nuke was smashed by the tsunami.
Lenton58
Dirt Disciple
I am sure that you are right. Being the natural contrarian, I just such this in here. The only frame maker here in my Japanese city would — I am sure — use any tubing set I gave him. (He uses kaisei usually, but I have seen 531 on his bench). If the OP finds someone as flexible as this man, he may have the same options. The advantage of Kaisei is in the number of types of thickness and butts that are offered.
Lenton58
Dirt Disciple
I am sure that you are right. Being the natural contrarian, I just such this in here. The only frame maker here in my Japanese city would — I am sure — use any tubing set I gave him. (He uses kaisei usually, but I have seen 531 on his bench). If the OP finds someone as flexible as this man, he may have the same options. The advantage of Kaisei is in the number of types of thickness and butts that are offered.
Lenton58":cjmspjf1 said:
You're the natural contrarian - I wondered where he lived.
It's simple really, the really top builders here in the UK: those with experience and talent...Ron Cooper, Chas Roberts, Cliff Shrubb(to name three), would not build to a specification they think unsuitable - and unsuitability may take many forms.
Are you sure you're not the gainsayer?
Without doubt Reynolds tubing, whether 531 or 753, is the classic bicycle tubing - and the one with the most impressive palmares.
Roadking.
framebuilders have their contacts within the trade (wholesalers?). They sell (push) the most common makes, ie reynolds & columbus. If another tube set of decent quality was offered to them, even as a one-off by the customer, a decent frame builder would make it.
many years ago, my mate did some liaison work with columbus in italy and as a thankyou, knowing he was bikie gave him a top tubeset, not yet released to the market (it subsequently sold as neuron). He took it to a local framebuilder who went on to build a very nice bike, which featured in a bike mag. So, if you can get hold of Kaisei yourself, it should be possible
many years ago, my mate did some liaison work with columbus in italy and as a thankyou, knowing he was bikie gave him a top tubeset, not yet released to the market (it subsequently sold as neuron). He took it to a local framebuilder who went on to build a very nice bike, which featured in a bike mag. So, if you can get hold of Kaisei yourself, it should be possible
Lenton58
Dirt Disciple
Contrarian — yes. Gainsayer — no. Currently I own a Woodrup in 531-C, a rare Simplon 4-Star in 531, and a Trek entry level racer in 501. My juvenile ride was a Reg Harris signed Raleigh Lenton Sports in 531 (hence my monicker) and I revere that bike to this day.
No argument there, mate. — Lenton
roadking":1h39ql2v said:
It's not totally unknown for UK builders to employ Japanese tubing. When I was shopping around for a cyclo-cross frame a few years back, I nearly bought one built in Ishiwata 045 via a 2nd-hand advert in CW but the size wasn't quite right. Sadly I forget the exact builder (although at the time the name was familiar - London or Home Counties sprang to mind), but it was definitely a British one.
David
