there is no definitive answer to this. reynolds had a workbook for all their parts. if you ordered fork blades, they were offered to order by 1) overall length, 2) amount of straight section at the top, # type of taper from this straight section to the bottom, 4) the dimensional shape of this tapered area, 5) the o.d. at the tip end, as well as other choices too arcane to list. it was up to the bicycle factory, the frame builder, and/or a tubing distributor to choose these specs. furthermore, these speced blades were offered straight, as well as raked over at least 5 different radiai, (raydee-eye). and in multiple guages; 531 was a material. fwiw, at witcomb usa, we speced our blades made from the longest length, made with the longest straight sections, so that when the excess was trimmed, the forks still looked like they could handle the 'business'. e-RICHIE chester, ct
On Tue, 18 Jun 2002 12:22:10 -0700 Jan Heine <heine@mindspring.com>
writes:
> Since we are talking about tubing, does anybody know what these fork
>
> blades (Reynolds, I presume) were called: They start out oval and
> big
> (like "normal" blades) until about 1/3 of the way down. Then they
> quickly transition to round and very, very thin. Leaning on the bars
>
> of a bike with these gives visible fork blade flex (front wheel
> moves
> forward), and the ride is very comfortable.
>
> These were used on some French bikes (notable A. Singer) until the
> late 1970s. Does anybody have a set of these blades for sale?
>
> Jan Heine, Seattle