>By the way, one of the
>messages in this thread - Gilbert's I believe - mentioned that
>Durifort is a special grade of Reynolds 531. My recollection
>is that Durifort was made by the same manufacturer as Vitus,
>perhaps before the company was called their tubes Vitus. I
>think it's akin to Columbus Cromor or perhaps even Reynolds
>501. Best regards,
> Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia
>
Indeed, in the late 1930s, Duri-Fort (often written DUR-FORT, with the hyphen also being the "I") advertised as a competitor of Reynolds (for example, in La Pedale Touristique). I don't know much about their tubing grades, but I somehow remember the stuff was used in the technical trials. Reyhand one year (1935 or 1936) was a little heavier than Barra because of using a French tubeset rather than Reynolds (which Barra used, this was before the aluminum days). I think that was Duri-Fort, but not entirely sure. Details are in VBQ Vol. 1, No. 4, but I don't have time today to dig it up. Somebody?
To confuse matters, there also were Duri-Fort bikes. A friend just bought one. No idea whether Duri-Fort tubing was used.
I also somehow also remember what Fred says, that the manufacturer
later called their tubing Vitus. I'll ask Ernest Csuka next time I
talk to them. I'll also ask why Reynolds took over pretty much the
entire French top of the line market after 1947. They were out of the
loop during the war, when the tubing wasn't available for the better
part of a decade. Most bikes were made with VITUS, which are quite a
lot, because bikes were big business. Then Reynolds came back, and
within a year, all bikes sport Reynolds decals. Reynolds did
advertise a bit, but no more than other manufacturers, so I suspect
it was something in the tubing. The simple fact that Reynolds offered
3/10 mm when Vitus only went down to 4/10 probably cannot explain it
- most bikes were made from 7/10, with a few 5/10 thrown in.
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/