Jeremy Lieberman wrote:
I am now in the process of trying to build (will be working with Mike = Barry/Mariposa in Toronto) a close but by no means exact re-creation = (rather a bit experimental) of a 50's Herse, with a few other ideas = mixed in- and with some super advice from Jan Heine (very nice guy).=20
Two ideas I've gleaned from these pages (of note were comments made = about pencil chainstays by Brain Baylis and Bob Reid, as well as an = insight about sloping fork crowns made by Steven Thomas) were that old = Reynolds pencil stays and fork blades can really have a positive effect = on comfort (obviously not speed).=20
My question (before I begin a very difficult search for such old tubes) = is: did all British makers of such pencil stayed frames use the same = guage tube? Were there many different specs of such pencil stays, or = just one or two? And last, regaring Mr. Thomas's favorable remarks about = old Reynolds sloping fork crowns- does anyone think these might still be = extant, or could other makers crowns be used to equal effect provided = they were joined with the older Renyolds tapered blades? Thanks very = much,=20 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I don't want to present this as engineering dogma, but let's think about the functions of seat stays. In terms of ride, they are essentially strictly compressive members. As long as the diameter and tube thickness are big enough to avoid buckling, nothing else matters - just as almost any old decorative join of seat stays to seat lug or seat tube will be good enough. Now, if you are using rim brakes, the seat stays do have another function: the seat stays must resist bending when the brakes are applied. Actually, and Joe B-Z might be able to comment knowledgably, what might bug me would be stays so slender that they developed a resonance with the brakes and amplified chatter.
Your frequency may vary.
harvey sachs
mcLean va