CR member Martin Appel posted this link in a thread on Falck tubing showing Libellula tubing weights vs. Reynolds tubing.
There's what appears to be a Reynolds 531 decal in German. Can't tell whether it's a picture of a German Reynolds decal or just a German Reynolds logo???
http://www.wooljersey.com/
Thanks Martin for posting this great link of this old Schruba catalog.
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Jan Heine wrote:
>> Regarding French being the only exception to English Reynolds decals:
>>
>> There was more to French 531 tubing than just the language of the
>> decals. I believe I am correct in saying the tubing diameter was purely
>> metric, as opposed to an English diameter expressed as a metric number,
>> so it was a different product.
>
> Yes, French Reynolds tubing came in metric diameters. Also, the French
> Reynolds distributor had a few special products made, such as the
> superlight 531 "3/10 mm" tubing. The same gauges later were used for
> 753, which is why the first 753 Raleighs used metric tubing. Then there
> was the low-end "Reynolds Speedy" tubing. Both the 531 3/10 mm and the
> Speedy were available only in France.
>
> According to the Taylor brothers (see the interview in Bicycle
> Quarterly's Summer 09 issue), Reynolds tandem tubing also was available
> only in metric sizes during the 1950s, especially oversize fork blades.
> So Jack Taylor used French fork crowns with metric Reynolds 531 blades,
> and when they had more crowns made, they continued with the metric
> dimensions. (Most British makers of tandems used fork blades intended
> for single bikes.)
>
> Beyond that, was there even another large export market for Reynolds
> tubing that did not speak English? By large, I mean 100,000+ tubesets a
> year, not a few hundred tubesets for companies like Cinelli in Italy or
> Schauff in Germany? I can't think of any.
>
>>
>> Also, as listmember Bazin pointed out, the French seemed to show a fair
>> degree of affinity for English-sounding names.
>
> Ernest Csuka of Cycles Alex Singer once told me: "An American will buy
> American products unless none are available. A French cyclist will buy a
> foreign product in preference to a French one, unless there aren't any."
>
> He may be overstating things, but an English-sounding name appears to
> have been the marketing strategy of many French companies. And so you
> have lots of French riding "Luhk" (Look) and "Teem" (Time) bikes made by
> or for French companies. It took me a while to figure out what "Team"
> bikes were, until I realized that they were talking about "Time"!
>
> Jan Heine
> Editor
> Bicycle Quarterly
> 2116 Western Ave.
> Seattle WA 98121