Could Reynolds 531 frame be lugless?

So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently, e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?

Cheers,

Tomek Li

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:58:33 +0000, Tomek Li wrote:

So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently, e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?

Yes. I've got a fillet-brazed all 531 frame.


Mike

Tomek Li wrote:
So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently, e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?
Cheers,
Tomek Li

Sure. There ae plenty of lugless 531 frames. For starters, almost
everything the Taylor brothers did was lugless.
Phil Brown

"Tomek Li" wrote in message
...
So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently,
e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as
reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?

Cheers,

Tomek Li



Yes, just about any frame could me brazed together without lug. Lugless
brazing takes more skill with thin wall tubing to avoid over heating the
steel.

Lugless frames have been around since the beginning of cycling. Sloping
top tubes and other frame geometries that require non standard lugs made
lugless high quality frames popular again.

Chas.

On Feb 15, 11:52 am, "* * Chas" wrote:
"Tomek Li" wrote in message

...

So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently,
e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as
reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?

Cheers,

Tomek Li

Yes, just about any frame could me brazed together without lug. Lugless
brazing takes more skill with thin wall tubing to avoid over heating the
steel.

Lugless frames have been around since the beginning of cycling. Sloping
top tubes and other frame geometries that require non standard lugs made
lugless high quality frames popular again.


An alternative POV is that cheaper-to-implement (v. lugged
construction) TIG welding helped popularize sloping TTs, "compact
geometry", etc.

And here we are today, with the graceless, ugly frames of the 21st
century, festooned with logos on every homely, oversized tube. :-((

Tomek Li wrote:
So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently, e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?

There's a long tradition of lugless Reynolds 531 frames, from handbuilt
custom heavy tourers through ultralight time trial machines to Norton
motorcycles. In various gauges of course. Even a couple with my name on.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On 2007-02-15, Tomek Li wrote:

So far, all 531 frames I've ever seen were brazed with lugs. Recently, e-bay
shopping for a new frame I came across frame and fork advertised as reynolds
531, but it is lugless frame with unicrown fork.
Could it really be 531?

Sure. "Fillet brazing" aka "bronze welding" has been around for
decades.

--

John )

On 2007-02-15, - Bob - wrote:

Didn't that guy on the original The Wild, Wild, West with Robert
Conrad build a lot of those frames? You know, "Dr. Lugless" ?

Time to step away from the TV and get on the bike, Bob.... :-)

--

John )

Ozark Bicycle wrote:

And here we are today, with the graceless, ugly frames of the 21st
century, festooned with logos on every homely, oversized tube. :-((

Man, you're not alone in pining for the days of slender frames made of
tastefully undersized tubing:

http://www.bikecult.com/works/archiv...wncontiDE.html

....but you are _almost_ alone.

Chalo

On Feb 15, 8:43 pm, "Chalo" wrote:
Ozark Bicycle wrote:

And here we are today, with the graceless, ugly frames of the 21st
century, festooned with logos on every homely, oversized tube. :-((

Man, you're not alone in pining for the days of slender frames made of
tastefully undersized tubing:

http://www.bikecult.com/works/archiv...wncontiDE.html


Ptooo... Chalo, a more appropriate frame for you would be an old
Schwinn Super Sport or Superior. These were "oversize", fillet-brazed,
straight-gauge chrome-moly. I had a Superior- it was a sweet bike,
particularly for my 6-foot-4 frame. I still miss it snif.

I shouldn't be surprised that Sheldon feels the same:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/schwinn-braze.html . One detail not
mentioned on that page: the Schwinn Paramount tandems of that era were
fillet-brazed chrome-moly also.

Jeff