Re: [CR]Was: Reynolds Tubing, question about 531SL - Now: Tubing Chart

(Example: Racing:Roger de Vlaeminck)

Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:44:58 -0600
From: "John Thompson" <JohnThompson@new.rr.com>
Organization: The Crimson Permanent Assurance
To: Doland.Cheung@sce.com
Subject: Re: [CR]Was: Reynolds Tubing, question about 531SL - Now: Tubing Chart
References: <OF43F9E48B.7BCBD69F-ON88256FB2.0078FAEB-88256FB2.00795DFB@sce.com>
In-Reply-To:
cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org

Doland.Cheung@sce.com wrote:
> Can anybody explain the difference between taper gauge and taper?

"Taper gauge" was a term Reynolds used to describe their forks blades. Most fork blades were made from 22mm diameter straight-gauge tubing (the same as chainstays). When the tube was tapered to produce a stay (either chainstay or fork blade), the wall thickness at the dropout end (where the diameter is less) would end up being thicker than that at the crown/BB end. Reynolds thought this would adversely affect how the fork would react to road shock and such, so they created a special tube for fork blades that had gradually decreasing wall thickness from one end to the other (hence the term "taper gauge"). When the tube itself was tapered to create the blade, the end result would be a blade with uniform wall thickness from the large-diameter end to the smaller-diameter end. This was only done for fork blades, though, not chain stays.

--
John (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA