Re: [CR] FS: 1983 Plum Vainqueur candy apple red

(Example: Production Builders:Teledyne)

Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2010 16:33:04 -0500
From: "John Thompson" <johndthompson@gmail.com>
Organization: The Crimson Permanent Assurance
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
References: <D206479C2EE441819193F63771E9CC4C@D7YXN561>
In-Reply-To:
Subject: Re: [CR] FS: 1983 Plum Vainqueur candy apple red


On 06/11/2010 09:58 AM, jim abt wrote:
> Hi: I am not sure what the down play of Tange and Champion are (I do
> not think that Freek Faro is doing that he is simply mentioning that
> why someone in Europe would be using Japan steel chromoly, I am sure,
> but I have been meaning to bring up the point for some time). Please
> someone explain. I have had my hands on a share of European bikes and
> the Reynolds 531's and also the afore mentioned Japanese bikes and
> the paint jobs and the finish on the Tange steel frames were left far
> superior and seemed to hold their own over time in comparison to any
> other.

My experience with Tange tubing is that out of the box it has a much nicer finish than Reynolds, possibly because the Reynolds tooling was older, but the Tange tubes appeared to actually have a brushed finish.

Tange Champion #2 tubing was essentially identical to Columbus SL in composition, wall thickness and butting. It even had the helical reinforcements in the steer tube (6 ribs vs Columbus' 5 ribs). Champion #1 was somewhat lighter, Champion #3 was somewhat heavier:

http://www.os2.dhs.org/~john/catalogs/tange-catalog.pdf

--

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