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Reynolds 953 - who builds it?

1K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  homebrew 
#1 ·
Other than custom builders, who mass produces frames made from Reynolds 953?

I'm curious to see price, weight, and any reviews or advice about these frames.

Thanks! :)
 
#2 ·
dd74 said:
Other than custom builders, who mass produces frames made from Reynolds 953?

I'm curious to see price, weight, and any reviews or advice about these frames.

Thanks! :)
Mass produces? No one.

Ionic has one, Waterford too. But while they may be larger builders than your average custom fellow, they are hardly mass producers. Indy Fab might fit into the same category.
 
#5 ·
scmaddog17 said:
the material is tough to work with so you won't be seeing mass produced. Ionic has the best price for a 953 that i've seen and it sucks because it's so tempting!!!
Titanium is tough to work with (this is all relative) and there were plenty of mass produced frames back in the day.

You're not going to see mass produced frames in 953 becuase there's a very limited market for the stuff. It's not lighter or stronger than carbon, titanium or aluminum (or other steel for that matter) and it's generally a hell of a lot more expensive or equal in price to those materials. Corrosion is a non-issue for most of those materials mentioned including regular steel with framesaver and good care. Ride quality is more affected by geometry and tire pressure. Finally, and most important, all the marketing bling is currently in carbon and these companies exist to make money.

So why should anyone mass produce 953? I'm all for people getting it to have something unique and different but I'm still waiting for my favorite material, unobtanium.
 
#6 ·
goldsbar said:
Titanium is tough to work with (this is all relative) and there were plenty of mass produced frames back in the day.

You're not going to see mass produced frames in 953 becuase there's a very limited market for the stuff. It's not lighter or stronger than carbon, titanium or aluminum (or other steel for that matter) and it's generally a hell of a lot more expensive or equal in price to those materials. Corrosion is a non-issue for most of those materials mentioned including regular steel with framesaver and good care. Ride quality is more affected by geometry and tire pressure. Finally, and most important, all the marketing bling is currently in carbon and these companies exist to make money.

So why should anyone mass produce 953? I'm all for people getting it to have something unique and different but I'm still waiting for my favorite material, unobtanium.
Actually, as a material it is stronger than Al., Ti, and the other commonly used steels, according to its ultimate yield strength of 2000 MPa. Since carbon doesn't yield, a direct comparison according to this criteria can't be made.
 
#7 ·
Over on frameforum.org, there's an interesting thread discussing availability of "practice scraps" of 953 and XCr for framebuilders who haven't used these materials by allowing them to practice TIG welding and silver brazing pieces before attempting to build a frame using $500 or $600 worth of new tubes. I think the cost of the materials has a lot to do with the reluctance of framebuilders to begin building with 953 or XCr.

Neil, the frameforum.org moderator, suggests in the thread that custom builders in the West should embrace 953 and XCr sooner rather than later, or risk having the rug pulled out from under them by companies in the Far East. He suggests there are companies in Taiwan who are already producing good work with 953.

http://frameforum.org/forum3/index.php?topic=651.0
 
#8 ·
I love my 953 Independent Fabracation. I like it better then my prior ti frame and more then my prior carbon and aluminium frames. Corrosion is an issue for the new "super steels" as the walls are so thin now, not the same stuff we all remember from decades past. Frame saver works great but having 953 steel does away with the hassle. Further weight can be saved by not painting it. The stuff is much harder then my 3.2 Ti frame, weight was lighter and I have yet to put a mark on it (polished ti needed buffing often due to scratches). I think many people would be well served by a 953 frame, IMO more then carbon in that you can get world class performence, a worry free frame that will survive much more abuse then carbon and durability that should be on par with ti (we shall see). Costs may come down but I doubt it as costs are going up on everything. The advantage for me in 953 over ti was the ability to make a stiffer frame for the same weight. As I understand it the bottle neck for mass production is the availability of tubes. BTW delv time on my custom I.F. was 10 weeks
 
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