I’m currently building up a Columbus Cromor tubed frame, and I’m wondering what to expect from this kind of tubeset. I understand it’s fairly low-end ‘gas pipe’ as the snobs would say.
I have ridden high end Columbus SLX, EL, as well as low-end Tange tubing.
I find the differences between the tubesets are often subtle rather than a ‘OMG this is so light’ sort of experience.
What are your thoughts?
For instance, did Columbus ever make a ‘bad’ tubeset that you want to avoid?
Have a look at this.
I think any differences you notice between frames is unlikely to be the tubeset, also bearing in mind that each tubeset (eg. SLX, EL, whatever) generally comes in multiple wall thicknesses, each with their own characteristics.
At the moment, I have Reynolds 853, Columbus EL & TSX frames and they’re all great. I wouldn’t be able to pick the tubeset in a blind test. Maybe if you had multiple frames that were the same geometries with different tubesets you might be able to pick a difference but I think there are a lot of variables that make up what you think is a good bike, and tubeset is only one of those.
If you’re concerned about what others think, put an SLX decal on it and forget about it 
Beaten by Snowflake!
Only ~300g difference between standard Cromor & Max tubesets, builder skill, geometry and component choice will have a larger effect on ride. It’s double butted Cr-Mo,
I have ridden 531/631/653/853/Infinity/carbon steel and notice more difference in things like 1 1/8" steerers & threadless stems, fork rake, external BBs…
Yeah I like that idea!
Your comments make sense. My main concern is whether a low-end tubeset is going to feel noticeably heavier compared to the lighter models.
The chart you link to suggests there is a 200g difference between most of them.
And is 2000g for an entire frame minus fork?
That’ll be the frame only.
No.
A good steel road bike is probably going to build up to somewhere around 8kg to 9kg on the road.
If there’s 300g difference between frames, you’re talking maybe 3 or 4% percent of the entire bike.
In any case, unless you’re doing lots of steep climbs and standing starts I reckon you probably wouldn’t notice even a 1kg difference on a bike.
With the UCI weight limit at 6.8kg and lots of manufacturers claiming really light weights, it’s easy to be fooled into thinking that your 8.5kg 10sp road bike is heavy. But I think it’s not.
How much does your shirt weigh? Leave it at home, problem solved.
Is my bike going to be 9kg… ouch! :-o
I’ll have to stick a carbon fibre seatpost on their to lighten things up a bit!
…and soak up the bumps!
surely he was already factoring that in…
If tubes are butted, typically how long is the butted section?
Do makes of tubing other than columbus use helicoidal reinforcemant?
(Slightly off topic) Why did they ‘pin’ bottom brackets?
But is it cotton, wool, polyester? Sleeveless? So many weight weenie options in clothing to ponder.
You could always leave the seat & post off, apparently you don’t really need them.
Butt length depends on joining method. Lugged frames tended to have longer butts than TIG’d frames. Tubes like infinity have no ‘butt’ as such, just a very gradual taper. Standard tubesets will be cut down to the desired frame size, so the butted area will get shorter. Generally 50-100mm though.
There have been other splined (straight or helical) tubesets, I recall Miyata (drew their own tubing or was it from Ishiwata?) used some. Apart from the Columbus ones these also supposedly have internal splines:
Ishiwata 015, 017, 019, EXO-L, EXOM, MTB
Super Vitus 980, Vitus 181;
Tange Prestige, Champion #1-4, MTB.
Pinning is done during the initial stages of construction, in order to hold the tubes & lugs in place before brazing. Similar to tack welding. Sometimes the internal tips are left to stab you when cleaning a frame up, other times they’re removed.
Yes… I discovered this when attempting to determine if some tubing was butted.
Thanks for the info Blakey.
Crap, my soma rush build that I finished recently tops the scales at 10kg!!! I didn’t think that was too bad. It might be heavier than my roadie though which as an alloy with carbon forks.
The forks are not soma’s and are quite heavy, also using a cheap stem and bars. You can really tell that all the weight is over the front.
Geeze- what components have you got on it? Very thick tyres?
at what level does Columbus SLX rank at in the line of tubesets?
looking at an SLX roadie soon
Shouldn’t you know what it is before you start looking for it? 
SLX is top of the line.
the reason for pinning is so that you don’t have to heat the tubes twice and supposedly retain more of the intended strength properties of the tubes compares to tac brazing during setup then filling the joins ti the lugs properly after.
531 and other Mn-Mo / Cr-Mo alloys commonly used for lugged frames aren’t heat treated and don’t suffer from annealing the way 853 etc do. (Not that you could pin a TIG’d frame anyway.)
the bike has been offered to me, i didnt go ‘looking’ for it… i just asked a legitimate question…