Frame builders, would you buy this MS tube set?
 

Always had a bit of a curiosity about the old Columbus MS tubes.

Found this on eBay. Very unlikely to purchase it but just wondering if this would be appealing to any frame builder.

Why would it and why would it not?

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/COLUMBUS-MS-...EAAOSw79JgIyYw

It is a novelty, and a neat one. It's great that it comes with lugs.

You can easily buy weird tube shapes nowadays, but this is one of your only options if you want a unique multishape lugged frame.

It is significantly more expensive than a normal tubeset. $500 means different things to different people.

I'm not a framebuilder, so...

I agree with @jemdet that it's potentially interesting just because it's different. It's important that the lugs are there, because otherwise you're stuck TIG welding it or fillet brazing it. Those lugs are specific to the tubeset.

I can't imagine that there's any real demand for it unless you had a customer who specifically wanted the MS tubes. And at that price, I'd be sure to call up Columbus and see if they had any dusty backstock before I paid that price for it. I mean, if you're rich and have good memories of riding an MS bike years ago and want to recreate it, go for it, but I sincerely doubt it's going to ride better than Spirit or other modern steels.

I would not buy it but that's because I already have two sets. I think it's really a unique tubeset. Tube shaping has been around for awhile, but this goes a little beyond with the triangular and oval chainstay and tear dropped main tubes. I believe Columbus stated that this was specifically designed to deal with the differential loads on the DS and NDS chainstays. There is definitely some marketing there but still very unique, plus the lugs are quite cool, the BB shell specifically where the DT sits below the tangent line of the shell. Someday I will build myself a frame with one of the sets and see what it's all about.

There was a good reason that Columbus offered this tubeset for only a shorter period of time and it wasn't because it was too awesome.

dave

Those pictures don't show the Gilco star shaped tubing. The star shaped tubing is why it's called Gilco.

weirdly shaped tubing always offended my engineering side. My framebuilding side says not for that kind of cash. But as said above, I do appreciate the fact it has the lugs.

The one goofy thing I would buy is a set of vintage Reynolds 531. Or Vitus, but that seems less likely for a decent price. We can get much better tubing than either of those, but it turns out I'm nostalgic.

I only build in carbon, so I'm probably not the right audience for this, but at least at the price listed, the only reason I'd think a framebuilder would want one would be to make a show bike or because a particular customer really wanted a bike with that tubeset.

For example, Erik Noren used the MS tubeset for his "Highlander" NAHBS bike.

https://bikerumor.com/2014/03/24/nah...d-spacer-caps/

It sucked?

That was my experience when it was new. Unless is aged very well I assume it still does.

dave

This deserves a like.

Or a Muttley at a minimum...

http://coupekiss.host-ed.me//MuttleySnicker.gif

Only from a frame building perspective or also from a ride quality point of view?

i rode one...it was unremarkable. i wouldnt say it sucked but it wasnt anything to write home about.
i believe the tubing was similar to SL in weight and had 2 different DT's available, one being 1.0 and the other .9 at the butts.
tubes are quite skinny and flexy, best for a sub-175lb'er id say.

that said, the tubing is old tech and thoroughly outclassed by almost everything else in terms of ride quality/weight/perfomance/etc.

the ONLY reason to buy it is because you want to have something a little weirder than the dude next to you...which is not a BAD reason to buy it, just the only reason you should consider when determining what that would be worth to you.

Horses for courses: Paul Sadoff built me a lugged Reynolds 531 frame last December because I asked him really, really nicely. The bike rides magnificently. I am sure that most of the ride quality has to do with Paul's frame design, but, for me, there is no mistaking the planing (there, I said it) that I experience on 531 frames.