Falcon Pro-Line

[oldoffroader]

Just picked up the above bike through local ads at a good price, just fancied a steel frame. possible winter hack, is says frame is Reynolds Chro-Moly doubled butted, is this reasonable quality? how does it compare with 531 etc, any help appreciated it also has alloy rims and 300ex groupset

[oldoffroader]

[Brucey]

obviously not as good as 531 but not gas pipe either.

You will probably find it is about 1/2lb heavier than a typical 531 frame.

cheers

[oldoffroader]

everything i read about reynolds tubing has a number designated to it, why doesnt this one?

[Brucey]

Its just what they did around this time. AFAIK the closest equivalent today is Reynolds 500.

[edit- it isn't- 500 is plain gauge and this isn't; another like yours here;

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117950... it may be a bit lighter than I thought...]

cheers

[oldoffroader]

500 is single butted this is double, well the main tubes at least

[oldoffroader]

anyone have any idea as to approx value?

[Big T]

Not much value. It's not a classic and wouldn't be sought-after in the way that an old Mercian or Dawes Galaxy would be. You'd be lucky to get £100 for it.

[oldoffroader]

probably keep for winter ride, will need to change the gearing, will it be best to convert chainset to triple or change cassette and how easy will it be to do at least cost?

[Brucey]

it looks like the rear mech will take a 28T sprocket so that might be the way to go to start with. 42x28 isn't a very low gear but it may be low enough to be going on with.

Does the rear hub take a screw-on freewheel or is it a freehub?

A triple crankset + BB starts around £50 BTW.

cheers

[oldoffroader]

thanks will check on freehub(how do i tell) will front derallier work with triple chainset

[Brucey]

not sure about the front derailleur.... might be that you find out when you have a go.

A cassette hub has the same size mountings for all the sprockets, but a freewheel has larger diameter mountings for the larger sprockets. Not a bad idea to check Sheldon Brown for details. You can also see pictures on the SJS website.

BTW I think the bike will make a fine winter bike with its mudguard clearances and responsive frame. I have a ~1983 Falcon
frameset which (contrary to its original tubing transfers) has 531 DB main tubes and a 531 fork with butted steerer and taper gauge blades etc. It has similar geometry to your frame, takes 25c tyres and mudguards and it rides rather well. I expect yours to do likewise.

cheers

[oldoffroader]

thanks very much for your help, i will keep you informed of progress

[Brian73]

I had a Claud Butler road bike with the same logo. The split Reynolds decal was in use 1989-1994.

The stays and forks will probably be normal high-tensile steel, higher end bikes have 531 stays and forks.

I think it was a tubeset ordered by Claud Butler/Falcon (same company) which differed slightly from the 501/500 Cr-Mo, which may have had a welded seem. Double Butted Seamless is good tubing. It's only going to be a few ounces heavier than a 531c tubset. Cr-Mo can be welded, 531 cannot hence manufacturers moved over to Cr-Mo tubes in the 1990s as TIG welding became the standard method of fabrication in the Far East (cheaper and quicker to build a frame without lugs).

However, many British manufacturers still lugged and brazed Cr-Mo frames. My 1990 Reynolds 501 Raleigh MTB is lugged (Made in Nottingham). My 2011 Raleigh Royal Cr-Mo tourer is TIG welded. I guess the UK manufacturers used skilled brazers and did not invest in the new TIG welding equipment, which spelled the end of mass produced frames in the UK. Many small framebuilders still used lugged construction. Mercian, Bob Jackson. Terry Dolan, Brian Rourke et al... Some say lugs are stronger than welds since the temperatures required are lower and the metal around the weld does not weaken.

My CB was a really nice ride, I swapped the pressed metal chainset for a Biopace 300EX double to mach the rest of the bike. The horizontal dropouts make for an easy conversion to singlespeed.

Mine had a 7 speed cassette freehub with index shifting on the downtube lever.

[oldoffroader]

thank you very much for the information, just what i needed to know