Reynolds Tubing Factory

_{Words and Photography: Gavin Campbell}

Think of Reynolds and most will instantly think of 531, the iconic cold-forged steel tubing used not only for Tour de France winning race bikes but also fighter planes and land-speed motor-crafts. Since the 1950s Reynolds butted tubesets have dominated the roads, being flexed and contorted by the likes of Anquetil, Merckx and Hinault.

Before I visited the Reynolds factory, I thought I’d be greeted by super high-tech billion pound machines churning out carbon for motorbikes but what I actually saw looked like it hadn’t changed since Reynolds was first established in the heart of England in 1898.

On entering the building in Hall Green, Birmingham, you are greeted by two big posters, one of Greg Lemond and the other of Bernard Hinault, both pictured astride Reynolds-tubed bikes and both no doubt on their way to victory.

Sat in the waiting room I am surrounded by frames and memorabilia, a beautiful top end steel Masi frame in luscious gold sits alongside an aluminium downhill frame, rear shock and all, there to show the possibilities of their special materials. A picture on the wall of the founder hangs shoulder to shoulder with the original 1898 patent for their first butted tube.

There are Raleigh jerseys and skinsuits draped over a coat stand, stainless steel forks stood on the floor, leant up against a mystery bonded-magnesium road frame with a carbon rear end. At the other end of the table I’m sat at, a book of press cuttings and a different open book dated 1898, with John Reynolds name at the top.

The workforce at Reynolds is made up of 12 men and the building is very small, no bigger than a school assembly hall. But the place is full to the brim with old bespoke machinery. Some of the 12 have worked here virtually their whole lives. Fred, with big oil stained hands – still content with stretching tubes, as he has done for over 50 years – quietly stands beavering away at his pile of stacked steel. He pushes these tubes from 12” in length and with heavy sidewalls through dies into tubes 30” long with super thin walls.

“He came out of retirement to come back here,” says Keith Noronha, Reynolds MD. There’s a real family nature to the Reynolds firm and as we walk around, Keith talks me through the process of their tube manufacturing: It starts with a thick and horrible black metal sausage, then after it has been pulled, stretched, butted and polished it is a glossy, workable tube, ready to be shipped off. A very simple process by the looks of it, hence the small team, yet each man has his job to do and each does it expertly well.

Even before the legendary 531 arrived – the benchmark alloy material for racing bikes between 1930s and early 1970s – Reynolds had led the field in bicycle tubing. In 1898, the Patent Butted Tube Co. was established, manufacturing steel for civilian bicycles and military vehicles. At the onset of WWII Reynolds Tube Co. (as it was then named) turned to creating tubing for the RAF’s Spitfire fighter planes. Today the company forges a large catalogue of tube-sets. There is 753, 525, 631, 853, to name but a few. The numbers relate to the ratios of elements within the alloy. Currently the most high tech tube manufactured in this Birmingham factory is 953.

There is very little scrap, tubes are made to order at a length specified by the builder. There is also no stock, as such. According to Keith, “ this is only for small builders,” bespoke builds may only need one or two sets per time, not the hundreds or maybe thousands a larger cycle manufacturer would require.

Since the rise in popularity of aluminium, titanium and carbon, steel has taken somewhat of a back seat. Yet throughout this time various builders across the globe have stayed true and continued to use steel because of its wonderful properties, for cycling and building with. The offer of a truly top quality material such as 953, made to measure, is highly desirable. Handcrafted machines are unique and riders want that speciality.

Reynolds steel has an allure like no other, oozing British heritage and a rich lineage of world-beating performance. It’s hard to believe, but this small factory in a suburb of Birmingham makes arguably the best stuff in the world.

See more Reynolds tubing via the Rapha Continental frame builders »