Butted tubes for short frames

General Discussion
1

Hi, wondering if anyone has any good ideas for options of short tubes for small road bikes? Im building my gf a new road frame, and its fairly small. I have always had trouble sourcing tubes for her bikes, in particular road bikes, because i run out of room with the butts.

Her top tube mitre to mitre distance is 460mm and down tube is 550, In the past i have squeezed some columbus tubes in there as they fall just within the recommended distance to the butt ends, but i would prefer to source a set of tubes that work a bit better. Does anyone have any good options?

I’ve scoured all the obvious catalogues, columbus/deda/reynolds, possibly ive missed something though. Reynolds has a few but I can source columbus a bit more readily so would prefer that if possible.

Cheers

2
3

Columbus Spirit Keirin top tube - 25.4 dia. - .8/.5/.8 - length = 580

4

For the top tube of a smaller frame, sometimes I use a tube intended to be a seat tube.

I’ve used this one as a top tube on a couple smaller frames: Columbus Life seat tube 28.6 dia .8/.6/1 - 520mm – Framebuilder Supply

The way I see it, it’s just steel. There’s no rule that says this tube must be a seat tube. Use it wherever it makes sense!

1 Like
5

And if you’re going oversize, there’s this one: Columbus seat tube 31.7 dia .7/.5/.9 ext. butted 520mm – Framebuilder Supply

A little larger diameter, with thinner walls and longer butts. And it’s very slightly lighter.

1 Like
6

I’ve always wondered about using a 7/8” 0.028 (aka 0.7mm) straight gauge top tube for a smaller rider. 1” top tubes seem so oversized for a smaller road frame.

2 Likes
7

That, or some Tange has 250mm thin section but those cant be find anywhere but Taiwan pretty much

8

Thanks for the info guys! I had thought about the tange stuff but its quite hard to get as you say. I like the idea of the seat tube, that seems like a good shout!

The spirit kieren stuff is also appealing but i need 28.6 :frowning:

9

28.6mm is a huge top tube for a tiny bike. What’s forcing that size vs 25.4?

10

Aesthetics!

1 Like
11

Have you tried https://www.tracksupermarket.com/tube-sets-lugs-frame-building.html?

12

I have used 7/8” top tube for a kids bike. I think the answer here is more traditional tubing sizes (1” top tube etc.).

13

That’s a bad reason. “A bike the rider likes to ride” is what you’re aiming for. 28.6 is too stiff (even thin walled).

14

I disagree

15

You’re not gonna like this one, her MTB has a 31.8mm top tube.

:0

16

Frame is done now, no escape in sight for this top tube, thanks for the advise everyone.

PXL_20260303_102411713
PXL_20260303_1024117133000Ă—4000 2.36 MB

PXL_20260303_102431376
PXL_20260303_1024313763000Ă—4000 2.33 MB

2 Likes
17

Yeah, like I said, a good a bike is one the rider wants to ride. People ride all sorts of bikes and love them.

18

Nice work!

Out of curiosity, which tube did you end up using? Do you feel like there was enough butt left after you cut it to length?

19

I used Velospec AC28090609-630 :slight_smile:

It has really long butts! It’s heavier wall than I would have liked to use but otherwise it suited the frame nicely, also I was able to get it fast as I had to build the frame this week, leaving my workshop for a while sadly!