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| Tube Technologies |
Waterford builds from the finest steels available, using tubes of its own specific designs to assure complete control over the strength and stiffness of each bike.
Air-hardening tubing: Most of the tubing used for Waterford Frames is new generation of heat treated air-hardening alloys, developed over the past decade. These alloys have the extra strength of heat treatment, the ductility of a non-heat-treated steels as well as the flexibility to be both silver-brazed and tig-welded. Waterford features custom versions of Reynolds 853 and True Temper OX Platinum, the two leading manufacturers of air-hardening steels.
The Waterford tubing palette: Waterford doesn't stop at just using the manufacturers tubes. Waterford has created a custom palette of tubes to fit a wide range of rider needs, for strength, stiffness, lightness and size. For example, Waterford has three S3 downtubes, 6 OS top tubes and so on.
Waterford tubing technology: Waterford has developed a series of technologies to meet a wide range of rider tastes.
| Technology | Models | Comments |
| S3 from True Temper | R33 | Competition and performance applications. This tubeset is based on a 1 1/2" downtube and a 1 1/4" top tube with special heat treating and very thin walls. This tubeset is changing the paradigm for performance bike design with its fast acceleration as well as light weight. |
| OS | 22-Series - 2200, RS-22, RST-22, Adventure Cycle etc. | Light weight, smooth ride, etc. This tubeset has been Waterford's workhorse tubeset for the past 15 years. It enjoys all the refinement that comes from a a tubing palette that's been improved year after year. For some applications, like the Adventure Cycle and the T-14, it remains the technology of choice. |
| OS2 | R-14, RS-14 etc. | Waterford's newest tubeset. OS2 offers much of the performance of our S3 technology at a more economical price. Based on a 1 3/8" downtube and 1 1/4" top tube, you get an impressive ride. |
- Oversized Chainstays: Every Waterford comes with oversize chainstays to stiffen tbe bottom bracket - where stiffness counts the most.
- Flared Seatmast: Just as with the chainstays, the seatmast flares at the bottom to stiffen the bottom bracket area and increase pedaling efficiency.
- Double Tapered seatmast: the double Tapered seatstays found on most Waterford designs provides stiffness in the middle for braking but lightness and comfort near the dropouts and seat.
- Head Tubing: Even the choice of head tube material can affect the quality of ride. Waterford has four different head tubes to match its technologies and rider needs.
The evolution of steel: The simplicity and ubiquity of the bicycle has made it a favorite target of engineers for over a century. In fact the bicycle was one of the results of the development of steel in the late 19th century, since most wood was too delicate and cast iron was too heavy to make workable bicycles.
Butted tubing was developed specifically for bicycles in 1903. This tubing was designed to thicker walls at the ends of the tubes than the walls in the middle. This allowed saves weight without compromising the needed strength of the tube.
High-Strength AlloysDuring the 1930's, a new generation of steel came on to the market with over twice the strength of the basic steel used in bicycles. Known as chrome-molybdenum or "chromoly" alloys. Reynolds of England used a variation on this using molybdenum and manganese, called Reynolds 531. These alloys became the standard in the aircraft industry for decades.
Reynolds 531 quickly became the world standard for bicycle race tubing. From the 1950's through the mid-1980's, 531 dominated the professional race scene with a virtually unbroken record of Tour de France wins. It set the standard for all high-end bicycles.
Heat Treated Steels: In the 1970's Reynolds introduced an enhanced tubeset - Reynolds 753. 40% stronger than 531, 753 allowed lighter and stronger bike frames to appear on the race scene. Reynolds 753 perfectly matched our expertise in reliable low-temperature silver brazing. Waterford's predecessor pioneered low-temperature silver brazing in the 1950's as a way of maximizing the strength and durability of Reynolds 531. With heat treated alloy steels such as 753, low temperature brazing is critical to maintain all the strength added through heat treatment. With lug designs, this wasn't a problem but lugs don't offer the manufacturing flexibility of other joining methods. 753 was finally dropped from Reynolds' offerings in 2001.
The past quarter century has seen a flowering of new designs, from triathlete designs to mountain bikes - often with radically different frame designs from the classic road bike. Moreover, riders and builders both have come to recognize the importance of good fit, requiring highly individualized frame geometries.
As a result, flexibility of manufacturing has become as important as the actual mechanical properties of the material in assuring an ideal design. Thanks to its flexibility, TIG-welding has evolved to become a preferred joining method for bicycles that with plenty of margin in their structural design. As designers ventured near the structural limits of steel, the more they had to trade off the flexibility of frame geometry against maximizing the frame's strength to weight ratio.
The answer was to develop steels that could retain the benefits of heat treating even when TIG-welded. Just such alloys appeared in R&D programs in the early 90's and appeared in the market in the late '90's - air-hardening steels.
Air-hardening Steels: That's the name of this new generation of TIG-weldable steels. Two manufacturers have stood out in this area - Reynolds, with their 853, and True Temper, with their OX Platinum. If the temperature is raised above a threshold (1600 degrees F), air hardening takes place resulting in a heat affected area that is actually harder and stronger than the non-heat affected zone. This allows air-hardening steels to be brass-brazed and TIG welded in addition to silver brazing. Waterford's special welding techniques and special brazing alloys let us to achieve the highest possible performance from 853 and True Temper. This results in weight reductions and increases in strength over previous alloys regardless of the joining method.
OS vs. S3: In 1988, the Waterford design team set the world on its ear by introducing its OS tubeset. Not only did this tubeset move from the traditional 1 1/8" downtube, the design included 24mm chainstays and a flared seatmast at the bottom bracket - blending stiffness at the bottom bracket with ride comfort near the saddle. It did so at a significant weight reduction from the previous standard. The OS standard continues to be refined with features like our full-round chainstays. Waterford offers a variety of dimensions within this OS standard to meet the specific needs of its riders.
The S3 tubeset is based on a 38mm (1 1/2") downtube using the new air-hardening steels and manufacturing standards unattainable in the past. The result is the biggest drop in weight since OS was introduced in the late 80's and makes sense for competitors and other elite road riders.
Waterford's tubesets offer a world class ride for virtually any rider - from championship professional to the casual enthusiast.