You might not know the Noble name, but you’re probably already familiar with Mark Landsaat’s work. As the former Director of Product Development at Raleigh America, Mark had his hands in a number of popular bikes – including the Raleigh Tamland. That’s an important detail when you consider the newest model from Noble, the GX1 gravel bike.
Back in his Raleigh days, Mark says that they had used Reynolds steel tubing for years, and actually wanted to use 853 for the Tamland. However, Reynolds advised against it, suggesting that they use the stronger 631 steel alloy instead which is often used in motorcycle frames. But, the tubing sizes were too big which led to Reynolds adding more tubing profiles specifically to adapt to the needs of Raleigh.
Now that Mark is doing his own thing with Noble bikes, he still has those connections at Reynolds which is why he has once again designed a gravel bike using a custom Reynolds 631 steel tubeset. These aren’t just the old tubes from Raleigh though – Mark says that they feature new profiles and result in an even better ride quality with improved durability.
