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That's cool, I did come across as a bit of an arse. Post-pub posting, not a good idea.
Actually I didn't know that about 520, thanks. 4130 is not necessarily bad tubing, Harris motorbike frames were build using it, but the grade varies wildly. It's a shame Reynolds have used it tho - 531 is/was manganese molybdenum, as was 753. Not sure about the rest offhand. Incidentally, a framebuilder told me many years ago that 531 was named after the ratios of the alloying elements in the steel, presumably manganese, molybdenum and carbon. 753 was compositionally identical to 531 but thinner and with a different heat treatment, which was why it was much harder to braze, overheat it by 20c and it would become brittle and crack.
Overbuilding is also a result of mass production and product liability. The decline in quality tubing (mostly 531 and 753) came about with the decline in custom framebuilding. Mass and automated production led to less skilled brazing or TiG, and so to avoid failures due to overheating they just beefed up the tubing. Safety first, innit?
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jj72
Apologies. It was a grant rant 10/10. You realise Reynolds 520 is just bog standard DB 4130 Chromoly with a sticker, right? Smoke and mirrors, Columbus Cromor, Tange Champion, etc, etc...
As for when steel frame got heavy and dead riding, well, you can thank the emergence EN/ISO standards and testing for that - compliant frames are massively overbuilt.