When a did aerospace design I had to select between seamed and seamless military spec cro-moly tubes. After carefully examining all the properties in the spec there was no reason to specify one tubing or the other on the drawings so I would specify both to allow the lowest cost.
Joe Bender-Zanoni Too busy to ride but in two weeks I'm done with law school! Ann Arbor MI
At 04:41 PM 4/10/01 -0800, Monkeyman wrote:
>Fred started in on one of the great misconceptions around bicycle tubing;
>seamless is better than seamed tubing. This is really myth and advertising
>hype. It is true that seamed tubing is "easier" to make, costs less, and
>was used on more lower end bikes than seamless, but this doesn't make it
>better. Seamed tubing if produced correctly like True Temper is actually
>"better" than the best seamless tubing. Seamed tubing is generally more
>accurate in tubing diameter, wall thickness, and butt length. Sure, many
>seamed tubes are total crap, but that's not all seamed tubing. Don't
>believe my words, look at the archives of the framebuilders listserve since
>we covered this topic in depth a few months back. Or even better give Hank
>Folsom (Henry James Lugs<http://www.henryjames.com/>) a call and ask him
>about what he thinks. I've worked on and ridden more bikes than I want to
>think about and the only thing I can say is ride quality has very , very,
>very little do do with the tubing. Things like fit, design, seat, and tires
>have more to do with ride quality than 501 vs. 753.
>
>enjoy,
>Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
>
>> Basically, Cromor was similar to Reynolds 501; i.e. seamed
>>tubing that has been chemically treated to restore strength
>>at the seam, so that it is close in quality to a seamless
>>tube. Anyway, that's the theory. Many people depricate this
>>tubing, although I wonder if these folks have ever ridden on
>>the stuff.
>> I put many miles on both Cromor and 501 bikes and found
>>them acceptable and only slightly heavier than SL or 531 -
>>at least in my frame size (52cm). The differences might
>>be magnified as the frame size increases, though.
>> As for Columbus Matrix, I'll have to defer to someone
>>with actual riding experience...
>> Cheers,
>> Fred
>
>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>Nobody can do everything,
>but if everybody did something
>everything would get done.
> -Gil Scott Heron-
>!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!