Seamed tubing can be just as good as unseamed tubing. In the cycling business seamed tubing usually equals cheap tubing. That being said, any tubing that splits is a bummer!
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Great Notch,NJ
> I've got this old, 1958 to 1960 Frejus Tour de France frame with
really...ok
> paint. Way to good to redo just because of the paint, hand striping all
over,
> plenty of nicks and scrapes, nothing serious (depending on your definition
of
> serious!) but horrible chrome. Not too many worse. So, my solution (I
haven't
> ridden it, so I don't even know if I like it or not) was to polish the
steel
> where the chrome used to be and have it clear coated.
> The headlugs have polished up nicely, the disappointment I ran into was
found
> on polishing the seat stays. I should have said earlier, this is a frame
with
> a red Columbus tubing sticker on it. I found what appeared to be a split
in
> the left seat stay about 2 inches long. 3/4" or so is filled with brass,
> probably from when the drop out was brazed. So here is this 2" long split.
The only
> conclusion I can draw is the frame was built with seamed stays. I know
> Columbus made seamed tubing, at least that is what I presumed when I found
seamed
> steerer tubes in my 1950s 1960s Bianchis, but I didn't expect to see it in
the
> frame tubes of a frame with a red sticker on it.
> I admit to being a little bit of a snob when it comes to quality of tubing
> (I've built a few frames) and seamed tubing, well...I don't need to say
too much
> to this crowd, but I'm disappointed in Frejus.
> I'm going to fix it, I'm going to ride it and objectively see if I like
it.
> It may not matter, but it has made a subtle change in my opinion of
Frejus, I'm
> sure partly because they were one of my initial inspirations to build
frames.
> Then again, I may just get over it.
> Stevan Thomas
> Alameda, CA