True Temper Tubing for bicycles , I know how at least most of it was done , in the 1980's . How it's done now , I don't know .
Back then , True Temper was quite open with the information that yes , it had been seamed , but no , it was no longer seamed .
Basically , they made seamed tubing , with very thick walls , and then re-heated it to a soft state , worked with it a great deal , and produced tubing with NO detectable traces of a seam in it !
The end product was seamless . Microscopic metallurgical analysis could detect no trace of a seam .
So , at some early point in manufacture , the tubing was seamed . However , by the time it was a finished product , it was seamless .
It's all about how much you manipulate the "grain structure" of the metal . If you melt a forging , it's not a forging anymore . If you forge a casting , it's not merely a casting anymore . Etc.
Raoul Delmare
Marysville Kansas
> In a message dated 11/11/03 8:44:48 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> joebz@optonline.net writes:
>
>
> > 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!
>
>
> Isn't True Temper tubing seamed?
>
> Ed Kasper
> Detroit MI