Interesting discussion, particularly considering how it began.
I also just did a quick survey of a lot of the bikes and frames kicking around here. With the exception of a few lower-end mountain bikes and similar oddities, there's maybe one frame, a TIG'd 853 frame, with just a slot in the tube, and it has a "round hole" at the bottom of the slot. It also uses a separate clamp, rather than a brazed-on binder. Nothing with a lug has the slot cut through it into the tube. Even a filet-brazed frame (Landshark) and two TIG'd frames (IF) are reinforced in some way, as Brian suggests.
However, I was just thinking. How many bazillion TIG'd steel frames, aluminum and other material frames are out there with nothing but a slot-in-the-tube? Probably not the BEST way to build a frame, but also apparently not dangerous enough to have the lawyers lining up.
Wayne Bingham Lovettsville VA USA
>
> The fact is there are millions of bikes with a slot like this. Most with
> out a hole at the end. There's nothing wrong with this (unless you are a
> framebuilder, in which case you should consider it a major NO-NO). Even
> with a fillet brazed frame, I put a small circular reinforcment at the
> bottom of the slot. Why not? It's there for the same reason one should p
> ut a ring around the head tube of a fillet brazed frame.
>
> No point in trying to fix a frame that has paint on it. But I've done ma
> ny jobs during a restoration where I fixed the situation by adding some
> metal on the back of the lug and reslotting it.
>
> Brian Baylis
> La Mesa, CA
> The beauty of lugged steel frames is almost anything can be fixed, inclu
> ding the gears. ;-)