Originally Posted by
Chris_F
Looks like they've cheaped out on the welds. My CAAD5 and Rush welds are all ground smooth and cleaned up. The photos here look to me like they just left the bare weld bead without grinding it smooth. Bummer, that's one of the things I always liked about C'dale's AL frames: attention to detail.
There's a pretty good argumnet to be made that leaving the weld beads alone, and not grinding them smooth causes attention to detail.
If you grind and fill welds, you can make a bad weld look good.
If you leave the weld beads alone, it will expose a crap weld.
Co-Motion for example doesn't grind the welds on their aluminum bikes, and they are known for the quality of their welding.
So not grinding the welds, may not be as pleasing to your eye, but it may also make for a better frame.