Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
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.
Not may, it does. All things being equal, a smoothed weld is not as strong as one that's left alone. Since things are rarely 'all equal' the welder who laid the bead that knew it was going to be ground has little incentive to make the weld look nice and even. The way I see it, they've made a couple gains by leaving the welds alone.