Tom, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. Many tubing manufacturers offered seamed, butted, CrMo tubesets that used the same wall thickness and butt lengths as their seamless tubesets, resulting in comparable weights. The introductions of these seamed tubesets, in conjunction with component technology trickle down, allowed bicycle manufacturers to offer sub $300 bicycles in the mid-1980s that weighed around 25 lbs.

That's about a 3lb weight reduction with only a doubling of price over what was being offered a decade earlier. While some of it can be attributed to the components, notably the widespread adoption of aluminum rims and aluminum cotterless cranks, the deduction in frame weight is not inconsequenttial. Entry level frames with seamed, butted CrMo main tubes and hi-tensile stays were running around 5 lbs in a 23" size.