Originally Posted by dbakl
Up until the mid 70s, many builders (Italians, mostly) believed adding braze-ons weakened the tubes... .
I heard the same thing from a LBS owner in the early '80s. My 1976(?) AD Ultima has only downtube shifter braze-ons and a mount for one waterbottle. So what changed? Did builders find better ways to retain frame strength (if that was true) or did the market change due to demand for different designs?
(A nice bike is a nice bike, either way.)