Originally posted by lotek
Tim
You my good man are a philistine 
I'll take my "pimpy" steel frames, thank you very much.
Please elucidate how an elcheapo machine tig welded bike
which you are using in the arguement about your Bianchi vs Alu
fits into this statement? what skill is there for a machine
to tig the frame?
TIG and Fillet brazing (let alone lugged frames) have been
around a lot longer than 15 years they ar not a recent advancement.
Marty
Thats one more off the Xmas Card list then.
The skill in the machine welder is th repeatability of the quality of the weld. The operator can set up the machine to weld frame after frame with similar amounts of weld, similar temperatures and a similar weld run time. Cheaper and more consistant quality. Can only be a good thing for everyone.
Yes Tig Welding has been around for a long time but it was confined to the Aerospace and Autosports industry's.
So in short more skilled personel to either do the weldign themselvesor set up machine to do it should tranlate into higher quality.
So if someone wanting to get into the sport today goes to a LBS to buy a bike at a specific price point he/she will be better off than someone purchasing at a simialr price point 15 yrs ago.
Why?
1)Quality control is better
2)Materials are more advanced as well as aftertreatment employed
3)availability of skilled labour is higher making it easier for manufacturers to get good people
4) More widespread use of CNC machines for tube mitrering alignment and welding makes quality more consistent.
5) even though the basic geometry is still the same, the interaction of the differently shaped tubes at the junctions has improved stress distribution resulting lighter frames that are just as strong.
In short, again, modern frames are superior to their counterparts of 15yrs ago, Believe it......................... or not
