Originally Posted by Nessism
I don't mean to sound contrary to Dave, or any others, but my opinion is that the benifits of brazing vs. welding, and/or lugs vs. lug-less has been much over blown.
The way the tubes are joined is not all that important really. Lugs are cool, all my bikes have lugs, but they don't build into a better frame than TIG or fillet brazed. The important thing is to have a good quality joint - pick your own joining method. Even air-hardening alloys, like TT Platinum, can be brazed at low temp with no real concern - check Henry James' web site for evidence on this fact.
One exception to this thought is Oxy-Acc welding; my understanding is that this is not a prefered method on bicycle tubing - too much heat.
The "Rivendell Reader" published an article comparing the three methods. A skilled builder built three bikes using lugs, and the two "common" lugless methods. It was no surprise to me that the lugged frame bike was the strongest of the three. What surprised me was that the weight differences in the frames was trivial. I had always assumed that using lugs added significant weight to a frame.
Although the tests of the three frames proved that the lugged frame was the strongest of the three, the results also showed that each frame was WAAY strong enough for everyday riding. But, of course, the lugged frame was the "pretty" one.