caterham

well ,sport,

why do you care what criteria i use to narrow or broaden my selection of framebuilders?

i worked as a certified pressure vessel welder for many years and think there's a reasonable rationale for the use of pinning such as:

-having only to heat the tube once per lug and therefore a reduced chance of overheating, & distortion of the materials,
- that pinning removes an inherently 'dirty' step in assembly which could potentially introduce impurities and porosities during the final brazing operation
- that pinning allows for more easily adjusting of tube alignment during the assembly process
-and that pinning offers the possibilty of lower stresses to be built into the frame as the structure is joined.

is that important? to me, yes.

can a high quality frame be built using tacking techniques? of course.

will pinning make for a better built frame? maybe, maybe not, depending on the skills of the builder.

is pinning my prime criteria in choosing a custom builder? not at all. but it does tell me something about that builder's philosophies. and guess what...I'll ask them directly why they choose to build as they do.

so once again, why do you even care what I do and why wasn't I taken to task for my want of lugged construction instead? where's that charmingly smug chastisement for my wanting a steel frame, eh?