Lugged Steel Frame Vs Welded

The process of welding creates a weak point in the frame at the spot of the weld.

Lugged steel frame vs welded.

Steel aluminum carbon even cardboard. For a small weight sacrifice you gain increased durability repairability and comfort. Tweedy builds all of our lugged frames and brazed forks right here in house. How the individual pieces are joined together depends on the material and the builder.

Even though you may see this kind of construction almost exclusively these days on both steel and aluminum frames you may not have know what it s called. In the past full profile welded frames were specified to provide a seamless appearance. Brazing uses a filler metal like brass or silver which is heated to. For most of the bicycle s history steel has been the primary material for bicycle frames with lugged construction the primary assembling method steel continues in use by builders of high quality steel frames though its dominance as a frame material has waned.

Brazed lugged or welded steel frames are made up of cut to length tubing which will be bonded together in one of three ways. To accurately compare welded and lugged frames compare steel frames of similar quality since other materials do not offer suitable comparisons due to inherent limitations. Welded steel frames are fabricated by jason grove el camino fab way down in. Today frames are mitered on precision dies and can be face welded by sdi members to provide an appearance.

For most riders a steel frame makes the most sense. For metal there are two primary methods and a lot of confusion about how they compare or which is used for what and why. By default the bicycles shown on my site are tig welded. Lugged frame construction negates this because brazing does not weaken the steel.

Here s a photo of a coto doñana vagabond showing a tig joint seat tube top tube and seat stays. Full profile welded frames are the most costly due to the additional welding and hand grinding that is required. We often get asked what s better a lugged bicycle frame or a welded bicycle frame bike frames can be built of many things. Lugged steel frame construction is a method of building bicycle frames using steel tubing mated with socket like sleeves called lugs.

Lugged frame or tig ed frame. Most cyclists including myself don t really care about performance. We ride for fun or.