Smooth Welds?

[Abeydoun]

I'm starting to see that smooth welds are becoming an advertisable new product attribute. The new MATE bikes have them I saw on IG, and I believe GoCycle uses this as well. Is this the new trend?

I'm surprised Riese & Muller and Tern have not made their welds smooth (the SuperDelite, Nevo have quite burly, coarse weld patterns, as does the HSD and GSD). I know it probably doesn't increase structural integrity (not sure if it has the opposite effect), but it would just look more premium and unified.

What are your thoughts? I attached some photos for reference. Thanks.

 

[harryS]

I'm no welder, but I believe they get that by grinding down the weld. If the welder did a bad job and didn't get good penetration at the joint, then you're grinding away most of the material that holds the two pieces together. So it could have the opposite effect. The grinders must have good confidence in their process.

 

[rich c]

Aluminum welding is an art. When you grind off half the filler material to make a smooth seam, it's easy to make the weld weaker. Also you don't know how much of that smooth is bondo or some other kind of filler which would also not add any strength and actually hide some porosity. Personally, I'd rather see all the filler material

 

[indianajo]

Proper welds have a ridge every 3/16" or so as the welder waves the stick/wire back & forth. Smooth welds usually mean inexperienced welders like me ground all the mistakes off. Picture 3 is correct, mistake free welds. I was pleased at the regular beads on my yubabike, and it hasn't broken anything in 2 1/3 year, although I frequently load it with 230 lb and last shopping trip had 306 lb load on it. (me + 136 lb groceries).
Had a frame weld fail on my Sears bike in 1957 and stab me in the belly. Fortunately I was only going 5 mph.

 

[GypsyTreker]

I prefer my beads to be consistent and visable

 

[ruffruff]

yep stack of nickels

 

[Nova Haibike]

There are welds that appear smooth, and there are smoothed welds. The ones on those inexpensive folders are likely welds that have been ground and filled in with non-structural material to make it smooth...and to hide poor craftsmanship. Older Cannondale bikes were not made that way. Those were double pass welds, with the second pass being hand sanded to achieve the smoothed look. But doing so costs more, which is why you don't see it anymore (or at least not very often).

 

[erider_61]

I work for a welding company...smooth welds are weaker and have been ground down...but they look prettier to the average Joe...