21/22 Bikes That Make Your Shorts Tighter.

[VTskibum]

So the head tube CAN be changed, easily and cheaply?

Oh boy here we go again....

[toast2266]

Agreed that those welds look hideous. It looks like a bunch of their welds are contaminated and got overheated.

That said, I don't see anything wrong with that headtube gusset (other than maybe the aesthetics of it). It's pretty normal to not have wall to wall welding on a steel gusset.

If I were to get another DH bike, I might set it up single speed. The simplicity and lack of unsprung weight are pretty attractive.

[El Chupacabra]

Oh boy here we go again....

[t.odd]

How sweet, you 2 just drop in to suck dick

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#kisses

[Andeh]

How sweet, you 2 just drop in to suck dick

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#monkeyatthezoo

[shirk]

Everyone's a welding expert when they see a raw steel bike. The discolouriztion around the welds it just cosmetic, it's hot steel being exposed to air above a certain temp ( I forget the exact temp). Has no affect on the weld itself. They could move a touch slower in welding to have more argon shielding or use a larger cup. The fabricator usually builds cars and motorcycles so he likely still adjusting to welding the thin wall bike tubes. It's a test mule and it doesn't sound like they plan to produce steel bikes so I doubt he's going to sink a ton of time into refinement just for cosmetics.

The headtube gussets were welded on a fully assembled bike.

There is no stainless on the bike, front end is 4130 straight gauge.

[rideit]

Group vote, should I start the '22 thread to kill this nonsense?

[toast2266]

Everyone's a welding expert when they see a raw steel bike. The discolouriztion around the welds it just cosmetic, it's hot steel being exposed to air above a certain temp ( I forget the exact temp). Has no affect on the weld itself. They could move a touch slower in welding to have more argon shielding or use a larger cup. The fabricator usually builds cars and motorcycles so he likely still adjusting to welding the thin wall bike tubes. It's a test mule and it doesn't sound like they plan to produce steel bikes so I doubt he's going to sink a ton of time into refinement just for cosmetics.

The headtube gussets were welded on a fully assembled bike.

There is no stainless on the bike, front end is 4130 straight gauge.

Yeah, sort of. I mean, it's a test mule so aesthetics don't matter.

But this is definitely a janky looking weld with a bunch of shitty starts / stops, a messy bead, and what looks to be some pores from some fuck up with the shielding gas. And at least some of their welds look overheated, which is gonna make the tubing adjacent to the weld more brittle and prone to cracking. Those welds are probably "strong enough,' but they're definitely not as strong as a good weld.

[toast2266]

Group vote, should I start the '22 thread to kill this nonsense?

It doesn't matter. Model years are dead.

#fecalbombardment

[rideit]

Agreed, but it's nice to have a general timeline.

[Eluder]

Citing an mtbr thread as proof of something might be a new low for this forum.

Are you kidding, all these monkeys talk about is crock potting their chains and what supplements to take.

[shirk]

Yeah, sort of. I mean, it's a test mule so aesthetics don't matter.

But this is definitely a janky looking weld with a bunch of shitty starts / stops, a messy bead, and what looks to be some pores from some fuck up with the shielding gas. And at least some of their welds look overheated, which is gonna make the tubing adjacent to the weld more brittle and prone to cracking. Those welds are probably "strong enough,' but they're definitely not as strong as a good weld.

According to his IG story that gusset and the head tube ones were welding in an hour before they took it to the show. Perfect? No, but looking at the rest of his work it's not an issue.

https://www.instagram.com/engineeredtoslide/?hl=en

Welds can be really really shitty and be way more than "strong enough". I think people are too accustom to seeing picture perfect welds and now think anything less than perfect beads are shitty and going to fail. That's not to say that the fabricator shouldn't strive for the highest standard, but wow every weld critic in the world pops into the comment section to slam them.

[toast2266]

Welds can be really really shitty and be way more than "strong enough". I think people are too accustom to seeing picture perfect welds and now think anything less than perfect beads are shitty and going to fail. That's not to say that the fabricator shouldn't strive for the highest standard, but wow every weld critic in the world pops into the comment section to slam them.

Yeah, on one hand, I'm a terrible welder and I've been surprised at how strong some of the stuff I've tacked together is, despite being horrendously ugly.

On the other hand, I've seen quite a few frames break at welds. And for the most part, those welds looked a lot cleaner than anything on that Trinity bike. There's a lot of talk in that PB article about them hucking triples to flat on that bike. I hope they're wearing a good helmet.

Mostly I'm kinda surprised that they went through the effort of using a patented suspension design, they machined a bunch of parts, and clearly they spent a fair amount of time designing and engineering the bike. But then those were the best welds they could lay down? And then they submitted a bunch of close ups of those welds for a front page story on pinkbike?

[Conundrum]

Really good looking beads can look good and have poor penetration where you can't see them. *the little I've welded I was a hack. My grandpa's shop I worked at for college summers had some sick welders. I was the guy running rivets and cutting up scrap for the recyclers.

But yeah, cover story on pinkbike for a new frame concept, lay down some dimes.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Welds can be really really shitty and be way more than "strong enough". I think people are too accustom to seeing picture perfect welds and now think anything less than perfect beads are shitty and going to fail. That's not to say that the fabricator shouldn't strive for the highest standard, but wow every weld critic in the world pops into the comment section to slam them.

Back when I worked in motorsports we had two different fabricators working on the intercooler end caps for the two cars. The engines ran about 30 psi boost, so there was some decent load on theses parts. One fabricator lay down nice clean beads, the other’s welds were an ugly mess. First test the ‘nice’ welds failed because they didn’t penetrate fully through the metal, just pretty little puddles sitting on the surface.

[shirk]

Back when I worked in motorsports we had two different fabricators working on the intercooler end caps for the two cars. The engines ran about 30 psi boost, so there was some decent load on theses parts. One fabricator lay down nice clean beads, the other’s welds were an ugly mess. First test the ‘nice’ welds failed because they didn’t penetrate fully through the metal, just pretty little puddles sitting on the surface.

But his clean beads get's the internet points so that's where it really counts.

[toast2266]

Back when I worked in motorsports we had two different fabricators working on the intercooler end caps for the two cars. The engines ran about 30 psi boost, so there was some decent load on theses parts. One fabricator lay down nice clean beads, the other’s welds were an ugly mess. First test the ‘nice’ welds failed because they didn’t penetrate fully through the metal, just pretty little puddles sitting on the surface.

I'm guessing the ugly welds still didn't have a bunch of overheating, contamination, and poorly done start / stops.

A good weld is strong. A great weld is strong and pretty. I don't think those Trinity welds fall into either of those categories.

[J. Barron DeJong]

I'm guessing the ugly welds still didn't have a bunch of overheating, contamination, and poorly done start / stops.

A good weld is strong. A great weld is strong and pretty. I don't think those Trinity welds fall into either of those categories.

Yeah, I wasn’t trying to say that the Trinity welds were actually great, just that it’s possible to have beautiful but weak welds also. A good looking weld is nice to have, but a strong weld is critical. You can end with up any combination of strong/weak, pretty/ugly, and it’s not always obvious which one you’re looking at.

[mooseknuckle]

Welding nerds must rock out to this.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Saw Neil Young playing solo a few years ago. He’s amazing (and luckily only played a couple newer songs).

[XXX-er]

My dad was the foreman/ charge hand in a shop where they built really big stuff

he said the best welders were always alcoholics and often did show up for work

[fastfred]

Shit wtf?
Is anyone bothering to ride a bike or go skiing? Just jerking off to head tube angles? Went skiing this week and now I'mm mtb riding so much I need to find a sweet young girl to pat my ass and balls with baby powder so I can get it one more day

[tellybele]

RE: gussets, y'all ever see the old(real) Bontragers?

[grinch]

RE: gussets, y'all ever see the old(real) Bontragers?

Beauty frames and great execution of gusseting leaving the ends unwelded. They should reproduce some

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[tellybele]

I agree. Original Salsas and Rock Lobsters had similar gussets. It seemed like a Santa Cruz thing back then, not the bikes but the locale. Fat Chance had some coo gussets on the Monster Fat and YoEddy as well.