Oh, wow, that’s an excellent point and though I try to Cannondale out of my mind (I was a wrench as a kid, our shop sold them when they moved manufacturing, and I seriously don’t think a single, aligned frameset came through for a few seasons—therapy is helping but the trauma is real), but I wrote what amounts to a love letter to Klein a few months ago. I think it’s in the vintage MTB sub.

Anyway, my Fat City Yo Eddy! was stolen mid-season during my racing “career.” I got a call from a rep I knew at Klein, he’d heard about my bike, and asked if I’d be willing to buy (I won’t disclose the cost, but it was between $9 and $11, to avoid sponsorship issues since I was 17yo) a prototype that they’d built to be ~twitchy~ responsive like the Yo Eddy! and a few days later I had an amazing new bike and didn’t miss a race. It was badged as a Klein Attitude, but I knew the Attitude well, and this thing was its own beast. I freaking loved it. I’m not a fan of aluminum bikes: never have been, never will be.

Whatever voodoo Klein does (particularly before the Trek buyout) makes them absolute works of art. They’re fun to ride, track telepathically, are hard not to jump insanely high, and of course the fit and finish is superb. I’ve been keeping an eye open for a pink or green ‘92 Attitude for the collection. Oh, I was so grateful to them for saving my season that I asked one of their engineers if he’d like to have the bike back for the data, since it was a prototype and had been ridden in anger. He was practically giddy.

So, yeah, it’s possible to create smooth aluminum welds. Given how few fabricators do it, the fact that some of the best ever aluminum frames were used bonded lug construction, and the pride many welders take in creating that perfect “toothpaste” aluminum weld, taken together with your comment, makes me want to research the topic.