I've been pulling bits off my G/S lately and have found welds that look like a local kid with his dads stick welder screwed with. At first I thought that the bikes background had a couple mishaps, but in looking at the frame, the welds are pretty much uniform in crappyness and slag spittle. Is this common, or is it because the 81 model was a bit less refined being the second year manufacture?
Looks like maybe yours was the last one made on a Friday afternoon. I've never seen spatter like that on an airhead frame. Probably just as strong as any other one though.
Mine doesn't look like that. Mine looks like the work of a master craftsman who farted air that smelled like baby foxes. It's that good. Tom
Whoa! That's quite a line, Tom. Color me, impressed!!! Hey Raven, maybe it was "bring your kid to work" day.
I'll take some other photos tomorrow. Not all the welds look like that, but some do. I thought they were botch jobs...till I started seeing more of them. Tom is right, his welds are beautiful....but his is a newer G/S, Hans the welders son Otto must have gained some mad skills in a few years.
I've seen a lot of mediocre welds on steel, and aluminum framed bikes over the years, for some reason there is a lot of inconsistencies between bikes, but don't let that get you down, steel is strong stuff. Those things aren't going anywhere! Just clean off the spatter, and powdercoat. no one will be the wiser! P.S. I'm a certified aircraft welder (for credibility)
I seem to remember reading (maybe here on ADV?) that some aircraft today are bonded together, and fake rivets are applied to make passengers feel "safer" by seeing them? Weird.
In truth only light aircraft have welded frames, and motor mounts, and a "skin" applied over this. Most of the aircraft I weld on are big stuff, some military, and spacecraft. About 90% of which is tubes, brackets,landing gear, ETC. nothing to do with the body structure.
I've never noticed anything agregious on my frame but I wouldn't sweat the gear shift lever because a) who knows where it was made and b) I had mine welded back together years ago. That just may be a booger laid on by the neighborhood kid. Or maybe your bike was made on take your kid to work day.