Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:
I got my new MTB frame in the mail yesterday, and the first thing I noticed
was that it was totally clean. Spotless. Greaseless. Honed, sparkling,
radiant. The BB shell was clean with no paint in the threads, the headtube
the same, and the dropouts properly prepped with no paint where the axle
sits. This was a $200 MTB frame from Taiwan.

Now, flashback to two weeks ago. A customer's crash-replacement
Made-in-Italy Bianchi Pinella frame ($1800 retail) comes in for me to build
up, and although there's no problems on painted areas, there's virtually no
attention to detail when it comes to the bottom bracket or headset! There's
slag strewn everywhere inside the BB (even bits I can break off with my
fingernail), there's bubbling on the opposing side of the welds, it's
totally unfinished with paint all up in the threads, and the headtube looks
plain discolored and ugly.

This was a steel frame, so I don't know if the rules governing steel are
different from aluminum, but upon first look, I would have been ashamed if I
were a framebuilder and let one go out like that. Sure there's prep
required on the bike shop end, but can there really be so little workmanship
pride on these high-end frames? What am I missing here?

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

In that high end frame. I have seen poor prep and workmanship from just
about every frame maker out there, European, Chinese, Tiawanese, US,
depends. Alternatively, I have seen spectacular workmanship from small
builders, like Nobilette and Mondonico. It's not because of steel, it's
because of the bike biz being flat for so long and poor workmanship.
They do not attract the craft-people they once did, except for asia...