To be serious though, cost wasn't the only reason it wasn't more widely used, it was also very difficult to work. It was really developed for brazing and it was only marginally suitable for welding. Hence Roberts, Yates etc had no problem with it, but a small factory like Rocky Mountain that wanted to concentrate on welding but perhaps lacked some of the facilities of a huge place like Hodaka may have not fancied taking it on.
Only speculation, but if a tube is marginal for welding, it seems logical to assume that you need very fast and accurate techniques to get the weld right in while super-heating the tube for the least possible time to minimise the damage. There's a lot of tripe talked in my opinion about how North American welders are all geniuses and all Taiwanese welders are inferior. You need to be a serious racist to believe that. I wouldn't mind betting that the best welders in Hodaka are as good as any you'll find anywhere. Also a lot of it is down to experience - if Hodaka had experience of welding road frames with Columbus Max, that could have influenced Kona's decision to go for Max OR.
I haven't heard of problems with Columbus Max Explosifs cracking, so whatever they did I guess it must have worked (but I am touching a wooden table as I type this). I believe they were the only large-scale maker ever to use Max OR and you're right that they were never lavish in their spending, so I guess they got a good deal, but however good a deal it was I feel sure they wouldn't have gone for it if they had thought there was a danger of warranty claims.
Only speculation, but if a tube is marginal for welding, it seems logical to assume that you need very fast and accurate techniques to get the weld right in while super-heating the tube for the least possible time to minimise the damage. There's a lot of tripe talked in my opinion about how North American welders are all geniuses and all Taiwanese welders are inferior. You need to be a serious racist to believe that. I wouldn't mind betting that the best welders in Hodaka are as good as any you'll find anywhere. Also a lot of it is down to experience - if Hodaka had experience of welding road frames with Columbus Max, that could have influenced Kona's decision to go for Max OR.
I haven't heard of problems with Columbus Max Explosifs cracking, so whatever they did I guess it must have worked (but I am touching a wooden table as I type this). I believe they were the only large-scale maker ever to use Max OR and you're right that they were never lavish in their spending, so I guess they got a good deal, but however good a deal it was I feel sure they wouldn't have gone for it if they had thought there was a danger of warranty claims.
