Hello again guys
There are a couple of reasons why I think the '94 TI's are the best ones.
First, there was no such thing as butted titanium tubing. It was just a dream then, so we literally had to fabricate it. First was the sleeve idea which did accomplish stiffening the bottom bracket and adding our signature gusset plate to the downtube at the head tube connection did the same for that. However, it was more costly to fabricate and, to some it looked cool but others did not really like the chunky look. It was OK for a mountain frame that had to be more rugged than a road frame but Chris never liked the aesthetic. He had the idea of machining the tubing to create the effect of butting but with much smoother transitions than welds. It turned out to be just about as costly to machine the toptube, downtube, and chainstays, but the look was much cleaner and the weight was cut by about 3 to 5 ounces depending on frame size. It also reduced the overall welding time by a considerable amount which helped offset the cost of machining (which we did in-house by the way). The 1994 TIs all have the machined tubing with the notorious "Feel My Butt" sticker on the toptube.
Second, it took us a while to catch up with the techniques of TIG welding titanium and figuring out that every little movement of the torch showed up in the final product. We were fortunate to have so many Merlins around to look at and learn from but it still takes quite a bit of repetition to get the bead width tolerance as low as possible and to learn how to feather in stops to make them look almost seamless. Having to use a large shielding gas cup and a trailing shield adds quite a bit of weight to the torch and that also takes time to figure out. Titanium is really beautiful to weld, though. You can see yourself in the mirror finish of the weld bead when its done correctly. By 1993, we had really got the techniques down and had reduced the time it took to weld a frame completely by about 50%.
To me, the 1994 TIs with the machined tubes and improved welding techniques are the pinnacle of what Fat City Somerville produced.
Good Luck with your find!
(and if you ever have to sell...)
Scott