Quote: A number replies back a member suggested gusseting the tube angle welds. I was not a proponent of that solution. However for argument's sake, RMS originally used a similar welded non gusseted tube design, and then later changed to a bent square tube, with no intermediate welds. Never heard their reason for the change. The RMs was a 2" sq tube FWIW.
I would imagine that once into production they would either bend or have those tubes bent simply to save the labor of angle cutting and welding. Given that a bent 2" square tube would end up with a very thin wall on the long radius I suspect there would be less strength in a bent piece than a properly welded piece.
They may also have done it for "appearance" and in this case they may have used bent flats for the top and bottoms, laser-cut sides and then welded all the seams. This is very common in the hotrod frame industry.
