Speciale Corsa XCR: let's talk welds
The all-new Cinelli Speciale Corsa XCR 2026 represents the highest expression of Italian artisanal framebuilding. Seamlessly blended with advanced engineering for modern high-performance cycling.
Modern integration asks steel to do things that once belonged only to carbon: full internal routing, clean internal surfaces, and wide passages for hoses and cables. Achieving this with tubes requires a different approach.
That’s where metal 3D printing comes in.
By 3D-printing stainless steel junctions, we can create complex internal geometries that would otherwise be impossible to achieve in steel. This also allows us to go beyond the classic 4–5 frame sizes, moving closer to the scalability typically associated with carbon frames.
Both the seat clamp area junction — connecting top tube, seat tube, and seat stays with an integrated seat clamp expander — and the head tube / top tube junction are made using 3D-printed stainless steel parts.
Both of these junctions are fillet brazed using a brass alloy. This process demands extreme precision: a maximum gap of just 0.15 mm between mating surfaces. Any more, and capillary action — the mechanism that draws the molten filler material into the joint — simply won’t work. A small inspection hole on the tube allows the welder to visually confirm when the brass alloy has fully flowed through the junction.
All remaining joints on the frame are TIG welded. This choice helps maintain overall balance, avoiding unnecessary complexity where 3D-printed junctions already add mass, while still allowing great freedom in tube angles and tubular pairings.
Steel, engineered with intention.
That’s Speciale Corsa XCR.
