Exactly, for a short while weird Al alloys were all the rage and manufacturers were advertising new wonder materials or taunting the benefit of Al 7005 over 702

Exactly, for a short while weird Al alloys were all the rage and manufacturers were advertising new wonder materials or taunting the benefit of Al 7005 over 7020 etc.. Realistically compared to welding, design, etc. the alloy gives questionable benefit for an increase in price and more difficult manufacturing. We see something similar with the advertising of different carbon toray numbers. The cycling industry is quite interesting. Their advertising is trying to give the impression of a high tech industry with plenty of R&D and every year you read about the most recent "breakthrough" (aero/weight/compliance). However even the largest bike manufacturers have maximum a a few tens of engineers who develop the bikes and components across the whole range. That already tells you how much R&D they can do realistically.