Looks like one of my first welds I tried in welding school back in 1979!

 

Thats not a bad weld it is a "character" weld. It all adds to the aura and heritage of owning a Harley! LoL!

 

frame is not painted it is powder coated. different process.
did you buy it new?
Possibly that spot did not get completely cleaned before powder coating.
Or, a crack is developing now. I have seen a few cases where splatter beads
were on a weld from the factory, not common but does happen.
To be safe I would have it xrayed. some metal shops can do it.
At least, sharp knife cut around blister, flake it off, and visually inspect.
If under warranty let HD do it.

 

Heck man, that's not a weld it's a gussett.
Harley was making sure you got your money's worth.

 

You need to do a search and find the guy that had no weld I think it was and demanded a new bike?.. ... Was free entertainment.. Ive been welding on stuff for years and im here to tell ya it dont have to be pretty to work although for 20k it should be.. Im going for a ride here in a while ill have to look at mine when i get to the garage...

 

Someone posted a picture of a weld failure in that same location several months ago.dealer had to replace entire frame

 

That's what I thought of. Here it is for your repeat entertainment

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...09-flhtcu.html

 

It pays to look em over good! I have found cracks in my rigid by accident, barely see the crack just where the paint started cracking. Looking at that pic it looks like it had been cracked for a while by the corrosion around it.

 

Aren't the frames mechanically welded in jigs by robots? Thought I remembered that from one of the Factory Tours. Maybe not though by the looks of it.

 

I just went and checked mine. ('04 Ultra). It does not look quite as bad as yours, but when I wiped my finger across it to clean off some of the dirt, I could definately feel lots of splatter around the weld.