Originally Posted by
Happy Feet
Post reported. You are not funny.
Why? Do you think I'm trolling?
Originally Posted by
Wildwood
fidgety - not sure exactly what that means.
One man's fidgety is another man's razor sharp handling.
The shorter chainstays make the rear triangle smaller and theoretically stiffer, more responsive.
HTA and fork offset contribute more to the overall handling than chainstay length.
Also the rider's position on the bike affects handling.
If a person rides a 'race' bike in an upright position the bike will not handle as designed (optimally).
Similarly, a bike designed for upright riding - will handle differently if fitted to be ridden in a lower, drop handlebar position.
So why not simply make every frame use the same chainstay length? I'm sure they still contribute somewhat to the way a bike feels.
Whether the triangle is smaller or not and the way that can contribute to a marginal increase in stiffness can be easily negated on a larger rear triangle depending on how its assembled and the material being used.
My frame apparently uses hi tensile for the fork and rear triangle. Presumably to offer some minor road surface compliance.
Some modern bikes feature the seat stays mounted lower down on the seat tube than normal to offer a slight amount of compliance beneath the riders butt while stiffening the rear triangle a little like you said.
Looks like GT realized with their modern implementation of the rear triangle design that the extra set of welds at the seat tube isn't an ideal place to incorporate stiffness. The GT Grade carbon frame actually has about 2cm of flex in the seat stays depending on rider weight and how hard you're pushing the thing. Smart design.
Even with an ultra thin rear tire on my road bike (1.25") the amount of comfort and compliance I'm getting through the frame is remarkable. Even over major bumps the edge of the roughness is dispatched well. No need for wide tires with floppy sidewalls here, even if they did fit.
Would be nice to see that interesting seat tube design implemented more often. I wonder why it isn't. Looks like it biases the weight towards the rear of the bike nicely .