Originally Posted by
PoorInRichfield
. Some bike manufacturers, especially in the gravel bike world, intentionally make the crank-side chain stay bend down super low to minimize chain slap.
I think the following is a Trek Checkpoint frame that has a low chain-stay (and still has a protective decal on it):
FYI, the dropped chainstay, while it may remove/reduce possibility of chain slap, was ostensibly dropped for the primary reason of enabling wider tires to be fit without having to widen the Q factor of the crank (ie. pushing the chainrings further out from the bike).