Originally Posted by
Super D
I notice that too, always wondered why the lip is big right there. Was assuming it's purposeful to stiffen the dropouts under load, but maybe it's just the only way they could weld the chainstay and seatstay connections, the way they have it configured. There are other ways to make those tube junctions, but they must've had a good reason for doing it this way----such as, keeping costs low, while keeping strength and durability high. Reasonable. I guess I can't complain, damned affordable frame and plenty good, so that may be my only complaint.
i think it's to make welding the connection easier. and i can't help but wonder if over at Specialized, D'Alusio stared at that and thought "i wonder if we can do this for headtubes and bottom bracket clusters" when they came up with Smartweld.