Originally Posted by
kommisar
I've got a old schwinn mountain bike with chrome-moly main tubes. I assume the stays and fork are hiten. Would getting a better frame with chrome-moly fork and stays make it ride significantly different? Would the cantilever brakes work better on chrome-moly stays?
The stays being chromolly will not improve your braking performance. Better brakes or adjustment might improve what you have now. So many variables trump your stay material.