Lacie123401

Does anyone have a road bike that has a 39.5cm chainstay?
Does it make enough difference comparing to a 40.8?

Mike F

I honestly dont know if 1cm is a big difference in chainstay's but mine is 40.5 and I think its fine.

Bob Dopolina 

On what size frame?

abstractform20

i had a KHS aero-something with 37cm. quite noticeable...it grew on me, but i had to sell it. frame was a little too small.

Lacie123401

on a 51cm frame

topflightpro

Wouldn't that necessitate 650 wheels?

carpediemracing 

My two main bikes have 39.0 and 39.2? cm chainstays. I happen to have shorter legs so the frames short in height, similar to a size S Giant (40 cm seat tube) or a 52 cm Cannondale.

However my bikes are long, 56.5 cm top tubes with 75.5 deg seat tubes, and I use either a 12 or 14 cm stem (regular or compact bars). The main reason I went with shorter stays is because with the long front end I had so little weight on the rear wheel that with a standard 40.5 cm stay the bike would chatter sideways in turns, even if I was just coasting. My second frame I had made with a 39 cm chain stay. When that worked well I sent my original frame back and had it shortened from 40.5 to "as short as possible" which I think ended up being 39.2 cm.

The shorter stays makes climbing out of the saddle an absolute joy. It also makes it much easier to move the bike around when going hard out of the saddle. Even though my bikes have very long wheelbases for their size they feel quick due to the shorter chainstays.

Picture from a few weeks ago. The red bike is the one I had shortened from 40.5 to 39.2 and it's my primary bike now. I rode it exclusively in 2010 but wanted shorter stays so got the black frame. The black bike, now my backup bike, was built with 39 cm stays, and I used it exclusively for 2 seasons (2011-2012). People have all sorts of preconceived notions about custom frames, expense etc. My frames are aluminum, were $750 each (no fork, so about $1050 with the fork), and I got them in 8 weeks or so from order date. Custom geometry, custom paint, etc. I've done 6-8 hour rides on the black bike and the red bike before shortening (I've only ridden it a few times since I built it up). Most of my rides are 1-2 hours long.


The red bike before shortening. It was orange before the frame modification. Note the gap between the tire and the seat tube. This picture is from early 2010, right after I built it up. The builder (Tsunami Bikes) took the frame back and modified it to my specs. This saved me the expense of ordering yet another frame - I want two bikes that are basically identical so that I can ride one if something happens to the other.

Looigi

The length of the chainstay (distance between the BB and rear wheel axes) has two effects, it increases the wheelbase (slightly) and it affects the longitudinal position of the CG while seated. A longer wheel base very slightly slows handling and turning, other things being equal. You can ride a tandem solo to see what a really long wheel base feels like. Assuming you position your butt on the saddle a specific distance behind the BB, a longer chainstay moves your weight a like amount forward of the rear axle. With respect to weight distribution, 1 cm longer chain stay is similar shifting your butt 1 cm forward on the saddle, something you can easily try.

StanSeven

This describes my experience perfectly between my bikes with a cm range. The difference is really noticable in out of saddle climbing and sprinting.

Ferrous Bueller

Adjustable FTW.

e2rider

My current frame has 40cm chainstays (on a 62cm frame). I noticed a big difference from my previous bike which had a longer wheelbase. I love the quickness and feel of my current frame but the feel may have more to do with the headtube angle or overall wheelbase (99.7cm) and maybe not strictly the chainstay length.

carpediemracing 

My bikes have something like 102 cm wheelbases. My old bikes were under 100 cm and one was so short I had to shorten my rollers about 2 inches using an adapter (and now not only do I not need the adapter, I'm at the second hole for mounting the front roller).

I think the short stays affect feel when out of saddle. Wheelbase length... probably affects potential turning radius, meaning for really sharp corners? I don't know. My head tube and rake are normal, 73 deg and 43 mm.

carpediemracing 

My first bike had short horizontal (aka adjustable) dropouts. I slid the wheel all the way forward because I thought that was cool. I think the stays were effectively 38.x cm. My pinkie got stuck between the tire and the seat tube (steel frame).