There was a time when I bought into the best tubing hype. Though there are engineering issues attached to tube types, my guess is that the average guy, and I am one of those, would not be able to tell the difference, in ride quality, between two identical bikes - one with high tensile tubes and the other chrome moly. All other tings - geometry, size, and components fitted - being equal.
Is there a cost savings to NOT use chrome moly butted tubes? Probably! And that might be another reason for not using chrome moly in stays and forks.
But there is something I have personally noticed about using chrome moly for forks and stays. Actually, this applies mostly to stays.
Chrome Moly stays are have thinner walls, than do their less sophisticated counter parts. And those thinner walls crush easily, when compared to the thicker walled high tensile steel models. And lots of people, in days gone by, liked to install those horrible clamp on side or center stands. And the thin wall chrome moly stays DO NOT LIKE TO HAVE STUFF CLAMPED TO THEM! I have seen several crushed and crushed quite badly, cr-mo stays. I have seen clamp damaged high tensile stays also, but not nearly as badly damaged. And this pushes my though to the next level...
Since the stays, particularly the chain stays, are close to the ground, they are more likely to experience impact (flying debris, sticks and you name it). Would the stays be more or less prone to being dented? I am not even sure that this is as even reasonable concern but I have thought about it.
Finally, the overall diameter of both forks and stays is considerably less than main tubes. The smaller size of the tubes might make any weight saving insignificant for anything but the all out racing bicycle.
Well, that's about it. I have shared my thoughts on a topic that I know very little about. However, I would like to leave you all with another thought, to be presented in another thread, perhaps.
Just exactly what are we talking about when we discuss ride comfort? Remember - do not answer that question here, but at least think about it when considering the comments on this thread.
Mornings are fun!