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Old 07-28-12, 05:27 PM
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DannoXYZ 
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Originally Posted by marleyisdead
I bought a used 58 CM Tommassini road frame with a 100 CM wheel base and 40.5 CM chain stays. There is no chain stay bridge. Based on some research it looks like the standard chain stay length is 42 CM. Are these short chain stays a problem? Will it be too hard to control?
Handling is very subjective. I've ridden over 200k-miles in the past 30-years on everything from custom-built track-bikes with 90cm wheelbase & 37.5cm chainstays, TT & crit-bikes of all sorts, MTBs, to touring-bikes with 105cm/42cm specs. Sure they handled differently, but I wouldn't say one was hard or more difficult to control relative to the others.

The idea is you visualize a line on the road you want the bike to follow, then you give it the steering-inputs needed to make it follow that line. Then take feedback on whether it's on that line or not and correct your inputs. Repeat, repeat, repeat, etc. On all the bikes I've ridden, I can always make it follow the line I want, but some may require different levels of steering-force and turning-angle.

There are different arenas of handling, are you talking about parking-lot maneuvers with loaded panniers? Bombing down a twisty mountain road @ 60mph with switchbacks? Slicing through the inside of the pack in a crit? Without knowing exactly the conditions you ride in and what kind of handling you want, it's hard to say how that bike will work for you. Track, crit and road-race bikes are optimized for 25-50mph speeds. Faster than that and they get a little nervous feeling and I'd much prefer a touring bike. Slower than that, like if I was racing an autocross course on my back patio, I would design a bike with 70cm wheelbase and 30cm chainstays.

It really comes down to the speeds and type of riding you want to do. There's no one-size-fits-all solution that can be best at everything.
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