Originally Posted by
Centaurious
3) Long Chain Stays. 500mm is about right. Mid-tail looks better to me than most bikes that won't fit a pencil between the tire and the seat tube.
Centaurious,
I'm confused by that request. Do you want REALLY long chainstays, or just not racer-short stays? And what do you mean by "mid-tail"?
As others have said, 500mm would be really long. My Klein Performance had 480mm chainstays and it was fabulous for keeping the rear pannier's center of gravity forward of the rear axle. The aluminum frame did ride a bit harshly, but was otherwise very nice loaded or not. I converted to bigger tires on my later bikes after giving the Klein to my son.
My favorite Marinoni Sport Tourer has 435mm chainstays, and the Riv Rambouillet has 445mm stays, and both work fine with panniers. Both have "two fingers" of clearance to the ST, FWIW. I can use up to 32mm tires (no fender clearance) on the Marinoni, 32's with fenders on the Riv.
