Originally Posted by
Chr0m0ly
I don’t even think it’s the stiffness of track and crit bikes, it’s the relationship of the rear tires contact patch to the saddle. The further forward the rear tire is placed, the impacts from road bumps send the saddle more directly up, into the rider. The longer the chain stays, the more bumps will rock the rider forward instead of directly upwards.
I have no credentials or proof, but I do have opinions and I’m on the internet.
Agreed. Took me a long time to get there, but I eventually came to the same conclusion.
An additional important factor, I think, is that there's less of a time lag between front and rear wheel impacts with short-wheelbase bikes. Generally, everything happens faster on a short-wheelbase bike, including how quickly it responds to steering input, just as my vintage 1960 Plymouth Golden Fury handled very differently from my Volkwagen GTI.
shoota's post above gives a perfect example of the factors at work, since the frame tubing would have been the same between his ST and SR Cannondales and only the geometry would have been different.