Originally Posted by
chaadster
Right, and that all really depends on what the chainstays are going to do. Adding stays (of any kind) to a Giant MCR (from’97, btw), for example, won’t do anything other than add weight.
We talk about seatstays and compliance, but we really should be talking about chainstays and compliance if not frame design and compliance.
In terms of feel at the saddle— distinct from compliance, which I think of physical displacement of the frame, or flex— seatstays do seem like a main conduit for shock waves from bumps to reach the rider, so maybe we could talk about shock attenuation from seatstay design rather than [bump, or vertical] compliance.
The point I was making was that a bike designed to use both seat and chain stays is using those chainstays to prevent the wheel from twisting, not just increasing vertical stiffness.
A seat stay-less design does both with that massive chainstay, but may not flex vertically much at all due to the rigidity needed to stop twisting.