Ok, Moose, help me out. What do you mean by linear? Is this compression of the chainstays along their axis? Horizontal bending of the chainstays in the plain of their axis? Something else?

You might want to look at www.bikethink.com/Frameflex.htm for an alternative view on the benefits of stiffness to performance oriented riders. The current issue of Vintage Bicycle Quarterly (vintagebicyclepress.com) has a couple of good pieces on the same topic. Fred Parr (one of the originators of oversize tubing) also shares some of these views, especially the need to adapt stiffness to rider weight and power.

Yes I design and build.

Stiffness is a poorly understood phenomena, but one that is heavily marketed. It doesn't appear, however, that empirical race results do anything to substantiate the importance of stiffness.

Unfortunately, the popular press doesn't question what the marketeers have to say. Instead they repeat the same old saws until they become common knowledge. So, at the risk of sounding like the ultimate retro-grouch, I don't see lowered stays as stiffening the rear triangle, nor do I see the clear benefits of stiffening the rear triangle.