Originally Posted by
cudak888
Fully chromed chainstays are most functional, yes.
I was, however, thinking of the partial chrome jobs at the back that terminate halfway down the chainstay. No function at all - the forward section of the chainstay will still be subjected to harsh chainslap:
Now if this same machine had a fully-chromed right-side chainstay, then I would consider it functional.
Originally Posted by
Dr Delton
[I'd have to disagree on that.
Chainslap on my (unchromed) bikes occurs closer to the drop-out.
The chain would have to be bouncing pretty seriously to hit the paint closer to the chainrings.
I have a '62 & a '73 and both have 1/2 chrome stays.
There are no chips on the forward paint/decal sections.
The rear deraileur wire might also help some with deflecting the chain, as they are both routed on top of the stay.
My own personal observation is that half-chrome stays were introduced by the Europeans, at a time when 1/2 step gearing and larger, inner chainrings (i.e 45T-47T) were popular. The larger the chainring, the less likely there is to be slap on the forward section of the stay. When crossover gearing and smaller chainrings, typically 42T, came into popularity, largerly courtesy of the Japanese, they were simply copying European styling and retained the half-chromed stays. Once we started seeing crankests with smaller BCDs and chainrings down to 39T, full chroming of the drive side stay came into vogue.
I'm sure we can all find exceptions. I can name several. But this seems to have been the general trend. Of course, the irony of all this is that ATBs largely ignored the practice. Given their 20-something inner chainrings, they stood to gain the most from chrome stays. In the early days, we used to take a piece of thin aluminum, form it over the stay and wrap it with cloth, electrical tape. However, it was not too long before the ATB industry came up with the cheaper solution of plastic and metal stay protectors. This solution was then applied to the entry and mid-range road models and would eventually find its way onto the high end frames when non-ferrous materials that could not be chromed, took over that market.