Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Does the style of attachment for the seatstays make a difference in the Ride?

Is it just a style thing?

I have a major thing for Fastback Seatstays especially where the seatstays are sorta bolted on at the back of the seat cluster...i just think it looks super cool...is there any diffrence in the way it rides?

Scooper

The shape (e.g. straight or curly a la Hetchins) and taper of seat stays can affect the ride, but the treatment used to attach the stays to the seat cluster is a styling thing. The seat cluster and stay treatment is one area where framebuilders can make their work distinctive. On smaller frames, side tack stays offer more lateral tire clearance than fastback stays, but like you I favor the aesthetics of the fastback treatment.

Dave Wages brazed my 953 Waterford frame, and had this to say about the seat stays on my bike:

Stan,

Yours was truly a one of a kind build. I don't remember exactly why we did this, normally on the full stainless bikes, the stays are brazed on "sidetack" style and it's much simpler. What I did was, fully set up the bike in the fixture and miter the seat stays to fit against the seat lug. One of the welders then tacked the stays carefully onto the seat lug. Once they cooled down, I took the unbrazed tubes out of the fixture, the stays still tacked to the seat lug and Sean, the welder, finished fully welding them to the lug. I then ground all the excess weld that had penetrated the lug, finished the welds, and then prepped the lug for brazing. Back to the fixture and everything gets reset, fluxed and tacked. I brazed the frame, did all the finishing, alignment and then it's off to the polisher for the final buff. So, to answer you question, the stays are TIG welded to the lug, but then all the other parts are silver brazed on your frame. If we had silver brazed the stays onto the lug, what ends up happening is the silver gets undercut during the polishing process and then it can discolor over time. Really not a nice look, and possibly not as strong either.

Yours was the only frame we used this technique on, as it's very time consuming.

EjustE

Some Treks had lugged fastback stays from the mid 80s to the late 80s:

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Scooper that is an awesome story to have to go along with your frame and a very cool lookin result as well.

What sort of trek is that on? Its really really cool...Fastback AND Lugged. I'm looking for a touring frame and I see rack mounts and I'm getting a little excited.

PDXaero

Wrap over stays a la this holdsworth (thanks Classic lightweights)
Were generally thought to be a stronger bond with more are to be brazed as well as a brazing that covered more than one geometric plane.

EjustE

1987 400T. Not a touring frame (not canti brake boses) but has enought clearance for fenders and racks, so you can use it as a light touring no problem and makes an excellent commuter. Of course, I had different things in mind with my built:

raverson

+1 awesome.

Early Trek TX-900's have a sleek fastback stay treatment and were the only Trek model with such, at the time.

jzaun

This is how Emiliano Freschi did it:

afilado

...from Frank Peckham, 1983, Reynolds 531 frame. A lovely ride.

J

sss

Michael O'Brien (Seattle), ~1986, Columbus SL

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

hey those are cool..haven't seen that before

cranky old road 

The only Ron Cooper I've seen with this seat stay attachment