I'll gladly take the ability to run normal cranks with low-ish q-factor compared to other bikes that fit large tires if the exchange is that tight turns are an issue. For chainstay length, pannier clearance is completely dependent on the user (foot size and pedaling position). I'd certainly take a little longer than necessary chainstay for pannier clearance, than one that is too short. On my large Clem, I don't have to worry about clipping a rear pannier - that's something I've never experienced on a bike, including using smaller panniers on a touring bike that has longer chainstays than a typical bike. For me, the chainstays are exactly what I want them to be. David Chicago
On Friday, June 17, 2016 at 9:35:37 AM UTC-5, masmojo wrote: > > You know it's a bit subjective, the bike is BIG and even with shorter > stays it would still be big, but longs stays . . . How long is too long!? > The bike was made as a homage to or at least evolved from the idea of early > 80's mountain bikes, which had longer stays, steel forks, etc. The > difference is in the 80's they made the stays long because they had too, > their limited choice of components determined frame design to a large > extent, but even then the bikes were built by road racers & they weren't > going to make them any longer than they had to. > Today, we have too many choices, you could do like many 29'ers & curve > the seat tube to make a very compact rear triangle (I am not advocating > that). So, in the end how do you know when the chainstay is too long? > Simple, when it's longer than it needs to be! Need heal clearance for bags > and panniers, etc. Fine determine how much that needs to be, but no more! > My Clementine has 2.2 wide tires on it now & could probably go 2.4 without > much fuss. Amazing when you consider that the stays are almost straight > and the bike uses a narrow BB shell! This all tells me that they are too > long, even if you did not have the anecdotal evidence of riders saying how > hard it is to lift the front wheel over obstacles. I also notice the > additional wheelbase in tight turns, I really have to slow down more than I > normally would, because otherwise I clip the inside apex or blow off the > outside of the turn. > One more thing is in addition to the medium I have a small and partly > because it uses 26" wheels, the stays are much shorter. I think they are > still slightly long, but they feel much better, the small feels a little > taughter. > OK whining aside I think the Clems are great bikes, they definitely have a > unique character & charm. The design is 90% there, just needs some > tweaking, chain stay length is the main thing though. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
