John, you've asked a good question. To my mind all three of your bikes have long to longish chain stays. Granted, the magic most probably lies in the marriage of long chain stays with slack HT and ST angles and a comfortable pedaling position - however - if you want to find the answer to your question you might try riding a bike with chain stays of say 130cm or < on a less than smooth roadway (or better yet a trail) and then ride your bike with the 145cm stays over the same course. Throw in some climbs and descents. I'm betting you'll discover the long CS bike feels more stable, controlled, and a bit easier on the tush.
Steve On Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 2:55:11 PM UTC-4 Patrick Moore wrote: > Grant extended the chainstays on my road customs from an XO-1-length 42 cm > on the 1995 to 45 cm (to end of horizontal dropouts; Chauncey extended them > by another cm or so with even longer dropouts) on the later 2, and I don't > know if this is a problem and a solution, but the later 2 customs handled > noticeably better than the first (which was noticeably better with similar > wheels, tires, and build than the 1992 XO-1). The latter 2 have become my > handling benchmark by exhibiting even more than the first-gen Sam and > second-gen Ram the perfect combination of cornering nimbleness with > unerring stability. The first was not quite stable enough (the XO-1 neither > as stable nor as perfect in turn-in), the Ram very balanced but for my > taste a bit staid, and the Sam tracked too strongly -- didn't want to > change a line -- in fast corners and exhibited front-end wag on slow, > seated climbs. > > Chauncey built my 2 Matthews with similar geometry and they exhibit > similar handling. > > On Sun, Mar 31, 2024 at 11:50 AM 'John Hawrylak, Woodstown NJ' via RBW > Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote: > >> Enjoyed reading the thread "Anyone else not a fan of long chainstays?", >> especially Bill L's explanation of the RBW bike design philosophy. Seems >> the prevailing thought is long stays are better for >> upright riding >> single track type trails (vs a Rails to Trails type trail) >> >> I'll just note 2 'facts' >> 1 The vast majority of RBW models (except the Roadeo type frame) use >> slack STA and HTA which may contribute to the ride effect when coupled with >> long stays. >> 2. In the beginning RBW addressed getting the bars higher and adopting a >> non-racer riding style (back at 45° with hands on hoods), which IMHO were >> solutions to actual problems. >> >> *So What problem or current deficiency in bike design is Grant solving by >> using long chain stays????* >> Just to bring bikes to market that no one else is building?? >> Or do they solve a real problem??? >> >> John Hawrylak >> Woodstown NJ >> >> FWIW 2 of 3 of my frames have 44 to 45cm chain stays, and 1 has a 43cm >> chain stay. It's hard to notice a ride difference. >> >> -- >> > 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-bun...@googlegroups.com. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3eec10de-6019-4ecd-bf6e-b57f0cac78b4n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/3eec10de-6019-4ecd-bf6e-b57f0cac78b4n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing > services > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > *When thou didst not, savage, k**now thine own meaning,* > > *But wouldst gabble like a** thing most brutish,* > > *I endowed thy purposes w**ith words that made them known.* > -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/364ac2ab-4909-407f-bb4e-3ec80475c57cn%40googlegroups.com.
