Short Chainstay 29er - Chainstay Bridge (yes or no)?

[Tom Gagliardi]

I'm just finishing a single speed 29er (#47), using Paragon sliding dropouts. The chainstays are True Temper s-bends and the seatstays are True Temper 19mm.

The chainstays are 415mm (sliders all the way in), which is the shortest chainstay I've built yet. I was getting ready to weld the chainstay bridge in, which I've put on all of my previous bikes, but in looking at the spacing it looks pretty tight. There is certainly room to squeeze it in there but it looks like it might cause a possible spot for mud, stick and leave catching.

Do most of you put chainstay bridges on mountain bikes with shorter chainstays of this length? I realize short is all relevant to the builder.

The rider is about 190 lbs and a the bike will be ridden pretty aggressively.

Thank you in advance for you comments.

Tom

[fortyfour]

Hi Tom. My own opinion: It's one place that functionally on a mountain bike, you can eliminate that part as it creates a shelf for muck to accumulate. By adding one, you are in essence shortening a lever arm and adding a point of triangulation which stiffens the rear end a touch (in theory). Now in practice, is it noticeable? I don't notice it "feel" wise, but you are indeed adding a layer of triangulation. If I were in your shoes, I'd take a close look at all of the functional parameters and since it is a mountain bike, ask yourself does the added triangulation outweigh the added accumulation of muck which would inherently begin to hamper drivetrain performance in certain conditions. Like I said, I really can't tell the difference in feel with or without and I am 6'1", 190-195lbs on any given day.

Most 29er's I've built using Paragon's sliding dropouts sport 16" / 406mm chain stays without a chain stay bridge (that's slammed as you mention too). Pretty much all of my mountain bikes, which are all dominantly 29er's do not sport a chain stay bridge. They all average 16.5" / 419mm chain stay lengths and the good majority of them are ridden aggressively. All of my personal mountain bikes are 29ers and do not sport chain stay bridges and I beat the heck out of them.

The only time I honestly use a chain stay bridge is if the bike is sporting fenders as this is a point to tie in the fender mounts.

[Tom Gagliardi]

Kris, Thank you for your comments and helping me make my decision. No bridge it is and off to the painter.