Chainstay design question

[kkobayashi4]

I'm interested in giving the Silvio a try, but there's one aspect of the design that I don't understand. The chainstays (i.e. the pieces between the BB and front dropouts) are usually under compression, to counteract the chain tension. Yet the Silvio chainstays are flat flexures. Do they not flex and buckle under heavy pedaling, especially when using a very small chainring? I generally use 24t inner rings on my bikes, as there are some 20% hills in my area. I also suspect my pedaling is rather uneven; I notice boom flex on almost all SWB bikes, even on bikes that other people assured me were very stiff (e.g. Challenge Fujin and HP Velotechnik Speedmachine). I'm wondering if the frame isn't really designed for someone like me.

 

[Mark B]

Bananabike,

Welcome to the forum!

On a Silvio, the CF stays are thin on the profile, but they are very wide and strong. You'll spin the wheel, or outmuscle your opposing arm before you flex the front end of a Silvio. Good question, though. I pondered the same thing before I pulled the trigger.

Mark

 

[John Tolhurst]

It is thin, yes, but consider that each end is not pin jointed but is held tight, so to collapse you would have to achieve a multiple buckle, not just one arching bend.

 

[kkobayashi4]

Thanks. So there should be no issue even with a small chainring? (The Silvio *can* be set up with triple chainrings, right?)

johntolhurst wrote: ...consider that each end is not pin jointed but is held tight

How is that possible? Isn't there a pivot at each end, to allow BB position adjustment?

 

[Mark B]

bananabike wrote: Thanks. So there should be no issue even with a small chainring? (The Silvio *can* be set up with triple chainrings, right?)

Correct

bananabike wrote:

johntolhurst wrote: ...consider that each end is not pin jointed but is held tight

How is that possible? Isn't there a pivot at each end, to allow BB position adjustment?

On the bottom bracket end, the pivot is a clamp that clamps around the bottom bracket shell. The stays bolt solidly to the clamp. On the dropout end, the stays are blted into a fixture that is sandwiched with the fork, the anxle and the derailleur hanger. I know, it sounds weird, but it works. It's fun, too, because it freaks roadies out when your fixing a flat and your derailleur flops out and dngles from the cable. They get all kinds of twitterpated, until you put it back together and go back to whoopin' their butt. :lol: :lol:

Mark

 

[John Tolhurst]

Mark B wrote: It's fun, too, because it freaks roadies out when your fixing a flat and your derailleur flops out and dngles from the cable. They get all kinds of twitterpated, until you put it back together and go back to whoopin' their butt. :lol: :lol:

Mark

I love the smell of education in the morning.

 

[Mark B]

johntolhurst wrote:

Mark B wrote: It's fun, too, because it freaks roadies out when your fixing a flat and your derailleur flops out and dngles from the cable. They get all kinds of twitterpated, until you put it back together and go back to whoopin' their butt. :lol: :lol:

Mark

I love the smell of education in the morning.

It's true One roadie friend of mine was wanking about "I see that as a weak link....." I put it back together and two miles later he was wanking about the pace being too fast. Where's you weak link now?

Mark