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Originally Posted by sparky33
Did you wear out all the original components already? It's showing real personality now.
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The original components were the result of sponsorship and didn't belong to me. What you see here now are my own eclectic choices. ;-)
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Switchbacks look just right here, and its a great example of fitting a very large tire on a ti frame with road cranks. How long are the chainstays?
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The Switchbacks work very nicely on this bike, alright. The chainstays are a nominal 43.6cm, but that is to the centre of the eccentric shell. If I were to rotate the eccentric to the rear of the shell (just for the sake of argument), the effective chainstay length, in terms of where tubes are joined etc., would be 43cm exactly. It would be hard to go significantly shorter if you want to be able to use mudguards/fenders over them and have a slack seat angle. I use a relatively steep seat angle (73.5°) and there's not a lot of room to play with betwixt seat tube and fender.
At the time I spec'd the frame, all I could really ask for was "clearance for the fattest 650Bs you can squeeze between road cranks, with reasonable chainstay length." The Switchback Hills and other recently available choices weren't around to use for testing clearance, so I'm delighted with the way the combination has work out. That said, with the 46x32 crank pictured here, there is definitely room to either increase tyre clearance or shorten the 'stays.
-- John
P.S. Speaking of the crank, I love the concept and execution of the Sugino OX901 crank itself. Sugino's outer chainring sucks to high heaven, though - literally. I experienced the worst chainsuck ever using the rings that came with it, to the extent that I destroyed a Shimano CX70 front mech. because of it. Replacing the outer with a TA ring completely solved the problem, however.