"Asymmetric stays maximise tyre clearance and minimise weight"

why/how?

: )

Asymmetrical chainstays mostly allow the drive side chainstay to not catch the chainset, crank, front derailleur or tyre through using lots of bending/flattening/cast bits, while the non-drive side which doesn't need all this cos it just has to fit between the tyre and the non-drive side crank (Instead of having to clear the chainrings as well) can be a cheaper to manufacture, lighter tube, saving weight and cost.

Basically the non-drive side stay is straight (ie less material/lighter) because it can be.

ok. i see. but my chainstays are straight, and it never caused a problem. i don't see why some biks 'need' it, while others don't.

maybe i'm just not getting it!

Do you have a hardtail? If so there's usually less going on around the B/B shell, so it's not an issue.

With a bouncy bike there's often a pivot around the B/B shell, so the stays come out in a different place/angle. If they were straight you'd have problems with chainsuck, or heel clearance, or chainrings hitting the frame etc.

What everyone else said. If you've got a pivot a little way up from the BB shell, you can't take the drive-side stay directly to the dropout because there's not enough room between the tyre/chainrings/front mech. Traditionally designers have made the non-drive side one to match, but that just adds extra metal for no very good reason.

aah, i see, thanks :)

i wasn't really thikning about the whole FS thingy...
would i be wrong to think that i have seen it on some HTs though?

Saw those all mountain jobbies at Eurobike here in Belgium, not bad in the flesh and quite light too IIRC.

It used to be a selling point on some HTs, shaving mm off the chainstay length - hyped as a big deal when all bikes were basically steel, rigid and canti-braked. Oh how we drooled over the FANTASTICALLY short chainstays on Alpinestar bikes due to their craaaazy e-stays....

...and curved seat tubes!

They were funny bikes. "Right, I'll pedal hard now - oh, I seem to have looped out backwards and landed on my arse."

My mate, was looking at a Spesh, lost total interest when he saw the bit of extra metal for no reason he could see, he likes symetrical, sad really.

I've always thought Blurs look wrong because of the asymetrical bit of the frame.

'he likes symetrical' But what do you mean Dylan? Surely though if he's prepared to discount a bike because of some asymetry he's gonna struggle. Does he put 2 transmissions on bikes, disc brakes on both sides etc?

I can't think of a particularly asymetrical Spesh frame, except possibly the Epic, with the shock on the LH side.

Tell me about it nick, his GT frame wise is though :)

Spesh FSR's have a little bit by the BB pivot, where the drive side drops lower looks abit fiddly, he doesn't like that LOL