Here's an interesting observation... After posting, I surveyed my bikes to see what had what. (Im such a geek.) In a few cases, I have multiple bikes from the same designer, representing a fairly long timeframe of designer evolution. Particularly for Grant, Tom Ritchey and Keith Bontrager. In every one of those cases, the older models had higher seat tube mounting on the older models, but migrated to lower mounting (straddling the deraileur clamp) on the newer models.
In the case of Grant, my older (2006 and earlier) Riv frames actually have the seat tube and downtube cages/bosses at roughly the same height relative to the bb. Those bikes, which include an All Rounder, Saluki, and Rambouillet are the bikes where I have cages in both places. The later Rivs, which include a Clem and a Susie, have the low seat tube bosses. The Grant-era Bridgestones are closer to the old Rivs, but have slightly asymmetrical placement. In the case of a 59cm XO-1, the seat tube boss ALMOST interferes with the derailleur clamp, which seems odd - even keeping in mind that chainring and derailleur selections vary and that it would be impossible to anticipate every combination On Friday, September 20, 2024 at 9:54:13 AM UTC-6 iamkeith wrote: > It's amazing how much time I spend questioning this same thing. I can > only assume it's an attempt to keep weight low, and because of the > assumption that ankles /calves are skinnier than calves/thighs, so there's > a leg clearance benefit. After a while, designers seem to fall back on a > default standard because it works "well enough." I think that even applies > to Grant, having looked at enoug of the fabrication drawings that he's > shared. > > I don't like the cage mounted low on the seat tube at all. In addition to > the oft- problematic derailleur interference that you mentioned, I often > seem to get flappy pant leg cuffs caught on cages if mounted low - > depending on the cage design and whether it's holding a bottle of course, > but definitely with the more common styles. So on the vast majority of my > bikes, I only use a cage on the downtube. > > My absolute favorite configuration is a bike with two cages on the top of > the downtube. The bottom one ends up low enough that it would require a > seat tube cage to be mounted higher, where it would work better anyway (to > me.) One of the first prototypes for the hillibikes had it this way, and I > was really excited - but the production model didn't have this feature. > Some day, when I get a custom, I'll insist on this. > > I often wonder how much graphics and decal placement considerations play > into this, too. > > > On Friday, September 20, 2024 at 8:00:58 AM UTC-6 Michael Baquerizo wrote: > >> i'm ready for the answer to be so obvious that I assume this is a dumb >> question. >> >> So often, on many bike frame, but also on Riv's - the bottle bosses on >> the seat tube straddle where the derailleur clamp would go. >> >> however, almost AS often as I see this, I also see plenty of real estate >> for them to exist ABOVE said clamp area, where they'd no doubt be more >> easily accessed by a rider. >> >> why? it seems so obviously a design flaw, but surely I'M the one in the >> wrong. >> > -- 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/d5d8472b-0dc0-497b-bb6e-6878f7769c90n%40googlegroups.com.
