There are already detrimental things with the teeny tiny chainstays: lack of front-end grip being the biggest. Pretty sure you need that to have "responsiveness". Sure, a longer wheelbase turns a bit slower, but if a shorter wheelbase from just short chainstays means the front wheel pushes, well guess what, it's also going to turn a bit slower in that case, as well as having slower steering.*
After all the talk, that you often agreed with, of not trying to make a bike do something it's not designed for, and you're worried about popping easy wheelies on an XC/DC bike? It's not a trials bike or a DJ bike, isn't being able to steer and turn more important than wheelies for a bike like this?
*(I see steering and turning as different: steering lets you dodge things, turning lets you change direction of the whole bike. Steering is done with handlebar inputs, and turning is done with leaning \[and counter-_steering_ to adjust the lean\]. Obviously there is overlap, but at a high level of abstraction it kinda makes sense.)
Aug. 23, 2022, 8:56 a.m. - Justin White
There are already detrimental things with the teeny tiny chainstays: lack of front-end grip being the biggest. Pretty sure you need that to have "responsiveness". Sure, a longer wheelbase turns a bit slower, but if a shorter wheelbase from just short chainstays means the front wheel pushes, well guess what, it's also going to turn a bit slower in that case, as well as having slower steering.* After all the talk, that you often agreed with, of not trying to make a bike do something it's not designed for, and you're worried about popping easy wheelies on an XC/DC bike? It's not a trials bike or a DJ bike, isn't being able to steer and turn more important than wheelies for a bike like this? *(I see steering and turning as different: steering lets you dodge things, turning lets you change direction of the whole bike. Steering is done with handlebar inputs, and turning is done with leaning \[and counter-_steering_ to adjust the lean\]. Obviously there is overlap, but at a high level of abstraction it kinda makes sense.)