Just look at photos of the gap between the rear tire and the seat-tube. You can assume the mounted tire is 23mm +- 2mm. Even without looking at specs in catalogs, you can see clearances are minimal, so 410-415mm is a common chain-stay length.
Seat-tube angle variation introduces error in the eyeball estimate, but given where the tube would be tangent to the tire, that error is minimal. If I could predict stocks prices as well as anyone can estimate chainstay length this way, I'd own some of the fine bikes under discussion.
Harry Travis Pine Barrens of NJ USA
On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 5:41 PM, Joe Starck <josephbstarck@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> --- On Fri, 1/21/11, Ken Wehrenberg <wnwires@htc.net> wrote:
>
> > In reality, there is another way to go this direction of
> > forward weighting the bike a bit and that is to move the
> > center of gravity forward by positioning the rear wheel
> > backwards more with long chainstays. That is how my
> > other favorite handling bike, a subsequently-acquireed
> > vintage Eisentraut, did it.
>
> Around 1987 Billato of Italy made a change in chainstay length, of an extra
> 1/2 centimeter, or centimeter. Billato said the change arose from the
> peloton. I can't recall all the importers of the Billatos. Can you? To wit,
> have chainstay lengths gotten longer since the late 80s?
>
> Joe Starck
> Madison, Wisconsin USA
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
-- Harry Travis
--
Harry Travis