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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/d57fc677-361e-47f0-b3a4-62e298c6e79fn%40googlegroups.com.
