Strange mudguard bridge - are they structural?

[KneesUp]

I'm cobbling together a second 90s MTB so I can have one with slicks fort own use and one with knobblies for tow-path and woods use, rather than having to swap things around. The frame for this 'new' bike is a rather unglamorous (and therefore unlikely to be stolen) Raleigh Yukon from 1990-ish I reckon. Some of the tubes are 501. I suspect only three.

Anyway, it's in good condition and was very cheap, so I can't complain - it looks hardly ridden to be honest - the black rims are still pretty much black and the brake blocks look original. However, when I was stripping it down before I noticed that the mudguard bridge doesn't actually connect the chainstays together - it doesn't reach the drive side.

I've never noticed this on a bike before, and wondered if this is common, or if it's possibly a result of Raleigh just using up the size of bridge they had in stock? Or are they not actually structural anyway (I'd imagine they ad stiffness?) and this is a 'weight saving feature'?

 

[midlife]

Seems like it's a genuine Raleigh feature as they crop up from time to time.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I've never seen one like that before.

 

[Spiderweb]

I too have never seen one like that before, it doesn’t even look to be properly welded where it is fixed?
I don’t understand the reason Raleigh would do that but the hole is offset and central so meant to be like that I presume.

 

[All uphill]

I did up a Raleigh 501 pioneer for Ms AU and it has one of those. It works fine and reduces weight by about 2g

 

[Ian H]

Probably done with the idea of helping mud clearance. The chainstays look beefy enough to cope without a bridge.

 

[Drago]

Some early cro mo Saracens had this feature. Its rare, but it is a thing.

 

[si_c]

It I had to guess I'd suspect it's a result of MTBs using a wider rear spacing than regular bikes due to the wider tyres and greater clearances. It was probably easier to rivet a half mudguard bridge in place than source longer stays for full brazing or welding.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Saves the extra work of two more welds - as @si_c implies: no structural need so saves time and cost.

 

[Dogtrousers]

This is the content I come here for. It will never be of any use to me, but it's interesting.

 

[FrankCrank]

Looks like a nice example of Raleigh 'thrift'.

 

[TheDoctor]

My Dynatech Ti 401 frame has one like that. Only purple.