>>1731153this is a particularly ugly bike to be fair, i don't think it's to do with it being modern.
>>1731166quite a lot of modern bikes still have non-dropped seatstays, mostly ones aiming to be light weight such as the aethos or the emonda, since it simplifies the carbon layup and reduces the amount of carbon needed at that junction.
The marketing answer is that dropped seatstays are more aero - which is probably true, even if the difference is pretty much negligible once you add a rider and disturb the airflow with a pair of legs. The real answer is because it allows them to have different rear triangles separate from the front triangle when joining the carbon pieces so it's cheaper to have different frame sizes, they need fewer individual moulds and part numbers to keep track of. Some brands even brag about not doing this as a advantage over other brands, like pinarello does.
