"Thomas R. Adams, Jr." says:
>And my problem is that I can't warm up to the looks of the extension,
>especially some that are appearing now that look like 2-3 inches
>long. Rivendell's is tolerable, but doesn't look exactly "right". Of
>course it's much more noticeable on a bare frame, hardly visible on a
>built bike, and I didn't notice it at all on Grant's bike as he thundered
>by me on the Sunday ride at the '03 Cirque ( a borrowed Romulus, as I
>recall).
I agree, when I got my Waterford, I thought, eeeww, what did I do? The top tube extension made the bare frame look really unbalanced and while it didn't quite put it in category of modern oversized aluminum tubing and tacky paint schemes, it did kind of challenge my aesthetic viewpoint. Looked better put together and I'm used to it now.
When I fit and sell a modern bike, or even get someone out on a test ride, I make sure the bar and seat are level, unless they already have a bike and are comfortable set up that way. This can be a challenge with modern geometry, limited sizing and having to keep a lot of threadless stems around. Its a lot easier to set up when selling a traditionally styled frame BUT I find that the top tube is often too long to push someone up a size to achieve level seat and bar - which introduces a whole other set of problems.
Ann Phillips, Decatur GA