The 27" seat tube Fuji and other Japanese bikes were a trend about 1979 or so. While they were a great boon for riders with 36" inseams etc. they presented a funny problem to the people fitting bikes in shop.
A certain type of short guy had to have that big bike. My fitting process was simple. I would invite him to straddle the bike and stand flat footed (actually impossible as he was on tip toe). Then I'd ask him to bounce up and down a bit and ask "How's that feel? If the answer was "good"- I sold him the bike. About half the guys grinned sheepishly and settled for the puny 25" frame.
Joe B-Z GNNJ "Protecting future fathers where possible"
> Tom,
>
> Welcome. Responding to your comments about frame size: I have never
raced, so I never felt the need to ride my "correct" size, whatever that is.
I'm about 6'1", but I have always ridden large frames. 62cm seems to be my
favorite, but I have a 65cm Raleigh Competition, a 66cm Botecchia, and a 27
inch (68.5cm) Fuji. I can get on the Fuji, but the first time I got off must
have been pretty amusing to the onlookers.
>
> Pat Moffat
> Tempe, AZ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas E Ward <tom.ward@juno.com>
> Sent: Nov 5, 2003 11:26 AM
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]salutations
>
> Hi, I'm another of the recent ones to join the list. I'm writing to you
> from a small apartment in Greenwich Village, though I am originally from
> San Diego by way of the San Francisco Bay Area. Thank you Pete Rutledge
> and Steven Maasland for separately inviting me to the list over the past
> year, and I have a feeling I've encountered a few others of you on eBay;
> I hope you found me nice to deal with. A pity I haven't more money to
> spend! I've been unemployed for about three months--except for those bass
> guitar lessons I give. In addition to being a 36-year-old unemployed
> office worker (B.A. Urban Studies), I'm active in New York City's music
> scene--playing in three bands. You'll see that this is on-topic once you
> realize the correlation between 'flatwound' strings on a '56 or '62
> Fender Precision Bass, and tubulars on any number of older cycles. That's
> the kind of thing going on in my life, which has lead me to buy for
> example Pete's old racing shoes from 1965 (they fit). Which leads me to
> the lament: why is it so difficult to buy a pair of unbranded black wool
> cycling shorts, a la the type my (nine years older) brother wore as a
> racer in the early '70s? Perhaps there is a source out there of which I
> am unaware. Already I digress, but it's great to observe so many people
> sharing so much information and experience, whether it be in the realm of
> lore, recorded history, or mechanical insight. I will definitely have
> questions to pose; I hope you'll forgive me when they are naive and feel
> esteem for me if I come up with something sophisticated to inquire about.
> I've definitely benefitted greatly from others' posts and following the
> various threads. The cumulative effect has to be tremendous.
>
> My complete bikes are:
> circa 1971 Raleigh Competition, nice original condition
> circa 1968 Bottecchia, repainted, Nervar crankset, ttt bars and stem,
> Campag NR other bits
> '70s Gitane tandem, 650B wheels
> Peugeot UO-8 with fenders & Sugino Maxy triple--parked at my girlfriend's
> place
>
> My build-up-from-frameset, ongoing projects include:
> circa '58 (?) Raleigh Lenton Grand Prix (Reg Harris)--good decals & paint
> 1973 Peugeot PX-10, a clean one
> 1973 Raleigh Super Course--beater to be set up for low, low gearing
>
> I'm making good use of racks as these are sharing a one bedroom apartment
> (near Sullivan and Bleecker, for those of you who know the city) with a
> Raleigh DL-1 and a couple of 'Sports' models.
>
> John Pergolizzi, I hope you'll get in touch, as I know no one locally who
> shares my interests vis-a-vis the bikes. I need to review the schedule of
> your gathering tomorrow--not sure yet if I can make that, but I'd like
> to.
>
> To all my compatriots on the list, thanks in advance for all commentary
> and advice. I'd particularly love to hear from anyone with opinions about
> how the Lenton Grand Prix should be built up. So far I've installed the
> Williams cottered cranks (dated '58) that I got with the frameset, also a
> GB spearpoint stem, GB bars, and a Universal Mod 61 brakeset. I have a
> Simplex 'suicide' front changer, & there's a boss for a rear derrailleur.
> I'd be curious to know:
>
> a. What was the original kit for this bike, particularly the rear
> derailleur & shifter
> b. What would other opinions be regarding tasteful upgrades to, say,
> mid-60s enthusiast trim
>
> I'm taking up too much space here. Thanks all for reading my intro, hope
> it was a little entertaining.
>
> Tom Ward
> Manhattan
>
> P.S. RE: "a new high"--that gold Cinelli. Looked like a dream to me. I
> was monitoring that auction and basically salivating (unemployment has
> made me hungrier than usual), as for one thing it was in my size. Has
> anyone else experienced that with experience, one begins to like a larger
> frame size? 58 c. to c. seems to be my preference now (so 60-ish c. to
> t.) whereas 56 used to seem right. I wonder if this preference may again
> change as I age, also if many riders with multiple bikes ride a variety
> of sizes. Anyway, this one was hard to watch disappear, as I might have
> spec'd it myself (had I not been born in 1967).
>
> P.P.S. I do wonder about the actual age of the gold Cinelli--noticed a
> thread starting--do you suppose since it was purchased as a complete bike
> (built-up by Spence Wolf, I believe it said) that it is likely to have
> been an old-stock frameset at that point? I believe that's the
> implication. I bought my Raleigh from the original owner, who said that
> when he bought it in '73, it had been hanging around the store for two
> years. Makes sense in that it's apparent that '73 was kind-of the boom
> year of the 'bike-boom' . . . seems like you could sell anything that
> year. Reminiscences?