Re: [CR] Shrinking with age and bike fit...And who says all classics will have tubulars?

(Example: Framebuilders:Chris Pauley)

From: <gpvb1@comcast.net>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: Re: [CR] Shrinking with age and bike fit...And who says all classics will have tubulars?
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 20:46:46 +0000


Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 04:39:23 -0400 From: "Tom Sanders" <tsan7759142@comcast.net> To: "Classicrendezvous@Bikelist.Org" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Subject: [CR]Shrinking with age and bike fit...And who says all classics will have tubulars?

Lots of subjective stuff presented like factual statements here lately, so maybe it's my turn. I agree with what Dale says about one person's Nirvana may not be another's and that the top tube length and stem combo seems to be the most critical measurement. I find that as I age I certainly am shrinking, at last vertically. I ride bigger bikes now than I ever used to and have little use for a bike that I can't stretch out on a bit. A cramped bike is so uncomfortable for me that I'd rather walk. Standover height is the most over rated consideration in my book. A tall bike just gets leaned more. And as for all these formulae...I think they might be useful to those who haven't ridden enough to know what you want. After the first few bikes, most of us know what is comfortable and if there is anything more important than comfort on a bike, I just can't imagine it anymore. After all, those 99% of us who are not after racing careers are riding for pleasure...even racers must get some degree of pleasure and I'll bet they like comfort, too. If it does not fit someone else's idea of fit, who cares? Ride what you like...Poop be on the naysayers. I also find the idea that only tubular tires will be found on classics ridiculous. Those who like tubulars ride them. Those who do not ride clinchers. Some of us ride both. Broad sweeping characterizations as to what one must ride to be cool are for the birds. Folks ride these old bikes because they have tastes that are a bit independent in the first place, and that leaves an awful lot of room for individual choice. Thank God! This is one area where we can and should celebrate diversity. Curmudgeons of the world unite! Ride what you darn well please! Tom Sanders Lansing, Mi

Yeah! What he said! (Except for the standover height business, where he's full o' beans). ;-) Oh, and also the comment about tubulars.... "Clinchers" on a vintage lightweight racing bike are like an automatic transmission in a vintage sportscar - if God* had intended for us to drive automatics, we would have been born without left legs! :-) Wryly, Greg "fellow retrogrouch" Parker in soggy Ann Arbor, Michigan

*no, not Gerald O'D. I mean old what's-her-name....