Greg Parker wrote:
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> Shoot for a TT that give you a fit that you like with about an 8-12 cm. stem if possible. I wouldn't want a bike that I had to put a custom 6 cm or 16 cm stem on to use, as I don't think I would like the handling "feel" of the resulting bike...
At my local bike shop back in the early 90s all the employees (16-22 year olds) raced and they all got frames so small that they used mountain bike seat posts (no ultra long road ones then) and 13 or 14cm stems. They thought my bikes looked funny; not enough seat post showing (I was at the limit line of a Super Record post) and such a short stem (120mm).
A couple of them complained to me that when they sprinted the back end of the bike hopped around so much that they had a hard time controlling the bike!
Even back then I was already too old to have opinions that were of value to a young racer but I told them they needed larger frames (not large sized for them, just normal) because they had way too much weight on the front wheel when they were out of the saddle sprinting and that's why the back end was hopping.
Since they had access to frames for cost they tried another frame and found out I was right about _some_ things (just still not right about other things though, like how I thought they needed to ride larger clinchers than 700x18 ;)
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
"Tis with our judgments as our watches: None go just alike, yet each believes his own." --Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
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