>I can adjust and deal with toe-clip overlap. A bike should be designed to go
>at speed, not 1 mile per hour.
Maybe I would be more willing to risk my life and put up with toeclip overlap if I saw a reason for it. My best-handling bikes don't have it...
So my question to those in favor of toeclip overlap:
1. In my frame size (57-58 cm top tube), what do I gain when I get toeclip overlap? What is wrong with my Cinelli, my Singer and my Marinoni that don't have toeclip overlap? All these bike handle great, descend with ease, and few can stay on my wheel when I am going around turns on these bikes. The Marinoni would have toeclip overlap with fenders, but it's a racing bike not intended with fenders. On the other hand, a bike intended for fenders, like the Singer, should not be ridden with extremely narrow tires, so it doesn't need as much trail, and you can move the wheel further forward.
2. For smaller sizes, things get more tricky. In the cases of very small frames, why not scale down the wheels a bit? Gives you nicer proportions, longer headset life, and allows you to eliminate toeclip overlap. (If you are an elite racer, and need to get wheels from neutral support, that is a different issue. However, at least when I was racing, many shorter women were on 650C wheels, and they provided 650C spare wheels to the neutral support, so there wasn't a problem.)
3. Granted, the current fashion for slack seat tube angles shortens the front-center (with the same top tube length) and thus is more prone to toeclip overlap. My fastest times up various mountains still are on my Marinoni with a 74 degree seat angle, so I am not convinced a slack seat angle helps climbing. If you need your seat far back, why not use a seatpost with more setback (the Marinoni uses a Campy SR)? (Many 1950s racing bikes had very slack seat angles. If you slacken the head angle a bit, say to 72.5 degrees, you can get by without toeclip overlap. Few 1950s racing bikes have toeclip overlap...)
Compromises are worth while if you gain something in return for giving up something. I don't (yet) see what you gain. Toeclip overlap may not be a big deal, but just like other minor bothers, why put up with it? -- Jan Heine Editor Bicycle Quarterly 140 Lakeside Ave #C Seattle WA 98122 http://www.bikequarterly.com