Re: [CR]Classifying lightweight road bike frames Racing/Touring is

(Example: Component Manufacturers:Ideale)

Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 19:08:32 -0800 (PST)
From: "Douglas W Hack" <dhack@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [CR]Classifying lightweight road bike frames Racing/Touring is
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org


I would like to thank Chris Kulczycki for bringing Pass Hunting to my attention. It makes me want to grab a map and start counting the passes I've accumulated during the years. Your website has lots of other interesting things also.

Unless I missed it (I only read English), the bicycles used for the pass hunting activity are not specified or particularly unique. The idea is to collect the passes, which could be done on a touring bike, a mountain bike, or anything with low enough gears to get it up the road. If I was chosing a bike specifically for pass hunting, I would want it to be light, have lots of gears, and maybe have shorter chainstays than a full loaded tourer. In other words it might be an all rounder or sport frame with wide gears.

Another activity done with bicycles is Century riding. Although I have firm opinions on how to equip a frame for Century Riding, I would choose the frame from my proposed Road Racing, Sport, or All Rounder frame categories. Maybe a Randonneur fits within one of these categories also.

I'm hoping that we can define frame specifications for categories without getting into details of build components any more than necessary. Wheel size and tire width is strongly related to the frame specifications and the intended use. Flat bars or drop bars could be put on most any frame. Single, Double and triple cranks are pretty interchangeable across frames. Obviously a fixed gear needs a horizontal dropout and maybe this is important in a loaded touring frame also. Location of the shifters is relatively independent of the intended usage for the frame, although it used to be that racers used down tube shifters and tourists used barends - that has all changed. At any rate, most frames don't limit your choice of shifters.

I don't know about cyclocross frames, but I suspect that they have some distinguishing specifications that separate them.