Please let me add one note to the small-wheel conversation, from unpleasa nt memories of late 60s and early 70s small bikes, particular an Atala. The key issue - to me - is best illustrated by thinking of the front tria ngle as a real triangle, wedging the wheels farther apart from each other . If you want to use 700c wheels AND a short top tube, you have to rais e the BB, that is, not drive the wedge down so far. I arranged for a ver y petite friend to get a 19" Atala frame back then. Yup, she could ride it fine, and the top tube was the right length, but with a 12" bb center, she had a heck of time getting going. Cannondale later solved the probl em by bringing the top tube into the down tube instead of the head tube, but this was outside the thinking of builders back then, and would have b een less satisfactory with the tubes then available. A mixte solves the s traddle problem, but not the bb height issue, if you want to avoid toe cl ip clearance issues.
BTW, Bill Boston may not have been the marketer that Georgena Terry is, b ut he did sell t-shirts emblazoned, "Short is Normal."
harvey sachs mcLean va
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Doug Fattic wrote:
Don already got most of the basic answers to why Georgina Terry made fram es for women with 24" front wheels. Another basic reason is it loweres a le vel top tube so that shorter legs can straddle it. Smaller women can typical ly have around a 28" inseam and putting a brake, headset and lugs above a 27 " tire doesn't give enough room to stand over the top tube.
I'll just add a bit of history to this concept. I Believe Bill Boston was
the first to make a frame with this combination. At least he was the fir st one I heard about that did it back in the 70's. Georgina is not a big wo men and probably was glad to copy that idea to fit herself. Sometime in the 80's she went from being an individual framemaker to hooking up with a marketing guy and expanding her business with other framebuilders in thei r employ (I seem to remember some of them came from Serotta when he had a s low down). The 24" front wheel then became an identifying marketing approach . Something akin to Hetchins curly stays. It made a visual statement that this bike is made specifically for women.
One reason a 24" wheel was used (as opposed to another smaller size) was because it is a size that at that time was readily available. I've made a lot of bikes for small women over the years and one thing I've heard them
emphasize a lot is they don't want 2 small wheels that would make their bicycle look like a toy. That emotional feeling was always mighty strong . A 27" back wheel takes away the kid aspect of it. I got the feelings eac h one had been teased a lot about their size and they sure didn't want something that brought the subject up again.
What makes more sense for today is using two 650c wheels - a size made popular with the tri crowd but rare back 25 years ago. This has several
advantages besides not having to carry two different size spares. First it makes a small bicycle look proportional. The lugs are not crammed togeth er like they are on a small 700c frame giving the impression something isn't
fitting right. Smaller wheels are also lighter wheels which provides advantage for the less powerful rider. I've heard a lot of people say th ey think 26 inch wheels are harder to pedal because of the gearing (you've g ot to pedal faster to cover the same distance) or there is noticeably more rolling resistance or some other nonsense. I trust CR members are smarte r than to believe those things. Another advantage of 650c wheels for women is that, unless they are racer types, it steps down commonly available geari ng (that often starts with a 53/12 or 13) into a more useable range for some one not on a training ride. A 52/13 gear on a 650c bike is about the equival ent of a 52/14 on a 700c bicycle.
And finally when fitting a women, it is almost always necessary to have t he handlebars as high as the seat. This means she rides a typically bigger frame than a man her same size. Their crotches don't like extra pressure
when they lean over too far. What is a comfortable position for a man is
not for a women.
Doug Fattic in Niles, Michigan where as many frames have been made for wo
men
as men.