I ride bikes as small as 52 cm ctc and as large as 56 cm ctc with no problem. But one should remember that In The Day, lots of bikes had top tubes significantly longer than the seattube. This seems particularly prevalent with French bikes from the 60's and 70's, but I also have an Austro-Daimler Superleicht with a 53 cm Seattube but a 57 cm toptube. These are situations where you need a 70 mm or even 60 mm stem. I think I seem to recall that Crescent also had a very long toptube. Our ideas about fit are much different than earlier eras. You see photos of racers from before or just after WWII using larger frames with much less seatpost and much shorter stems than fashionable recently.
Regards,
Jerry Moos Big Spring, Texas, USA
Paul Williams <castell5@sympatico.ca> wrote: Nor,
I guess you were unable to see my tongue firmly stuck in my cheek.much
The frameset I am dealing with is just fine in terms of size - I bought it so that it would be. My musings were of a more general nature and also brought about by a concern for the relative rarity or, at least, infrequency of the availability of suitable stems for headclips - especially in the size I need. I certainly would not really contemplate using a stem which would have me either stretched right out or bent double. Of course, as with anything in this hobby of ours, it is easy to be momentarily seduced by the sight on ebay of a nice flash piece of lugged steel stem - even those which are 5cm too long or 4cm too short!!!! As with all things, however, reality grounds us and the thoughts of putting this bike on the road (instead of hanging it on the wall which was never my intention) leads me to look for comfort rather than glam! If that means holding off riding until I can get a suitable stem then so be it.
Cheers,
Paul Williams,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
compromises
> I am now beginning to ask myself
> what difference a couple of centimetres might make one way or the other
> - or, in this case, one which is 5cm too short and the other 4cm too
> long.
>
>
>
> Wow, I can't imagine compromising a bike's fit to that extent! Are we
> losing
> sight of the bicycle's basic premise, as a machine to enhance our
> mobility,
> rather than to stroke our ego? Hang it on the wall instead, for display.
> Or
> better yet, find someone whom it will fit as intended and build it up for
> them.
>
> Nor Meyer in Mt. Vernon, IA