Chuck H. wrote, in part:
I've changed the way I fit people some time ago. I started to realize that by fitting by leg length, long torso riders had been riding with way too much weight thrown forward on the bike. We no longer sell a bike to a person's legs. We fit it to the whole person. Unless a bike is being custom made, it is typical for a short leg/long torso person to have less seat post showing.
Chuck Hoefer Pacific Coast Cycles Oceanside, Ca.
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I've experienced exactly what Chuck describes, in particular on an early 80s road bike that I suspect was custom-made for a trackie. It was a very cool bike, but not my thing. Very upright, very short wheel-base, exactly right for my leg-length, but I found it quite unpleasant to ride. Weight distribution was very uncomfortable--thrown forward, lots of weight on hands and shoulders, neck craning up, weight too far forward even with the seat all the way back in the post. Because the seat-tube was probably 75 degrees or more there was no way to ever get my weight far enough back to feel right.
Track bikes I've seen were not this extreme.
this bike was an extreme example of the problem, but most 80s italian bikes were like this to one degree or another. Some riders really like the position on the bike that results, but I can't say I did. it's one reason I've sold both Gios bikes I've owned: top tube too short, angles too steep, bb shell too high. Some people report really loving those bikes, but I couldn't make them work. Maybe the earlier ones were more moderate, I've never had one from the early 70s..
Charles Andrews Los Angeles
It is impossible to begin to learn that
which one thinks one already knows.
--Epictetus