Road Cycling - So my knees aren't shot, but I need a new frame.

I went to see the orthapedic surgeon (retired head surgeon for Canadian Olympic team). He looked at my knee and everything was fine. We Xrayed it and there was extremely minimal damage. He did a strength test and I was strong enough. He happens to also be a cyclist so he sent me to a bike store in Toronto that uses the Fit Kit. I also need to restrengthen a few little muscles that surround my knee. So I took myself and the bike that I rode the most with. According to the fit kit, my bike is about 1.5cm too small in the seat tube which is compromising top tube length and KoP position. They put me on a bigger trainer for an hour. No pain in my knees whatsoever. So now I need to go out and buy a new frame. I think I would like to stick with steel though. I'm only 140lb so aluminum is obviously out of the question as this is my long distance and not my racing bike. I COULD get carbon or Ti but then this bike has older components on it. If I am to get steel though, I'd want columbous tubing (SL or equivalent minimum). I need some recommendations people!!

Originally posted by WorldIRC
I went to see the orthapedic surgeon (retired head surgeon for Canadian Olympic team). He looked at my knee and everything was fine. We Xrayed it and there was extremely minimal damage. He did a strength test and I was strong enough. He happens to also be a cyclist so he sent me to a bike store in Toronto that uses the Fit Kit. I also need to restrengthen a few little muscles that surround my knee. So I took myself and the bike that I rode the most with. According to the fit kit, my bike is about 1.5cm too small in the seat tube which is compromising top tube length and KoP position. They put me on a bigger trainer for an hour. No pain in my knees whatsoever. So now I need to go out and buy a new frame. I think I would like to stick with steel though. I'm only 140lb so aluminum is obviously out of the question as this is my long distance and not my racing bike. I COULD get carbon or Ti but then this bike has older components on it. If I am to get steel though, I'd want columbous tubing (SL or equivalent minimum). I need some recommendations people!!
brian get a columbus tubing bike frmae with carbon fiber fiber fork, and your ride would be awesome.

Columbus SL is old school.Almost anything current other than bottom of the barrel will be as good or likely better.Nothing magic about Columbus either,unless you are just hung up on the name.Reynolds, Dedacciai, and true Temper all make excellent comparable stuff.

Originally posted by orguasch

brian get a columbus tubing bike frmae with carbon fiber fiber fork, and your ride would be awesome. My Columbus steel rides are that way with steel forks.Hard to beat a GOOD steel fork.

Well I found a Colnago SL frame in my size exactly for C$690 w/ fork. Should I go for this purchase? If not, what other SL or SLX frames can I look at?

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Well I found a Colnago SL frame in my size exactly for C$690 w/ fork. Should I go for this purchase? If not, what other SL or SLX frames can I look at? Iwould not pay $690 for a Colnago SL frame unless it was a collector,then you would not want to be using it as a regular rider.I paid $150 for a near mint Tomaassini,SLX. The market is soft for non collector older steel bikes.Nearly everyone makng steel frames a few years ago was doing sl and slx,even the Japaneese.Should not be hard to find.

Alright. I just put my current frame in the local B/S paper and on the forum and on another site. Hopefully I can get some reasonable $$$ that I can put towards my new frame.

Man! I looked at my frame. I can't get rid of it. This was my bike that I built. It's 1cm to small in the seat tube. Is there any way to make it fit no matter how wrong it is?

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Alright. I just put my current frame in the local B/S paper and on the forum and on another site. Hopefully I can get some reasonable $$$ that I can put towards my new frame.

i believe that Mike Habenero of Habanero Cyclery will build you a Titanium frame for about $699.00 At least he used to advertise this regularly on rec.bicycles.misc.

I believe he has a pretty good rep.

Yep - just found his website - $695.00

It is a very impressive website.

http://www.habcycles.com/

They have some really nice Colnago Crystal frames at Racer Sportif on Bloor, limited sizes though. If I were buying steel it would probably be one of those. The staff are great in there too.

Cheers!

Leyton

They have some really nice Colnago Crystal frames at Racer Sportif on Bloor, limited sizes though. If I were buying steel it would probably be one of those. The staff are great in there too.

Cheers!

Leyton

Congrats on your knee, Brian!
Hey, did you visit Ottawa?

Of course I visited Ottawa. It was great. And I was looking at the Colnago SL frame that they had in 56cm but its like 700bux so I wanted to know if I should buy it or not.

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Man! I looked at my frame. I can't get rid of it. This was my bike that I built. It's 1cm to small in the seat tube. Is there any way to make it fit no matter how wrong it is? How about a longer extenson stem,within reason. 1 cm in seat tube size is no big deal.Sometimes the wrong is too bad to try and deal with.I've made alot of small sdjustments to get fit right and have even ridden frames much too big and much too small.Even throwing out the extremes,I still ride a range of sizes and TT lengths,that all work well.Even if you get something 1cm "bigger",you may not even gain anything in TT length due to differences in geometry.

Nah, I spoke to the once Orthapedic Surgeon for Canada's Olympic team. He said even 1/8th of an inch in KoP will make a difference. Especially since I'm quite bull legged. And my seat tube is 1cm too small, not too big. Its 55 im a 56.

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Of course I visited Ottawa. It was great. And I was looking at the Colnago SL frame that they had in 56cm but its like 700bux so I wanted to know if I should buy it or not. Man, why didn't you message me? I could've showed you some of the urban assault places.
:)

glad to hear your knees ok .not no-where as bad as you first feared, thats good:D .steels ok ,i say that cos thats wat i got , cant aford to upgrade in the forseeable future:mad: my frames tange 900 d/butted tube, not a bad ride on our mostly chip-seal roads especialy on longer rides. keep up a higher cadence to keep the knees sweet.:beer:

Originally posted by WorldIRC
Nah, I spoke to the once Orthapedic Surgeon for Canada's Olympic team. He said even 1/8th of an inch in KoP will make a difference. Especially since I'm quite bull legged. And my seat tube is 1cm too small, not too big. Its 55 im a 56. I guess I just don't understand.You can get KOP with a range of seattube sizes.

Yea and my seattube is 1cm to short. I was told 1/8th of an inch can screw you up and this is more than that so what do I do. Do I need a new frame?

Call me crazy (ok, maybe even stupid) but an 1/8 of an inch is going to create problems? While I don't move around on my saddle that much I do know I don't sit in the same exact position all the time during my rides. It seems to me that if you slide forward or rearward just a 1/4" that would change your position also. I'm confused! :-)>

Yeah but then I have to buy a shorter or longer stem to compensate and longer will screw up my balance. And I think he met 1/8th of an inch off for an extended period will bug you. You notice when you move around on your seat and you don't feel comfortable you move back. Thats why.

I not saying that one doesn't find their "comfort zone" while they ride, especially the longer the ride, I would think that if your within an 1/8" I would think that would be just be a matter of adjustments and not necessitate replacing your frame. (IMHO) But then again I don't profess to be an expert (heck, I don't even profess to being a cyclist!) ;-))

LOL. No im just over 1cm to small right now. My doc said 1/8th of an inch is all it takes to screw up a knee though.

Originally posted by WorldIRC
LOL. No im just over 1cm to small right now. My doc said 1/8th of an inch is all it takes to screw up a knee though. Pardon my,but you seem to be so hung(fixated) up on the 1/8" that it is affecting your thinking.

If thats all that`s all you need to alter your dimensions (3mm)
Why don`t you just change the Cranks.