what do you call
 

i saw a bike at a show the other day, that had a top tube that was sloped downward. the geometry on this bike looked amazing. it wasn't really extreme... it was just really nice. is there an name for this? i'm really interested in getting a frame like that. it was a fukkin' beautiful machine.

Um, can you do any better on the description there?

The new "compact frame" road bikes have sloping top tubes... so do most mountain bikes. In this case it slopes down towards the seat tube.

Funny bikes (650c front wheel, 700c rear) tend to have top tubes that slope down towards the head tube. Probably some pursuit and other niche market types of frames too.

Assuming the top tube was sloping down toward the back, that's generally called "compact geometry". Different manufacturers use different slopes, but they all pretty much call it the same thing. Out of the big guys, I'd say Giant and Specialized have the most obvious displays of compact geometry, and it's present on all of their top end road bikes.

this

http://www.nonduality.com/chester.gif

or this?

http://www.totalfitnessbath.co.uk/Pr...allezsport.jpg

a bike?

top one! that one in particular is really nice. the one at the show had 700c wheels front and back tho, so maybe the fork wasn't original...

Pretty sure you saw a "pursuit" frame...someone here can explain what it does, since I am too inarticulate.

see my sig

that doesn't make sense. if it was designed for a 650c front and had a 700 fork and wheel it would look all raked and the top tube wouldn't slope. guess it was just a big bike that used the fact that you don't need a 10" headtube to slope the top tube and get the rider lower. so something like 59cm frame with the headtube of a 53cm one. maybe.

There are plenty of sloping frames with equal-sized wheels. See adamkell's Yamaguchi or the KHS Aero Track. It's necessary to be UCI legal. (I can't find any exception to the same-diameter clause for pursuits or time trials, but perhaps I'm just mistaken.)

that yamaguchi looks fantastic

yeah, that's what i'm talkin' about. slick as hell. thanks.

http://i3.ebayimg.com/04/i/04/cb/6b/25_1_b.JPG

typically sprinters bikes

hot damn! yer all killin' me with these pics!

LBS called a cpl days back to let me know that they straightened out the damage to my Nishiki frame. Awwwwwwyeah people, another pursuit-style ride will soon be back rockin those NYC streets...sporting a 650 instead of 24 in the front, if I can find one.

is there a standard terminology for that kind of geometry? i'd like to get something like that for my next ride and i'd like to know how to ask for it by name.