Originally Posted by gattm99
Compact geometry comes from Mountain bikes. On a mountain bike its generally a positive thing to have as much standover as possible. Since mountain bikes were very cool in the 90s some guy said, "Hey lets make road bikes look more like mountainbikes, if we do this we can use less metal, make less sizes, and have stiffer and lighter bikes."
Former pommy pro and frame builder Dave Lloyd started making (custom) compact bikes in the late 80's. They were the first modern ones I ever saw.
I suspect Mike Burrows flogged the idea off him or was in contact with him at the time. Burrows sold the unisex idea to Giant.
I aim to have everyone on this forum calling compact frames 'unisex' by the end of June. Please assist me in my quest.