Originally Posted by
wintermute
I need some help here. I'm thinking about buying an old road bike. I won't have any access to the bike beforehand but I've seen extensive photos of it. It has a 25 inch frame (c-t), 73deg. head and seat tubes.
Man, you are lanky, definitely in Axel Merckx territory. But he's a couple inches taller.
For a 25" frame, a 22.5" top tube is very short by today's standards. These days it would be more at home on a 23-24" (58-61cm) frame.
Depending on the your upper body posture, the handlebar bend, and your preferred handlebar position, this bike could work for you, most likely with a shortish (9-11cm stem). A smaller frame, in the 61-62 cm range, would give you a bit more standover clearance but it might be difficult finding one with a sufficiently short top tube. There would also be more drop from the saddle to the top of the handlebar.