Originally Posted by Erich Zann

I recently got a good deal on a Mercian Path Racer (track bike designed to have brakes and raced off-road). It was from 72 I believe and was designed for 700 wheels. I put some 170mm cranks on and used Large sized cages on my pedals, but when I went to ride when the build was complete I noticed a toe overlap of 5+ mm. I am going to try switching to 165mm cranks with small cages tomorrow, but I am a little but disturbed that I have to do this because it is a 57 frame for crying out loud. No other frameset of 57cm+ had any overlap except a crashed Colnago, (those italians). How could it be that Mercian such a touted frame building company would have such a poorly designed frameset? I could see if the frame was small like under 54cm, but its pretty large, and it is a "path" frameset drilled for brakes, with original routing braze-ons, too! I am running 700c wheels which the frame was designed for, and the bike has never been crashed. Has anyone else ever had similar trouble with overlap on a frame of this size? Is this just a design "flaw"? I refuse to compromise to having overlap, i just dont feel safe riding the thing. Any suggestions?