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Old 01-12-14 | 10:31 AM
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Andrew R Stewart
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Joined: Feb 2012
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From: Rochester, NY

Bikes: Stewart S&S coupled sport tourer, Stewart Sunday light, Stewart Commuting, Stewart Touring, Co Motion Tandem, Stewart 3-Spd, Stewart Track, Fuji Finest, Mongoose Tomac ATB, GT Bravado ATB, JCP Folder, Stewart 650B ATB

After setting up the bike as mentioned. Drop a plumb line from the TT that intersects the BB on center. Measure the length of this line from the TT to the BB c-c. measure the distance from the line's attachment (I use scotch tape which is clear) to the ST/TT intersection point, at a right angle to the plumb bob. Now you have two side of a right triangle, see the attached drawing. The same method can be done to get the head angle. But now you need to extend the head tube and upper section of the fork down to the ground. Again i use thread and tape. Then drop a plumb to the floor and measure along the floor between the threads. Rake is a direct measurement from the HT/fork's line to the ft axle center at a right angle to the HT/fork). A thread run through both axle centers (assuming same size tires, correct for different tires is easily done) and measure down the the BB center gets you the drop. Why drop? because it is not dependent of tire sizes. The other dimensions can be directly measures, seat tube length, top tube length, chain stays (here remember that measuring among the stay is not the same as measuring on the same plane as the main frame, as though you measured off a drawing), brake hole to axle, brake hole to crown seat and others.

Do your thread line ups a few times along with the measurements and average the results out. I found years ago that trying to measure angles with angle finders, levels and protractors is not as refined or accurate as with linear measurements and trig. Many tubes are not straight and many traditional bikes don't have perfectly level top tubes. Andy.
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