Originally Posted by MDRawk
Some people ride a conversion because they don't want to deal with crazy toe overlap, especially on smaller frames. Toe overlap on a 53cm or smaller frame is the major issue for me. On a track this isn't really an issue, but lets face it, i bet many of you don't ride on the track anyway...hell the closest one to me is near 3 hours.
You can get a good conversion frame often for under $150 where a cheap track/FG frames starts around $380ish (think surly). Sucks when that is stolen.
Also, if you are riding a conversion, it is probably an older frame and thus likely will not have water bottle, brake/shifter, or eyelet braze-ons anyway. Just a derailleur hanger, which is easily removable.
I would say atleast for me, the only major negative of riding a road frame is using a track tensioner which just doesn't seem to quite fit right...although they usually work. I fear the dropout eating axle-bolt.
I totaly agree, im a semi-small rider and im poor as all hell! it's hard enough for me and my sister (5"2') to find road frames and it's even harder to find track frames. it's harder for smaller riders to have track frames with out having 650 wheels or some other smaller size. often times shorter people have to use "girls frames" just so they can join the flock. toe overlap totaly sucks (esp. on fixies) and track frames almost always have overlap. track ends don't have much (if any) advantage over horizontal drop outs. track ends are just nicer looking. i prefer a more comfortable frame geometry, id like a track frame someday my self, but for the time being my bike rides great as a conversion!