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Old 08-24-15 | 12:28 AM
  #5  
mtnbke
Senior Member
 
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,511
Likes: 7
From: Boulder County, CO

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Larger bikes are completely unstable. There is a reason that Zinn builds his custom "project BIG" bikes with headtube extensions, but tries not to let the seat tube get above 58cm, even for a bike that is for someone 6'9" and will be an effective 69cm/70cm bike. They show a lot of seat post, and the head tube extension allows the handlebars to be in a relatively neutral position to the saddle.

If you have a big frame, you can't ride hands free on most of them without veering immediately or death wobble just instantly crashing you. Even on a XXL compact geometry Giant OCR1 I've had shimmying and death wobble so bad on a descent (even with my hands FIRMLY in the drops) that I was terrified I was going to crash. I was really moving, but big bikes are inherently unstable.
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