Originally Posted by
joehayes999
Thanks for the info.
A couple of inches too short for me. I find it difficult to get vintage bikes in my size, I am 5'7ish and inseam is 30". Most vintages I have seen are way bigger. I was looking at a 54x54 Motobecane but the standover height was 31" so it wouldn't work for me. Modern bikes work ok because of the sloping top tube. So I guess I am looking at a 52 seat tube and 52 - 54 Top tube or thereabouts, but I'm not finding any.
Learn to IGNORE stand over on sizing. Get a top tube length that fits you and you will do fine.
Also, vintage bikes tended to take bigger jumps between sizes. Many brands went 2 full inches between sizes, which equals 5cm! Your target is way too narrow. And I don't see 52cm ST very often at all. Much more common is the 21 inch frame size, which is 53cm. I've owned well over 600 bikes, probably 100 were 53cm seat tube. I don't recall ever owning a single 52cm seat tube bike (sure, they are out there, but not very common). I find a lot of 23 inch seat tube bikes, some 21 inch, some 22 and 24 inch (some manufacturers went 22/24/26 inch frame sizes). Then a handful of 25 inch/25.5 inch and 19 inch. I've had three 18 inch (really rare).
Seat tube sizing by most manufacturers measured center to top.
And on TT length, realize you can play around with stem length to compensate for too long or too short TT. Sure, you want to be close, but a 2cm range is only about 3/4 of an inch.
FWIW, my inseam is 30 inches and I ride a 56/57. I pretty much have negative standover on every road bike I own, but I have a long torso and arms. I have a dual sport motorcycle with a 36 inch seat height. Talk about a stretch!
Size via TT length and you will find plenty.