Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Just reiterating Bandera's point: if a 1980s-style TT bike (a.k.a. "funny bike," "plongeant") has multiple gears, it's not a pursuit bike. Pursuit racing is exclusively a velodrome discipline.
Note that many people who buy such a TT bike think that the seat tube length should be the same as on a conventional road bike, but that's not the case. The effective top tube length is the most reliable measurement for sizing the bike.
As an example, Jamesdak's bike, although it probably works perfectly for him as set up, is strictly speaking a bit small for him, which is why he had to install such a tall stem. By traditional sizing as used back in the day, the correct (larger) size would have about 4 to 5 cm less seatpost showing, thus enabling the use of a much lower stem.
Ok, normally I just shake my head and chuckle when people talk about someones setup based on pics and knowing nothing about the physical shape of the rider or why their bike is really setup like this. But in this case, he is right even though I'm setting mine up for TT'ing. Schwinn only made two sizes of these and this is the larger one. I honestly thought it was going to be too big for me when I brought it home. But even though the seat is 58 cm that's very misleading. The top tube is over 58 cm long in actually length but in effective length is more like 52 cm which is too small even for my 5' 8". But I'm still keeping this and riding it and will compensate as needed. As a TT setup it's going to be fine once I swap out the stem and bars. I originally used what I had on hand and it's close for my needs but not optimum. I will admit though that I do have a bad back and have just recently been able to get back to a fairly decent drop on my bars after years of having to have my rides setup with the saddles and bars primarily level.
Now some of the setups I see online with these would kill me to ride. Some have the bars right above the front tire and actually below the top of the head tube, crazy!
On a side note if you do find a frame. Velocity still makes a 24" (520) rim but a good used source is to peruse the recumbent sites for a front wheel.
Good luck with your hunt and really figure out the sizing if you are serious about it. Like I said, I bought mine thinking it was too large but that it would look good hanging on the wall of my bike cave. Then I figured out that I could sort out a usable fit and ride it so I am.
