re dirtysixer--I knew I had seen a photo somewhere of that basketball guy ONeal on a giant bike, and sure enough, there it is on this website.
I have been surprised over the years that almost all companies use the same tube set for their smallest frames as they use for their biggest frames. Only rarely do you see a company change anything besides the geometry when they upsize things, tube diameters and wall thicknesses stay the same for the entire size range.
Since these companies that made the 36 inch wheel bikes to sell them do not dabble in the smaller frames, I am not including them in my generalization.
But seeing how some really big bikes are made for the big folks that are fully designed for the bigger folk, it does make me wonder if the people that ride the really small frames are burdened with bikes that are too stiff for them.