Originally Posted by oldspokes

I've never been a fan of down tube shifters. I've always ridden a 25" or larger frame and the dt is too far away to reach, my chin hits the top tube before my hand gets to the shifters on some bikes. I ran Suntour Barcons on nearly everything back in the day and still have them on a few vintage Raleighs. Longer legs doesn't always equate to longer arms, with a frame that had a 12" tall headtube, it means the DT shifters can be as much as 8" farther away than on say a 21" frame. Ad four or five inches of saddle height the reach issue gets even worse. These days, some 40 years later, its my gut not my chin that gets in the way but at 6ft 3in tall and over 300lbs, I pretty much gave up on road bikes except for a few upright conversions I still ride.