79pmooney

My Fuji Pro, a bike that fit perfectly and was the best descender I ever rode had no overlap using the largest of the day toeclip and 175 cranks. So I just don't buy it that a bike has to have overlap to get good handling. (It did also have a very high BB; something I used to advantage in races may times. I had zero sprint and accelerations out of corners cost me a lot. With that bike I could often leave a little gap ahead going into the corner, take it faster and start pedaling sooner to minimize the sprinting I had to do.

Edit: this was also a very quick steering bike. I loved that I could maneuver through the crashes of Cat 03-4 races. Quicker than I would ever want in a non-race bike but it saved my butt a few times. The idea that a non-overlap bike can't have race handling? That completely stock bike (except rims and rubber) was proof against that.

I know this is blasphemy for some but to me, bikes are tools. Ones that work better - for me - are better tools and ones that get used more often. Bikes with significant overlap are tools that are not very well engineered to be user friendly for quite a few of us. They have a place but are not the best for everybody.