In support of what eRichie is saying, the main dimensions of the frame are dictated by the riders body: seat tube angle, seat tube length (effective), and top tube length (effective) are all set. Variables that are open include the amount of trail (head angle and fork offset), bottom bracket drop, and chain stay length.
Trail – common range is 5 – 6.5 cm – median of 5.5 cm
BB drop – common range is 6.5 – 8.0 cm – median of 7.0 cm
Chain stay length – common range of 40.5 – 42.5 cm – median of 41 cm
If a rider wants a frame that steers quickly (popular for crit racing) - shoot for the low end of the trail and CS length ranges.
If a rider wants to run long cranks and pedal through corners – shoot for the low end of the BB drop range.
A frame built right on the median for these three variables makes a competent crit frame. It also makes an excellent do-everything frame as well. Even when a frame is skewed to the end of the range of some of these variables, such as with a low bottom bracket (like e-Richie and Serotta advocate), or with lots of trail (like a Colnago), it will still function adequately as a crit race frame - no need for a special category to label frames for marketing purposes.
Last edited by Nessism; 10-08-08 at 11:44 AM.