Originally Posted by
StephenH
I remember reading a while back about Lance not being a fan of "compact geometery" but using it anyway on newer bikes. I assumed "compact geometry" meant shorter seat tube and then longer seat post. So the bike he's riding up there may actually be a lower frame than what he rode in the past.
You're right on the shorter seat tube/longer seat post thing, but I think wrong on the method. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe "compact geometry" refers to bikes with a sloping top tube. The shorter seat tube is achieved by that, not by simply riding a smaller frame size. See the Cervelo in the first pic for comparison. In that case, the bike Lance is on doesn't appear to be compact from the picture. It's a little hard to tell from the angle, but it appears that if there's any top tube slope at all, it's definitely minimal.