I'm a fan of the 80's pursuit bikes. I have been trying to research them but there is not a lot of info out there. Why did that style stop being used?

Also does anyone know of a frame for sale for a decent price(under $200). Has anyone tried to make one from a regular bike?

Well they are out there in your price range. Just not that common I guess.

I picked this one up this summer for well under your stated budget:



It did come with the 24" front wheel also.

Right now it looks like this but I'm still sorting it out.



I'm sure they stopped being used because they found a much faster and safer way to meet this need.

I believe it was a rule change that dictated both wheels be the same diameter in competitions.

Pursuit is a track event. The proliferation of steel track-likes w/ track ends and the current fad for "bullhorn" bars on road going fixed gear frames makes mocking up an '80's pursuit replica quite easy and relatively inexpensive w/ some aero-clipons. Just be sure to run a front brake and reasonable gearing for use on the open public roads.

-Bandera

If I bolt a set of bullhorn bars to my street bike it's not going to look like one to me. I like the big/little wheel combo. I'm envious of your find jamesdak.

Just reiterating Bandera's point: if a 1980s-style TT bike (a.k.a. "funny bike," "plongeant") has multiple gears, it's not a pursuit bike. Pursuit racing is exclusively a velodrome discipline.

Note that many people who buy such a TT bike think that the seat tube length should be the same as on a conventional road bike, but that's not the case. The effective top tube length is the most reliable measurement for sizing the bike.

As an example, Jamesdak's bike, although it probably works perfectly for him as set up, is strictly speaking a bit small for him, which is why he had to install such a tall stem. By traditional sizing as used back in the day, the correct (larger) size would have about 4 to 5 cm less seatpost showing, thus enabling the use of a much lower stem.

Thanks, just point out that the funny bikes are out there just not that common. Obviously mine's setup as a TT bike but sometimes when people say pursuit bikes they mean really mean these "funny bike" frames so I threw mine out there. I've actually got a whole different bar setup waiting to go on mine sometime this winter as I dial in the position my old body needs for TT'ing on it. It's all just for fun!

Check out the "Steel is Real" facebook page. Sometimes these show up there as well. I think mine is the first one I've seen in the local classifieds in years.

They do show up on CL but the descriptions are all over the place.
My back hurts with the thoughts of my riding one. Too darn tight in the lower back, it would take months of stretching or an all nighter. Only times I could easily touch my toes was when I stayed up working all night.

Its not that far off-- this frameset was designed before the advent of aero bars. ------- with a set of bullhorns and a conventional stem, the position would be a lot more "period correct"

I recall the very late 80's/ early 90's, -- funny bikes were being used with aero bars but lots of stopgap fixes were being used (tall stems, longer fork tubes with lots of headset spacers, etc) were being used to try to incorporate the new for the time clip ons onto existing TT bikes.

Even seen a funny bike with aero bars tilted upward and 6" risers for the forearm pads. ---- it was just natural evolution when someone had a lightbulb moment and said "wait a second..........these clip ons actually work better with similar sized wheels and a steeper seat tube. "

Ok, normally I just shake my head and chuckle when people talk about someones setup based on pics and knowing nothing about the physical shape of the rider or why their bike is really setup like this. But in this case, he is right even though I'm setting mine up for TT'ing. Schwinn only made two sizes of these and this is the larger one. I honestly thought it was going to be too big for me when I brought it home. But even though the seat is 58 cm that's very misleading. The top tube is over 58 cm long in actually length but in effective length is more like 52 cm which is too small even for my 5' 8". But I'm still keeping this and riding it and will compensate as needed. As a TT setup it's going to be fine once I swap out the stem and bars. I originally used what I had on hand and it's close for my needs but not optimum. I will admit though that I do have a bad back and have just recently been able to get back to a fairly decent drop on my bars after years of having to have my rides setup with the saddles and bars primarily level.

Now some of the setups I see online with these would kill me to ride. Some have the bars right above the front tire and actually below the top of the head tube, crazy!

On a side note if you do find a frame. Velocity still makes a 24" (520) rim but a good used source is to peruse the recumbent sites for a front wheel.

Good luck with your hunt and really figure out the sizing if you are serious about it. Like I said, I bought mine thinking it was too large but that it would look good hanging on the wall of my bike cave. Then I figured out that I could sort out a usable fit and ride it so I am.

James, the virtual,top tube may be 52, but the actual reach likely equates to much more due to the drop.

the opposite effect occurs with a taller, more endurance oriented head tube-- most riders can make use of a little longer top tube then

If I could get one I probably would be in to much pain after ridding but would still like to have one just for the fun of it. Something like this one from Rossin. I'm sure you would end up in the hospital if you're hands slipped off the bars.

Exactly, I'm probably not explaining this well. Like in the pic of my current setup the reach from the center of the saddle to the center of the handlebar at the stem is my 22.5" (give or take maybe 1/4") on a horizontal plane. But then you figure in the extreme drop and it's a different story. The stem/bar setup going on it will move the base bar up a bit and in towards center a bit. Then there's slightly taller risers for the pads to get me where I need to be properly. None of which applies to a true pursuit bike though, LOL!

LOL, that's the pic I pulled up and was thinking about when I made my earlier comments. So sweet looking, yet it would kill me.

Pics from guys in the transition era trying to make the aero bars work on their funny bikes - just to show that even the guys' on top of cyclings Mt Olympus cant ride slammed aero bars on a funny bike

check out the headset spacers and the height of the aero bar risers on some of them- and their positions are still very low

-- a typical club rider or lower categoried racer is not that flexible either and would likely need the bars positioned higher still







Another pic of the infamous Laurent Fignon, riding it as it was designed, - with bull horns only --- We all know how that turned out for him -- but with the stem raised a bit, would almost be an attainable position for a lot of us





Even some of the kids' today have to get the bars up there a bit to effectively use them -- although its no surprise with Taylor Phinney, he's 6'5







But regarding the even more extreme positions of track pursuit bikes ------ A 4000m pursuit is a 5 minute race , and a kilo is anywhere from 1:00 to 1:15 ------- It doesn't have to be comfortable for an hour like a road TT machine should --- you just have to hold on tight for a few minutes and churn your legs until you are coughing up blood

Ahh, my hero! I still need to land me a Team Z bike. I just finally got in a later Gan bike to make my 5th Lemond bike. A Team Z would give me an even 1/2 dozen.

and now back to the OP's discussion....

Pursuit is a track velodrome race, where 2 riders start on opposite sides of the track and try to catch each other,

those track competitions continue , to this day.. Match sprint uses a different bike, racers all on the same track start line..





Some people seem to confuse them with time trial road bikes , obviously.. from most of the pictures offered above..








.....

An expensive proposition to own both dedicated timed event & sprint machines, although that would be nice.
Unlike the road where TT and road bikes have different DNA on the track having sprint/mass start bars/stems and the appropriate gearing as well as an aero pursuit set-up to swap out on an all 'round track bike is suitable for both types of events.

-Bandera

well the guys like Sir Chris Hoy who trained to win those Olympic gold medals , for Queen & country ..

probably would not be so well suited on long pursuit races , where road racers would do better..

the Hour record is a Pursuit race with the clock, basically..





....

Expensive but maybe not all that uncommon for professional (and state-sponsored amateur) racers. At that level, in the days when steel frames were all there were, the top sprinters would have been riding Columbus SP frames while the pursuiters were on much lighter bikes, maybe even Columbus KL in some cases.

These days, it's much easier to build frames that are both ultra-light and ultra-stiff, so all-rounder bikes are probably the norm.

Don't forget the Cinelli Laser, supposed to be both a TT bike and a track version. Interesting concepts for these frames, but now my back feels like the cages, screws and plates have been pulled loose just reading, and looking at, this thread.

Bill

No confusion -- im a trackie myself.

Its just a common nomenclature gaff for folks who are not trackies to refer to any funny bike as a "pursuit bike"

But technically a funny bike is not strictly a pursuit bike, as it could be used for almost any ITT event, - just not a mass start