Kobe 

I remember you comparison of the three bikes and how similar yet different they are. Good reading.

This is kind of coming full circle to @barndoor 's original post of a 67 cm Proteus. Last winter I acquired a Proteus that was in bad shape and wanted to put as little as possible in to it.

So far I really like the spec's 66cm ctc seat tube, 60cm top tube and 92.75 Stand over, but I think it is the tall head tube (27.2cm) is what makes me love the ride.

yipyipyip

Kobe 

Nice @yipyipyip, lately I have become a fan of blue bikes with white cables. Must be my Penn State years subconsciously bubbling up. Can you give us a clue to what we are looking at? My guess is a Lotus Classique.

yipyipyip

Thanks! The frame is a Tomas, an obscure Italian made from Columbus Aelle.
Here is a thread from a different forum with some more info.
Obscure Italian Bike

oldbikenewbike

My 1975 Motobecane Le Champion..25'' frame...

macmac1

1987 PEUGEOT PERTHUS Reynolds 753R 60cm

Roger M

echo victor 

Not huge, but pretty big at 64cm or so, I believe. Just large enough to be outside my comfort zone. And the seatpost clamp broke at some point, so the previous owner riveted the seatpost into the cluster. I'll probably just recover the parts from it and move the frame along to someone else.

SonsBikes

Fuji Royale! 69cm!

Centaurious

Why. on these extra large frames, do the builders insist on putting standard length chain stays. It looks odd with the wheel tucked under the seat. And Heaven help you if you sit up and stretch, you might just tip over backwards. The ride downhill might be great but I wouldn't want to ride uphill a lot.

celry 

Great thread!
Anyone have thoughts on this question from Centaurious?

obrentharris 

You are in good company with this opinion.
Long ago, when most of us aspiring young racers wanted the shortest chainstays possible, Jobst Brandt paid one of his regular visits to our shop. Jobst was a tall man with long legs. I commented on the long stays on his Cinelli which he had custom-made for him while visiting Italy. He made the same point that you make. He had specifically requested the long stays in order to insure proper handling.
Brent

Gravity Aided

Trek 600 in 531 Reynolds steel, pretty much all original.

Wright Bros

Here's my '92 Schwinn Paramount PDG 2, 62cm.

May

Mbrgr1

Built up from an Ebay frame, with mountain type gearing for my NM hills, custom 1200 frame.

RiddleOfSteel

Keeping this awesome thread rolling, a few entries of my own. Up first is my recently acquired 1985 Bridgestone 400 frameset that I graced with 7800 10s Dura Ace (and Exage Sport standard reach brakes, just to keep it real...). 68.5cm CTT. 180mm cranks, fast Bontrager tires (700x32), and the Brooks saddle add up to a very smooth and swift ride.



Sportier angle. Dig the deep emerald green metallic paint.



I am selling my 1983 Nishiki Olympic 12, which is equipped differently than pictured in this Grainy Indoor Special shot... 69cm CTT, with the "outcast" component set (minus the Brooks, of course): Quill stem adapter, 26.0 carbon bars (bought used, cheap), 3x9 Sora STIs (buttery light, smooth, reliable), Ultegra crank with TRIPLE(!) first gen Biopace on all rings (52/42/28) run by a 5503 Shimano 105 FD, 11-34 rear cassette spanned by a Rapid Rise XTR RD (utterly flawless operation), and a twin-leg kickstand (hard to see). 37 lbs of total Honey Badger, especially as the 700x35 Michelin Pilot Trackers weighed 2lbs each. Last winters record-setting rainfall was endured by me and this bike. That and many 3-flights-of-stairs huffing.



I will sneak in my 65cm CTC 1982 Raleigh 531 with her gorgeous nearly-black blue metallic paint and gold detailing. Late '80s Suntour Superbe Pro brake levers and calipers, 10s downtube Dura Ace on for most of the drivetrain, Campagnolo Record/Open Pro wheels with a 10s Record cassette. Jagwire gold cable housings.

Kobe 

Looks like before and after pictures. The keepers follow all of the rules of how to take a good bicycle picture and the kicked to the curb Nishiki is all grainy and not very well posed. Nice fleet @RiddleOfSteel.

Wildwood 

Not huge @ 63cm, but it feels big to me with 59.5 TT and 20cm HT.
Call me shorty.

Kilroy1988 

Glad this thread popped back up. I'm debating whether or not to do another restoration on my 1980 Raleigh Super Course 12 with a 25.5" frame (~63cm c-c). Ideally I enjoy riding a 61cm frame, and I actually have to tiptoe slightly on the Super Course. However, it was my first road bike and the first bicycle I completely restored. I rode it several thousand miles before it kindly requested some maintenance by busting a hub, which led to a second tear-down.

My question is whether I should keep the bicycle despite it being ever so slightly large? I am attached to it for sentimental reasons and the pleasant ride quality of the double-butted 531. If so, should I return it to stock, or take some liberties and do something interesting with it? I have appropriate Suntour bar end shifters to make it stock again, and already have most of the reproduction decals ready to go. However, if I strayed from stock there are several technical elements that I would change, not to mention the application of an interesting paint job... I am very inspired by late 1950s British Lightweights. Cheers!

hairnet

Love it!

My latest tall builds

RiddleOfSteel

Thanks, Kobe. I agree that the Nishiki picture is poor, so I am in the research stage of picking up a non-older phone camera on the used market--reviews, price analysis, all that stuff. Photoshop can only help so much...

Kilroy, I am digging that paint color on your Super Course! I personally would keep the paint original, though I completely understand wanting to change it, and, well, it's your bike not mine or any of ours.

My color scheme would be a bit black and silver for the components. I remember companies offering black+silver components alongside their all-silver counterparts. The Suntour Powershifters are nice--I have a set on a bike and the micro-ratcheting is a welcome aid to the friction shifting process.

Perhaps--and this would require reaching a few years forward--you could find some black-rimmed wheels (Rigida 13-20s like on my Ross originally) or anodize grey-rimmed wheels (Mavic Open 4 CD, MA40, Wolber GTX etc) from the mid to later '80s to really play up the contrast between the paint and components. Gumwall tires with the fully black/dark rims would really set things off nicely. Your crankset already has some black painted areas, so the theme is possible without buying tons of new stuff.

Composing bikes in componentry and in color is fun to me. I enjoy figuring out a theme and executing it. What other theme(s) are you entertaining?

Kilroy1988 

That's actually a custom job done with automotive paint and a bit of candy thrown into the clear coat that my cousin and I applied a few years back - t'was my first attempt at painting a bicycle. It's due for another round! A couple of mistakes were made initially, and there's been some wear and tear since. Glad you like it! When I used to ride the bike to the local college I always got a lot of compliments on the color, and I plan something equally dashing if I do it over again in a non-stock color. I am thinking of purple...

Kilroy1988 

Going forward a few years really isn't in the cards! If anything I would like to reach back about two decades with this one. My main consideration is to leave the drive train intact with a set of Suntour Sunshine hubs that I have, laced to wooden Ghisallo rims, and a stem and bar combination reminiscent of some of the earlier British lightweights. Throw on a pair of Bluemel plastic fenders, have pump mounts brazed onto the top tube and top it off with a fresh Brooks, and I'd be set! The idea would be to have the durability and reliability of the Suntour shifting matched with classic British style and the quality double-butted 531 frame set... And of course the cool factor of the Ghisallos, which I've always wanted to try out!

Here are a couple of bikes that have inspired me to consider doing some changes to the Super Course 12:

A 1958 Carlton Flyer as posted on Old School Cycles:



And a 1963 Major Nichols posted on Classic Lightweights:

RiddleOfSteel

I like the purple idea, which more or less dashes my original suggestion. Going silver with yellow/tan accents--actually a bit like my Raleigh, is a great look, IMO. Classic, classy. That 1963 Major Nichols has great lines and nice colors, even if I'm not a 'shouty' fender guy (says me who has chrome fenders on a black bike........).