mtnbke

There are a ton of great bicycles out there, but not as many for Clydesdales. I thought I'd start a thread for C&V bikes for Clydesdales. Unlike the Clydesdale forum on these boards I'm talking about real Clydesdales, not fat ponies.

So post your big bikes (66cm and up), questions, comments, sources for cranks 190mm and larger, and the like. Great place to post a heads-up of big bikes for sale.

mtnbke

68cm Paramount

https://cgi.ebay.com/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...m=290634155116

Looks like its at Budget Bicycles in Madison, WI. Smartly built. 68cm w/61cm top tube. Perfect for me. Big bikes shouldn't at all be built square. Most tall people are proportionately taller in their legs than their torsos.

Lugged steel doesn't make a lot of sense with a big powerful cyclist. I'd be worried about that frame long term if ridden hard. Anyone who would fit the frame could deflect the BB just pedaling hard from the saddle and Schwinn should know that. However, an absolutely beautiful bike and a Paramount at that. Sure beats the heck out of the dime a dozen 27" Japanese bikes we always see.

mtnbke

da Vinci is making 200mm cranks in whatever spider and bcd you want (double, triple, tandem, etc.) for $250.

The most C&V looking custom crank I know of. They've scaled it up to be stiffer than their clown cranks. Not at all as stiff as the High Sierra/Zinn or Zinn Integrated, but those look more out of place on a vintage bike (ask me how I know).

https://www.davincitandems.com/comp.html

SteveSGP

My 68cm Super Grand Prix, nothing fancy, just a big, solid old bike that rides beautifully.



Picked up off CL for $20.00 after it had been run over by a car, straightened the left rear seat stay, rebuilt everything else and put hundreds of miles on it over the summer.

Since this picture I've uprgaded the rear DR and crankset and plan on wider Randonneur bars before spring, no fresh pics though.


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Roger M

The Rossin is stamped '65'(measure c-c). However, it measures 66cm C-T.



I only bought this Miyata One Ten because it was not far away, and priced good. It's a 27" frame. I can ride it comfortably, but commuting on it(read: stop and go) is not a bunch of fun.



This Titan is smaller than the thread requires, but close. It's a 64(c-c), but measures 65.4 C-T.

newenglandbike

Awesome thread. I ride about one size smaller (62-64) but these are all beautiful bikes so far. That super grand prix kicks major butt.

jptwins

Here's my 27"Raleigh Marathon single speed. Like FORDVTPARTS, I just got this off of CL because of the size. I stripped off all the components which were in bad condition, and threw on a bunch of stuff i had lying around. This has been my commuter for the last few months:

The completed Raleigh Marathon - single speed by JPTwins, on Flickr

And here's my 65/66cm Nobilette that I found on eBay and built up. I was able to transfer many of the parts from my 61cm Lemond (Way too small!) that a bike shop had sold me before I knew better.

Glorious ride up the blue hills by JPTwins, on Flickr

And here's a bike that I don't ride or have built up anymore, but it's a 27" Panasonic Sport Deluxe from BikesNotBombs. I remember buying it in the dead of winter, and was just so excited to know that there were bikes my size. This is what got me into fixing up bikes. And looking at it again, I'm thinking maybe I'll build it up again!

2008: Panasonic Sport Deluxe by JPTwins, on Flickr

pastorbobnlnh 

Kobe 

Most of my bikes qualify for 66cms and up. But some have longer stems and seatposts to get there.

66cm Centurion Elite Gt



69cm 1985 Bridgestone 400



65cm (I know close but no cigar) Battaglin



There was a thread here a few years ago similar to this. That is how I found Bike Forums.

Doohickie

I'm thinking of doing something like that with my Marathon. I wrecked it a year ago and the derailleur hanger and rear dropout got messed up. The hanger is toast, but I think I can tweak the dropout back into shape, meaning it will be single speed material. Not quite tall enough for this thread, though... only 63 cm.

mikemowbz

Great bikes - and it really must be a pain tracking down suitable rides. I ride what would have been produced as 25" frames in the 80s (what, 62 c-t-c?), and find pickings sometimes a bit thin on craigslist. A decent number of bikes, but a small number of decent bikes. Almost never see anything bigger locally, and when I do they're usually old hi-ten Japanese bikes w/so-so componentry. Again, nice bikes here!

mtnbke

Fellas trying to reach those downtube shifters is going to kill you someday. Those were meant for little triangles, not big boy bikes.

My favorite so far is that Raleigh Marathon but the one that looks the most fun to ride is that Panasonic Sport Deluxe because of those bars and that trail.

I love my vintage components like the Superbe Pro shifters, Mavic SSC 8 speed indexing, etc. My newest 27" Cannondale ST400 has indexing Suntour alpha-3000. However, I'm not willing to try and reach the downtube stops, and I don't like bar-cons (Suntour) or bar-ends.

I love the solution Kelly came up with. If you don't know about 'em Kelly Take-Offs are perfect for C&V in my opinion. They mount the downtube shifters just inboard of the brake levers for "poor man's ERGO/STI." No more talking yourself out of shifting even when in a too high or too low cadence because it "isn't worth it." I think these make sense on every C&V bike, not just the Clydesdale stuff. Even cooler since they are steel you can get 'em powdercoated to match, even take 'em to a machinist to have 'em pantagraphed, or taken to a powder coater to match your bike!

https://www.kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html

Michael Angelo 

I'm selling mine soon if any of you tall guys are interested. NOS 1978 Super Grand Prix

SteveSGP

It's very tough especially on a tight budget, My prime bike is the 68cm above and my backup oddly enough is another Super Grand Prix but Japanese built and a 64cm frame.

The 64cm is almost too small but with different bars it got much better and it's currently stripped for paint and another rebuild but here's it's last incarnation.



And just before being picked up for paint,



Next year you won't even know it's the same bike.


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realestvin7

This thread deserving of this frame. It's the biggest touring bike I've ever seen in person. It's a far cry from from the shorter bikes I ride.

27" frame size
69cm CTT
59cm TT
36.5" standover height w/ 27x1.25's

redxj

Well I guess this fits in this thread. 66cm X 61cm 84' Schwinn Le Tour turned Porteur bike with an Electra fork:

kc0yef 

My fuji Royale II

jptwins

Alas, my fork on this Raleigh is bent sideways at the fork crown, and it's unlikely I'll find a replacement. I might play around with bending it back, but for the time being, I moved everything over to my 1980s(?) 27" Panasonic Sport Deluxe and it rides pretty well. This morning's ride was a bit too cold, so tomorrow, i get the real shakedown.

9° F on my 27" panasonic single speed


9° F on my 27" panasonic single speed by JPTwins, on Flickr

Captain Blight

I'm the next size down from a Clyde, maybe a Percheron. I *almost* bought a 65cm-ish Super GP at the bike swap in Madison yesterday, and if I had the space for it and hadnt already bought a Trek 560 earlier from the same guys, I would have. But I need another road or touring bike like I need a third ear in the middle of my forehead, so I regretfully passed on it. I know it would have been 20 bucks well spent, but I can't own them all, and at this point, any bike I buy has got to be better than the one it's replacing.

Standalone 

66cm DX2000 after an 80 mile ride (and a change of clothes that was waiting for me at the campsite up in Mass.)



Before the ride up, ham and turkey grinder strapped to the back:



yes, the bottle cage did bite the dust about 50 miles into the ride.