There are some very bizarre responses here.

Strange, some people seem to get so concerned over something that others don't ever think about.

Yes, I would suggest you should not decide whether this is acceptable or not based on other people's opinions, since the opinions on both sides are so strong. Try it and see if it's OK. I heard about it and thought I couldn't live with it, and now I have two bikes with it. No big deal at all. When my foot hits the wheel, I'm moving at low speed. I don't have to react quickly. I either turn the wheel or stop pedaling. What's the big deal?

To tell You the truth.. in my last 20 km ride no toe hit the wheel. It seems less worrying than what I thougth. .. And the bike is fantastic ! ;-)

Clown shoes? You talkin' to me? Try living with size 15 feet. Toe over lap never bothered me, I ride mostly dirt.

With only a 30-inch inseam, it takes some work to avoid toe overlap for me. I build my own frames, I've experimented with various geometries, wheel sizes, top tube vs. stem length, etc. In the end, I don't mind modest toe overlap on touring and commuting bikes. I wouldn't want toe overlap if I were riding trials or technical mountain biking, but for normal road riding, it's no big deal, I'd rather have good handling and modest overlap than zero overlap and excessive rake or a stubby stem.

On racing, sport and fitness bikes it isn't too much of an issue. If you ride loaded bikes with fenders on slow Multiple Use Paths covered in children, dogs, drunks, old people, potholes and posts then one day, your brain will get overloaded and you your sudden steering correction will be interrupted by toe.
TCO is a bug that is avoidable by correct choice of wheel diameter, crank length, and frame geometry.

I had a 50c fixie. The toe-overlap made me realize fixies and small framers arent for me.
I was reminded of this thread yesterday riding home in the snow . . . I would have spent a lot of time picking myself up if I had the short bike :eek: :twitchy:

The stem length has nothing to do with toe overlap.

Road frames are designed to run stems that are 80-120 mm to provide for proper riding position and going longer or shorter affects the handling and weight distribution, upright riding bicycles can use shorter stems since the weight bias is to the rear.

Toe overlap is caused by large feet, and / or steeper headtubes and lower trail forks...

Sub 50cm frames fitted with road wheels (700c or 27 inch) also have overlap issues... this has been addressed with slacker frame angles or in the case of Terry bicycles, using a smaller front wheel with a frame that is built to compensate for this height difference while retaining proper frame angles.

I hope you are attempting a joke