Remind me not to post any pictures of me cycling in the 80's. Damn you Profile and Greg Lemond with your fluro yellow!

Quick change of topic. After watching Magnus Backstedt ride this year, I think my aversion to traditional road bikes in my size may be waning.

What's your preference? Option A or Option B? 7 degree slope vs 2 degree.

B.

Option B looks alright to me Thylo.

And old cycling photos are great. :D I only really started riding for reasons other than transport early
90's but a pink bike with fluro yellow tri-bars and a fluro yellow helmet was okay back then ...:eek: ...apparently...:o

Gotta be B

You're supposed to say 'A'

;)

Well I like A Thylo.

I'd prolly get more aggressive with it tho and change the head and seat tube angles from 72 to 74 or 75, and shorten the seat stays to get a really tight little rear traingle. Fast and twitchy!

[Edit] and before you go thinking I'm mad shortening the seat stays, the bottom of the top tube would almost touch the top of the downtube on my size frame so they'd have to be shorter for me anyways :)

I'm hoping that's sarcasm, coz that sounds awful. :p

Tell ya a story. About 8 years ago I used to have a stunningly beautiful bike - A Schwinn Paramount Titanium. It was a gorgeous bike - candy crimson in the front and brushed Ti in the rear. The ride feel of that bike was really nice - like steel except better :D I got it for a song becasue I was doing some work for Schwinn Japan at the time and managed to do a contra deal.
However, it handled like poo. It had a 74.5 degree head angle and a 72.5 degree seat angle and short stays. I could never get comfortable on it. And I tried too. Put in well over 3000kms on it and just didn't like it. Felt like I was more 'on' the bike rather than 'in' the bike, and the faster you went the worse it got.

So I took a hiatus from the road until I decided to do my Tephra (The orange one in the gallery.) Did lots of homework about geomtery and fit, and went and got fitted up by Kennedy. He got me fitted and I took his suggestions about geometry, took what I thought was valid and discarded the rest and combined that with what I had learned from my independant research.

So what i ended up with is a bike like no other. 73 degree head, 71.5 degree seat. 425mm stays. 605 top tube. No other off-the-peg bike comes close, and it handles really nicely. The faster you go, the better it gets.

Now, for my next bike I'm taking what I've learned from that and modifying it slightly, as well as trying a few different things to see how that affects handling.

- Going from 73 degree head angle to 72.5
- Going from 48mm rake fork to 50mm
- Stays from 425 to 415
- Top tube from 605 to 595, stem from 120 to 130.

I think those changes will make for better slower speed handling without changing it's high speed characteristics. I'm also keen to see how this steering geometry compares to previous and how a slightly more rearward weight bias effects handling.

So basically, you'll never see me on anything with any angles approaching 74-75 degrees. Maybe a track bike if I ever built one, but never on the road.

Being 6ft 3in and 95kgs throws some factors into the mix that you just don't get when you're 5ft 10 and 70kg.

Or shorter :D

I vote for B

But are we voting for the contestant we want to expell from the island, or the one to stay?

nope, would make a loverly crit bike i reckon

whats ze difference?
Launch into an essay about frame geometry for me thylo

I'd rather wrap my mitts around a B than an A.

Also please post all available photos of oneself in you 80's ski gear. Yes those ones with the fluoro headband, that kickarse jumpsuit, the mirrored glasses and THAT hairdo.

Replacement tools list submitted for pricing, only three pages long. Open wide, this won't hurt a bit.

Bwahahaha...p*sser!

Damn!! Hopefully Carma will catch up with the B*st*rds.

A reminds me of ( dare i say it ) the Giant geometry, quite agressive. Me likie.

Option B is similar to my Lemond in looks so has that been there, done that got the T shirt to prove it feel about it.

Is that a car with Mrs BBW behind the wheel?

Well, the only difference between the two is a 5 degree slope to the top tube, and the only reason is looks.

Does that count as an 'essay'? :p

:lol:

Now doesn't that just look like a caged cat? Nervous as hell too. Just like you described.

Those angles are messing with my mind. Tell me again how you sprint on a friggin lounge chair? 605 top? WTF?

I'm shorter. Think Robbie sized midget (only fatter)

And a laser sight on the front

Jock's been beating people up again!

Damn, the link didn't work. http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=209426&page=2

No, I did not take the free lasagne. People here are freakin' weird. But not all of them. No Sunday alcohol sales! :(

On geometry - my 1990-ish Basso was the twitchiest, scariest ride ever. Super steep angles and unstable at any speed.

How do I make my 9 speed cluster ift onto a 10 speed hub? I'm assuming I put a spacer ring on the inside of the hub near the spokes. Is it as simple as this or do I need to get the hack saw out and start cutting stuff?

I should stop before someone gets hurt :rolleyes:

im being serious. I think ill try the pm function.
Pyrnees tomorrow night, I cant wait, go Cadel. I cant wait for the first person to be in a devil suit running up the mountain chasing the riders.
I cant wait for the basque spectators crushing the riders at the finish line.

I wanna see robbie pull a wheelie at the end of the stage.