sloping top tubes?
02-27-06 | 07:14 AM
#1
Thread Starter
hell's angels h/q e3st ny
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,582
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From: boston area/morningside heights manhattan
Bikes: surly steamroller, independent fabrication titanium club racer, iro jamie roy--44/16, independent fabrication steel crown jewel--47/17, surly karate. monkey (rohloff speed hub), unicycle
sloping top tubes?
ever acceptable? 
02-27-06 | 09:56 AM
#5
Beausage is Beautiful
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 5,504
Likes: 13
From: Saitama, Japan
Bikes: Nabiis Alchemy
Not a problem AFAIC. Hell, I think compact geometry is sexy.
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02-27-06 | 10:11 AM
#7
C21 H30 O2
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: Oakland
Bikes: more bikes than toes and fingers
How sloping are you talking about? My newest addition to the fleet has a slightly sloping top tube, and I really like it:
https://velospace.org/node/218
Sloping top tubes on both road bikes and track bikes have grown on me over the past few years, as they have become more ubiquitous. If the bike fits and is comfortable, then it doesn't matter what the top tube is doing...
https://velospace.org/node/218
Sloping top tubes on both road bikes and track bikes have grown on me over the past few years, as they have become more ubiquitous. If the bike fits and is comfortable, then it doesn't matter what the top tube is doing...
02-27-06 | 12:30 PM
#12
ganbatte!
Joined: Aug 2004
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From: nyc
Bikes: '06 Vanilla touring, '09 Vanilla cx, Zanconato cx, Moots Psychlo-X RSL prototype, Nagasawa track, Kalavinka track, Black Cat 29er, Cannondale Rize 2 26er, Serotta CRL Legend
Funny bikes make me dizzy.
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02-27-06 | 12:42 PM
#14
Full Member
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 318
Likes: 4
From: on a leafy block
Bikes: Soma Double Cross, ‘79 Centurian Mixte, generic mountain bikes (Nasbar frames)
Originally Posted by plantdude
How sloping are you talking about? My newest addition to the fleet has a slightly sloping top tube, and I really like it:
https://velospace.org/node/218
Sloping top tubes on both road bikes and track bikes have grown on me over the past few years, as they have become more ubiquitous. If the bike fits and is comfortable, then it doesn't matter what the top tube is doing...
https://velospace.org/node/218
Sloping top tubes on both road bikes and track bikes have grown on me over the past few years, as they have become more ubiquitous. If the bike fits and is comfortable, then it doesn't matter what the top tube is doing...
02-27-06 | 12:52 PM
#15
As a new owner of the much-maligned Bowery, I think sloping top tubes are spiffy. They look aggressive and modern. Horizontal top tubes are functionally inferior to sloping ones, so hanging on to them for basically aesthetic reasons is... quaint.*
It's much like those Harley riders who pay all that extra money for an engine that's so poorly designed, it literally shakes itself apart over time. It also gets 75% of the power of comparable engines with different strokes. Why do folks keep riding Harleys? Adherence to 'tradition', and a smidge of 'it sounds cool'.
* This is my first post in the SS forums, so in keeping with the way everyone else seems to talk to each other here, I've added a gratuitous troll. Feel free to hurl whatever insults you want, because I'm 100% hipster-proof.
It's much like those Harley riders who pay all that extra money for an engine that's so poorly designed, it literally shakes itself apart over time. It also gets 75% of the power of comparable engines with different strokes. Why do folks keep riding Harleys? Adherence to 'tradition', and a smidge of 'it sounds cool'.
* This is my first post in the SS forums, so in keeping with the way everyone else seems to talk to each other here, I've added a gratuitous troll. Feel free to hurl whatever insults you want, because I'm 100% hipster-proof.
02-27-06 | 03:37 PM
#19
Thread Starter
hell's angels h/q e3st ny
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 1,582
Likes: 0
From: boston area/morningside heights manhattan
Bikes: surly steamroller, independent fabrication titanium club racer, iro jamie roy--44/16, independent fabrication steel crown jewel--47/17, surly karate. monkey (rohloff speed hub), unicycle
Originally Posted by plantdude
How sloping are you talking about? My newest addition to the fleet has a slightly sloping top tube, and I really like it:
https://velospace.org/node/218
Sloping top tubes on both road bikes and track bikes have grown on me over the past few years, as they have become more ubiquitous. If the bike fits and is comfortable, then it doesn't matter what the top tube is doing...
https://velospace.org/node/218
Sloping top tubes on both road bikes and track bikes have grown on me over the past few years, as they have become more ubiquitous. If the bike fits and is comfortable, then it doesn't matter what the top tube is doing...
02-27-06 | 03:44 PM
#21
Hello.
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 2,902
Likes: 2
From: West Seattle
Originally Posted by schnee
As a new owner of the much-maligned Bowery, I think sloping top tubes are spiffy. They look aggressive and modern. Horizontal top tubes are functionally inferior to sloping ones, so hanging on to them for basically aesthetic reasons is... quaint.*
It's much like those Harley riders who pay all that extra money for an engine that's so poorly designed, it literally shakes itself apart over time. It also gets 75% of the power of comparable engines with different strokes. Why do folks keep riding Harleys? Adherence to 'tradition', and a smidge of 'it sounds cool'.
* This is my first post in the SS forums, so in keeping with the way everyone else seems to talk to each other here, I've added a gratuitous troll. Feel free to hurl whatever insults you want, because I'm 100% hipster-proof.
It's much like those Harley riders who pay all that extra money for an engine that's so poorly designed, it literally shakes itself apart over time. It also gets 75% of the power of comparable engines with different strokes. Why do folks keep riding Harleys? Adherence to 'tradition', and a smidge of 'it sounds cool'.
* This is my first post in the SS forums, so in keeping with the way everyone else seems to talk to each other here, I've added a gratuitous troll. Feel free to hurl whatever insults you want, because I'm 100% hipster-proof.
02-27-06 | 04:06 PM
#23
guy
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
From: Montreal
Bikes: Bianchi vigorelli
Originally Posted by baxtefer
sloping is fine, and practical.
I'm mentally designing my custom frame around a sloping TT. and pacenti lugs.
I'm mentally designing my custom frame around a sloping TT. and pacenti lugs.
Just so you know, the pacenti slant 6 lugs are built around an oversize + oversize tubeset with a 1 1/8 head tube, 1 1/4 top tube and 1 3/8 down tube aka mountain os. I built my cross bike with them, and it's pretty, but also pretty beefy.
as the rumours say, darrell at lewellyn bikes in oz is coming out with a 1" headtube road os sloping lugset this year. those two are the only sloping lugsets in the universe afaik.
good luck
02-27-06 | 04:24 PM
#24
Originally Posted by crushkilldstroy
not trying to be a pain in the ass, but how are horizontal top tubes functionally inferior? are we talking stiffness here? and would it even matter to someone like me who never races his bike aside from the occasional alleycat?
makes for a stiffer frame (smaller triangles) + more clearance for your legs when sprinting. I like em'.
less material- less weight...
... stiffer frame as well. Stiffer out of the saddle, I dunno if the long post can flex when you're seated.
The UCI ban on the TCR frame was initiated by competing bike makers, that filed complaints. The advantage was that the bike could be made lighter and stiffer without resorting to spending lots of money.
A couple of years later, everyone realised that they could do the same thing and petioned the UCI to unban the compact frames and now just about everybody makes one.
A couple of years later, everyone realised that they could do the same thing and petioned the UCI to unban the compact frames and now just about everybody makes one.
I'm not a good enough rider to tell the difference, myself. I'm just taking issue with the notion that sloping top tubes and compact frames are useless... they have functional benefits, but they're untraditional and not to everyone's tastes.
02-27-06 | 04:53 PM
#25
King of the Hipsters
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,128
Likes: 2
From: Bend, Oregon
Bikes: Realm Cycles Custom
Two thoughts:
1) a sloping top tube provides the geometry for a longer head tube, which means more distance between the headset top bearing and bottom bearing, and, intuitively, this seems stronger and allows a lower stand over height for a given head tube length; and,
2) the smaller frame requires a longer, weaker, heavier seat post, and the whole idea amounts to a meaningless styling gimmick.
The above said, the bikes posted by potus and plantdude look beautiful to me.
1) a sloping top tube provides the geometry for a longer head tube, which means more distance between the headset top bearing and bottom bearing, and, intuitively, this seems stronger and allows a lower stand over height for a given head tube length; and,
2) the smaller frame requires a longer, weaker, heavier seat post, and the whole idea amounts to a meaningless styling gimmick.
The above said, the bikes posted by potus and plantdude look beautiful to me.