On Mon, 2013-05-13 at 07:37 -0600, PATRICK MOORE wrote: > Use whatever works. I have to disagree with Grant when he says that > top tube length matters relatively little.
That would be true for a narrow range of possibilities. Too little and you can end up with a lot of toe overlap and a need to use a stem with more extension than is commonly available; too long a top tube and you can end up needing a very short stem, perhaps shorter than commonly available. For the range of commonly available stems, say roughly between 8 and 13 cm, you can probably achieve the same handlebar location so in terms of fit it's probably true. If you believe what the Kool Kids on the VSalon forum say [about racing bikes] too long and too short of a stem will mess with the intended weight distribution and spoil the handling of the bike. I'm not sure if that would really be true for bikes that tend to be as solid and stable riding as Rivendells -- in fact, some of those Kool Kids are so full of krap/full of themselves I disbelieve anything they say -- but it's a potential factor as well. > One complaint I had about the Sam Hill was that the size 56 had a 59 > cm tt which, for me, was quite a bit too long since my roads have a > ~57 tt and even those require 8 cm stems. The only way to get > comfortable on the SH was to have the bar quite a bit higher than I > liked and I think that high bar -- 2-3" above saddle, IIRC (tho' I may > NRRC) contributed to the poor feel while climbing seated. And that's out of the range I was speaking of. Get outside that range and the statement's probably untrue, as you describe. It should also be noted, with most "modern" sloper designs they no longer size by seat tube length at all; about the ONLY thing that matters is effective top tube length. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
