On Apr 29, 3:50 pm, "
[email protected]"
<
[email protected]> wrote:
> On Apr 29, 2:55 pm, Andre Jute <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Apr 29, 1:01 pm, "[email protected]"
>
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Apr 29, 1:35 pm, Andre Jute <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > > On Apr 29, 6:13 am, Ralph Barone <invalid@not_real.ca> wrote:
>
> > > > > Can anybody offer up some suggestions on how much adjustment capability
> > > > > is in modern road frames? I'm looking at a few used bikes whichseem to
> > > > > be smaller than what I think I should be buying, but I don't have a good
> > > > > feel for how bad it would be to buy an undersized frame and then just
> > > > > crank up the seatpost and maybe lengthen the steerer tube.
>
> > > > > PS: I'm 5' 10", 32" inseam, and the two bikes I was looking at were 50
> > > > > cm and 54 cm frames.
>
> > > > Even if you could make a 50cm road bike fit without mechanical and
> > > > ergonomic problems, possibly even orthopaedic problems, you'd still
> > > > look ridiculous on it; you could end up on my cycling humour page.
> > > > Even a 54cm bike would have to be generously scaled to be a certain
> > > > adaptation. If buying a road bike by mail, with a 32in inseam I'd play
> > > > safe and stick to 56 or 58cm.
>
> > > > Andre Jutehttp://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20HUMOUR.html
>
> > > A 50 might end up looking like this:
>
> > >http://www.sosenka.cz/archiv/2005/m12.jpg
>
> > > Joseph
>
> > Heh-heh. I don't imagine Diane will let Ralph do anything that silly.
> > But imagine the same bike with a stem extension to match the seat
> > extension. The diamond would be awfully small in relation, awfully far
> > away at the end of awfully long levers, and the whole thing, unless
> > grotesquely overbuilt for a road bike, would flop around like a sheet
> > of paper in a typhoon.
>
> > Is that caricature an actual bike offered for sale? In that case the
> > maker should learn to spell his own name right, for it is truly a Cafe
> > Racer!
>
> > Andre Jutehttp://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE%20%26%20CYCLING.html
>
> That is the bike Ondrej Sosenka used to set the hour record. He is 2m
> tall and the rules are very specific. Thus the extreme bike.
>
> More pics here with rider that somehow doesn't' look ridiculous:
>
> http://www.wolfgang-menn.de/sosenka.htm
>
> Joseph
Thanks for the reference, Joseph. Ondrej's back isn't even flat yet!
The reference to Chris Boardman reminded me that one of the most
thrilling events I have ever seen was Boardman at the Olympics
overtaking his opponent before that poor man reached the halfway mark.
Can't remember the year or the opponent's name, only that Boardman
rode a bike designed for him by the Lotus car company. No Eddie the
Eagle jokes from my couch that day! For me that ranks right up there
with the time Frankie Chili, nearly forty years old, came from the
back of the field in the World Superbikes -- I can't even remember if
he won, or if he merely got a podium, but the ride was so fabulous
that when one of my literary protege based a scene in one of her
novels on that event I recognized her source immediately -- she
thought it another example of me reading her mind.
I reckon I could do 50 klicks in an hour, easily. Now where's the
phone number of my steady truck driver...
Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/BICYCLE & CYCLING.html