Getting away with a wrong size frame...

Johnsqual

Senior Retro Guru
Hello,

I am away from home for a few months, staying in Italy. I planned to buy
a bike here and either sell it at the end of my stay or (if I find something
really nice) ship it home.

Trouble is I haven't been able to find anything that's both in my size and within my budget.

What are the possibilities for getting away with a too small/big frame?

I am 183cm/6', with an 86cm/34" inside leg. I normally ride a frame with a 58cm seat tube.

I've seen a lot of 55cm bikes, but also a couple of 59-60cm ones.

I'm mainly interested in a retro bike, i.e. with a quill stem and standard type seatpost arrangement. I'd probably use it for a combination of short training rides and longer tours with climbs, not for racing.

It would be useful to know peoples thoughts on what the maximum difference I might get away with, and whether it's better to try a frame that's slightly smaller or slightly bigger than normal.

Cheers,

Johnny
 
In general, for classic steel framed bikes, it's safer to go for a larger frame and have less seat post showing and the handlebar stem lower down.

Small frames can end up with not a lot of seatpost stuck in the frame (which I never found a problem) and a lot of stem sticking out the steering tube. I have seen a fair few stems fracture in the 70's when there was a craze for spinning the bars up high. Nitto do an extra long stem so not always a disaster.

Shaun
 
That's the problem of living in a country where a lot of the inhabitants may be vertically challenged. Larger rather than smaller for a steel bike for me too.

It's how we used to ride them BITD. I've come down nearly an inch in conventional frame size since my teenage years.
 
Thanks!

I normally live in Belgium and the people there aren't exactly giants either.

Unfortunately most of the really nice vintage things I've seen so far are on the smaller side, and of course almost everything old is now a 'bici per eroica' with an inflated price tag :roll:

Johnny
 
I reckon my bike is probably a cm or two bigger than it should be in an ideal world. I think if you are prepared to fiddle about a bit with seat post and stem height then the kinks can be ironed out. I have quite a long body and quite short legs, which doesn't help loads :roll:
 
I got given a steel bike about a year ago and its probably just a couple of cm too small. I just got a seatpost with layback and lifted it, and put a 10mm longer stem on. I occassionally ride with aero bars also. I do long distance Audax stuff and its comfortable enough. The geometry probably isnt correct, but with an exception of a bit of discomfort in the upper right leg after about 90 miles, its ok. I would say getting the height correct is more important than the length.
 
Result! I managed to find this, and it is my size too.

http://www.subito.it/vi/43415020.htm

Sorry, no better pictures, I don't have a camera here.
It is made by Conti, an old bike shop in Florence. Full campagnolo super record, too.

Better than the other option which was also a decent frame but was huge and was tickling my plums even just standing over it, which didn't feel very good at all.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.
 
Classic italian stallion with chrome in all the right places......and a steal at the price LOL

Shaun
 
Back
Top