[CR]Frame Measurements -- A comparison

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme:2002)

From: "Mike Dayton" <mdayton1@bellsouth.net>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2003 21:32:51 -0500
Subject: [CR]Frame Measurements -- A comparison

About three months ago I measured five or six older frames that I ride regularly -- mostly Raleighs, with a Schwinn Paramount thrown in the mix. The bikes date from the late 1950s to the late 1970s. The best fitting of all of them was a 1971 24.5 c-t Raleigh International. My purpose in taking measurements was to find out how to set up the other bikes to match it. I measured what I believed to be the key measurements: Seat Tube Length, Top Tube Length, Distance from Handlebars to Seatpost, Chainstay Length, and Wheelbase. (I can send anyone who is interested the chart I created in Word). The findings: the wheelbase of the bikes got shorter over time -- from 42 inches to 39 inches during that 20 year span. No surprise there. Chain stay length, shortened by an inch, from 17 inches to 16 inches. Again, no surprise. But the top tube length appears to have remained consistent for a decade -- 22 inches. In fact, my 23-inch c-t Lenton has the same top tube length, 22 inches, as the 1969 24.5 Raleigh Pro (which is essentially a Raleigh International with a Pro fork). And the Lenton's top tube is only 1/2 inch shorter than the 25.5-inch Paramount. By the early 1970s, the top tube on the Raleighs began to shorten -- 21.5 inch on the Intl, and 21 inch on the steeper angle 1978 Pro. The conclusions I drew from all that measuring: for me, the key to a comfortable bike turned out to be a 24-inch reach from the handlebars to the seatpost. I have since adjusted stems on a couple bikes to get that reach.

Mike Dayton
Raleigh, NC