I agree with Fred. My converted Schwinn Voyageur has Nitto 3-speed bars on it. I find myself
riding with my hands on the curves, ahead of the g rips, as the original 10cm stem is far too short
with the swept-back bars. A long top tube (virtual or otherwise) would be the most elegant sol ution.
Cheers,
Randy Dugan
LA today, CA
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Michael,
My theory about the long top tu bes on "lady's frames" is
that those bikes were designed for use with swept back
handlebars; i.e the same bars as used on 3-speed style bicy cles
or those nice French touring handlebars. Either way, a short
top tube would bring the bars too close to the rider's knees.
I wonder if Jan Heine has ever discussed this with Ernest
Czuka (of Sing er) who seems to have built a number of very high
quality "lady's fram es".
Cheers,
Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
> I recently sold some womens frames since nobody around me
> wante
d to ride
> the complete bikes. So I decided to part them out. In
> measuring i found
> out that they are relatively long. As an exam
ple a 51 frame
> had a 57cm
> toptube-length. My conclusion was t
hat they made the seat
> tube shorter
> for use of a longer seatp
ost in order to obtain a shorter and
> therefore
> stiffer rear t
riangle to compensate for the loss of stiffness
> due to the
> lo
wered toptube. I might be wrong here since I am not a
> geometry exper
t.
> My girlfriends always prefers mens frames for better handling
> qualities
> and a stiffer ride. Whenever I tried to ride a womens
bike it
> felt
> sloopy and not stable. I think it does not make
sense to
> alter the well
> constructed mens diamond frame setup
in a race bike just to
> make it
> easier to mount the bike with
out having to lift your leg over
> the
> saddle. It makes some se
nse in city or touring bikes when
> women ride
> with a skirt but
I have never seen a woman ride a race bike
> with a
> skirt. My
impression is also that those bikes were mostly
> bought by men
>
for ther wives in order to get them into riding but then
> those bike
s are
> never ridden. All women I know who ride seriously ride mens
> frames.....