[CR] Wheelset built in proportion to large frame size

(Example: Racing:Wayne Stetina)

Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:51:02 -0700
From: "paul grens" <pgrens@yahoo.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.4059.1236741838.337.classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Wheelset built in proportion to large frame size


Hey everyone,

I hope this hasn't been covered in the past (couldn't find anything in the archives) but something hit me the other day. I've got an early '80s Schwin n Voyageur S/P here that I'm tuning for a tall friend and it's got a 67cm s eat tube c-to-c. Not a bad tooling around town and lakefront path bike at a ll, but I can't help but notice how out of proportion the wheels seem to th e frame size.

Now, this is where my post is going to get hazy, as I don't know the proper engineering terms, but, for argument's sake, let's say the "ideal" seat tu be measurement on a frame in proportion to a build for a 700c wheelset wa s about 55 to 57cm c-to-c (sorry if I'm way off here, just seems like the standard as far as visual and handling balance goes with my limited ex perience), then this 67cm bike would then tend to ride top-heavy (it does) and have a lower center of gravity (what I mean here is axle height in relation to saddle height and rider weight positioning, and it does) and ha ve "squirrely" handling characteristics (I would say it does to an extent).

So, my question is this then, has anyone ever redesigned and built a road o r track frame with a larger wheelset to accommodate a larger rider's me asurements in a more proportional manner? Looking at page 16 in Tom Dough ty's "The Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling and Competitive Cycling", you can see basketball star Bill Walton on a massive, custom-built track bi ke that certainly could have used a larger set of wheels to accommodate h is body's needs. I guess my thinking is, could you just proportionally in crease the size everything to get the same geometry, and has this ever  been done?

Anyway, just a (long) thought.

Cheers,

Paul Grens
Chicago, Illinois, USA