I'll try and be concise this time, since with my apology post, this is my fourth today...
Many of Sam's earlier bikes had sloping top tubes and long head tubes, in the style of the Taylor Bros. "Rough Stuff" frame - in fact, at least half of the touring bikes Sam built were what he came to call a "Combie" - not quite road, not quite off-road bike. Dropped bars, often with guidonet (sp?) levers and bar ends, and wheels based on the intended destination. 650As were often used on bikes for US touring, since you could get a tire (26x1 3/8) at a hardware store in anytown, USA. 650Bs for world touring, and later 26" MTB rims as that size became the most prevalent.
That top tube has to have been specified to suit the physique of the original owner - Sam's bikes for "normal" shaped riders were much closer to square than this. Could have been a rider with a bad back or fused vertebrae; Sam had a severe form of degenerative arthritis, as does one of his sons, so he had loads of experience with back pain. Maybe this fellow couldn't bend much from the waist?
I think the seatpost height Norris noticed is because the seller is not the original owner of the bike, and maybe took it for a test ride? Touring bikes were sized so that the flutes on an SR Laprade or 3TTT post showed, plus maybe an inch of free adjustment beyond that - Sam was a big proponent of hands being nearly as high as your hips for loaded touring, so posts were short on his customs. He ridiculed me when I "slammed" the stem on my racing bike with the desire of being more "aero." (He actually suggested I'd be better off dropping a few pounds...)
Rear brake placement could have been because the Taylors did it, but it's also related to the cable and pads being easier to adjust with a load in place on the racks - much less contortion required. Harry Havnoonian espoused this brake placement in the mid to late '80s when aero rims were hot - his literature stated that braking forces pull the brake "up" to the wider part of the rim, rather than "down" to where the rim narrows... And hey, it looked distinctive, right? Easier to adjust from a team car, too, or so Harry said - all the nuts and bolts on the same side as the drivetrain.
Night, all.
Derek Vandeberg
Bigfork, Montana