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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Rochester, NY
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Bikes: Stewart S&S coupled sport tourer, Stewart Sunday light, Stewart Commuting, Stewart Touring, Co Motion Tandem, Stewart 3-Spd, Stewart Track, Fuji Finest, Mongoose Tomac ATB, GT Bravado ATB, JCP Folder, Stewart 650B ATB
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When riding with a more upright body the seat tube angle often is slacked back a bit. Which worsens top tube length and/or toe overlap. I suspect that the slack head tubes used back in the day, on balloon tired bikes and classic English 3 speeds as examples, helped stretch the front center back out and retain toe clearance.
With first time builders I usually suggest taking a known bike that fits well as the model if at all possible. But here I think Mike (the OP) might be looking for more than what a shorter stem with a riser/tall stem might result in on his current bike. "Shorten and raise the top tube a bit (2" or so)" is with what bike and bars/stem combo? Presumably your current bike, and the 2" is from your current bars location. Is there any way to test this out with your current bike, even if the handling is compromised? I have real questions about wanting to build a bike with a fit that is not either already confirmed (as from some previous bike) or designed with fairly minor differences that are well understood.
A year+ is a lot of time to explore the fit and perhaps learn what you don't want the class frame to be. Andy
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AndrewRStewart