Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
I am disagreeing, I am rarely personal about it, but I do get annoyed when people get attached to fallacious theories and resist the truth. I also grind my teeth when posters throw perfectly appropriate analogy or metaphor back in my face, to wit: "why would I want or need to trackstand", smh, I have no need to trackstand either, but I have had to troll behind elderly pedestrians from time to time. I guess I could just stop, but I'd rather keep my feet up. You did not mention your problems with 700c wheels. I took your post at face value. Lower and smaller wheels that are NOT faired (inside a cover) will have a negligible side wind advantage over bigger wheels. I'm just saying. Point of contact with the ground is identical with the larger wheel. The two photos you posted are not to scale. The wheelbase appears longer in the upper photo because it is at a higher magnification. But there is also this. Your 700c highracer was geared for that size of wheel. The other posters that have modified theirs also invested in much larger chainwheels than OEM. You will be miserable if you do not also do the same. You switched to a shorter fork and you also lowered the rear end to match. Zero sum. Trail doesn't change, f/r weight distribution doesn't change. You're good there.
1. geometrical point of contact of the wheel may be the same, but not the tire contact path
2. I DID change the trail by swapping a fork with a much shorter a-c (i.e. a fork designed for 20 inch wheel rather than 700). What you say would be true if I simply swapped wheels because then, I would agree, I am just moving the vertical position of the bike. The shorter fork means there will be less trail. I don't need to argue this because I know it from mountain biking doing the opposite. Please show me a resource that says changing you a-c will not affect trail
3. I did invest in the appropriate drivetrain/gearing.
4. Smaller wheels and smaller fork WILL result in less wind resistance because the vertical profile is less.
Tell you what, If I don't like the bike, I will tell you you won.
Fact remains that others have done this or similar conversions and been happy with the results. Nor am I a moron, which is what you seem intent on showing for some reason.