79pmooney

I didn't know about her leg and never met her. I was under the impression she raced the New York/New Jersey road scene. Maybe I am wrong. (Those years were also around my head injury.)

Ben

unterhausen

I don't usually worry about it for my own bikes. It bothers some people a lot. My current road bike has overlap with fenders, I think, haven't experienced it lately. It is disconcerting, and happens at low speed where it's the biggest problem. But for many smaller people on poorly designed bikes, it's "foot overlap," not "toe overlap" I am pretty sure that in most cases when it has happened, I power the wheel past my toe. If that isn't possible, then you are going down hard. I consider that a problem.

noglider 

Most of my bikes have toe overlap. Even my long wheelbase Raleigh International has it. I assume it's because I wear size 12 shoes and have my cleats way back. Lucky for me it doesn't bother me. I use 170mm cranks.

79pmooney

I've busted fenders when I realized it was power past the hangup or crash. Usually if my toe/toeclip clears or near clears the tire, fenders will just push aside then pop past but if my foot absolutely doesn't clear the tire, the fender may end up eating it. Oh, my knees like 175 cranks and really don't like change, so all my bikes are 175. (I keep hearing that short cranks are a plus for knees, especially knees with chrondomalcia patella. Not my knees!)

Ben

Andrew R Stewart 

I was diagnosed with chrondo about 40 years ago. It was suggested that rest, muscle balancing exorcizes and raising my seat would help. Can't say if these helped as I didn't raise my seat, reduced my riding for a few years and was never good at off bike exercising. I still have some knee issues but now the Drs call it incident damage and arthritis. What I have learned is that RICE costs nothing and we all wear out sometime. Andy

fietsbob

My 1 foray into DIY Frame building, I went off the norm, by making the top tube longer than the seat tube, 60/58,

so with mudguards on I avoided TCO.. having the wheel that wee bit ahead of my center of mass

did make the wheel feel lighter.

built in 1974~ish , still works ,

[I have A Pauls Flatbed Rack on the front, now..]


..

Doug Fattic 

Using small wheels should be an option for anyone making frames for shorter women. Or for that matter an average sized woman or guys with shorter legs. The odds that all the custom design features available that can be used with 700 wheels are pretty small. There are good reasons why regular wheels probably compromise a shorter women’s frame. 1st women tend to like their handlebars higher (around the same height as their seat) to take the pressure off of the sensitive areas of their crotch. And they are also likely to want to sit a bit more upright anyway. These require a more setback saddle. If they are set up on a fitting bicycle to find their balance point (so they aren’t putting too much weight on their hands when they are on handlebars or brake hoods) than it is probable they will need a seat angle less than 73º along with a seat post that has a decent amount of setback. This shallower seat angle is going in the opposite direction of solving toe overlap. Combine that with a short top tube matching their shorter arms and torso and the only sensible solution is to use smaller wheels.

It is a great option anyway – especially if using lugs. 650C or 559 MTB rim size wheels look more proportional on smaller frames and the top tube won’t be smashed against the down tube. And they provides more straddle clearance. They make a small frame look more normal. Wheel weight is lighter and if one is drafting they can sit an inch closer to a back wheel. I’ve never understood why a custom builder would try and use the same poor solutions production companies might like specing a 76º seat angle with a very shallow head angle.

While it is true that an accomplished rider pedaling at a decent speed will not notice some toe overlap when turning, that doesn’t mean it is smart to design a frame with toe overlap. There is always a chance that someone misses a turn and does a Uie in the middle of the road and without thinking “oh I need to remember my toe will hit my front wheel" and they will go down splat. Most likely they will blame the designer/builder as they should.

The difference in gearing between 700c and 650c wheels is about one tooth on the back cog in higher gearing. In other words a 14 tooth cog with 700 wheels is approximately equal to a 13 tooth cog on a 650c. For normal riders not racing or training at high speed, this is not a disadvantage.

Georgina Terry was also a good businesswoman and my guess as to why they kept using 24/27” wheels after 26” became available was for marketing reasons. It is easy to know a Terry bicycle without looking at the decals.