Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Classic & Vintage
Reload this Page >

Tall bike thread (64cm and up)

Notices
Classic & Vintage This forum is to discuss the many aspects of classic and vintage bicycles, including musclebikes, lightweights, middleweights, hi-wheelers, bone-shakers, safety bikes and much more.

Tall bike thread (64cm and up)

Old 09-18-15, 12:25 AM
  #1  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Tall bike thread (64cm and up)

Okay, all the mighty mites have always been able to find bikes in stock sizes up to 63cm. Every time someone finds a vintage Colnago, Olmo, Pinarello, Klein, and even some special Cannondale, Centurion, Raleigh bikes don't we always kind of feel left out? Most of the epic great bikes weren't really ever built in sizes except for the mitey mites.

So here is a thread for the rest of us, please limit discussion to frames/bikes 64cm and up. If it was a typical stock size, 63cm or smaller, there are plenty of threads for you elsewhere to show off your small bikes.

Olmo supposedly made vintage frame/forks available in up to 66cm
Klein supposedly made frame/fork sets in 68cm-72cm
Cannondale had the 66cm CAAD5 special order frame/fork & the 27"(68cm) ST touring bikes

What are you riding in BIG sized bikes, and what do you see out there that pops up? Also a great thread to discuss longer cranks bigger than 175mm clown car size. There were vintage cranks from Campy and others in at least up to 182.5mm. There are modern 185mm-215mm cranks available that match nicely with BIG bikes.

da Vinci Designs a famous tandem builder manufacturers their own double/triple cranks up to 200mm that look very classic and would look great on a vintage bike:
https://www.davincitandems.com/components/

Zinn offers square taper and integrated cranks in a variety of models and styles (seven as of this post). Most are available in lengths up to 215mm/220mm.
https://zinncycles.com/Zinn/index.php/custom-cranks

If you're trying to pull off a classic & vintage Klein, Kestrel, or Cannondale 80s/90s rocket bike there aren't a lot of high zoot cranks that were available in proper lengths but Lightning will build you a carbon crank to 190mm (and there have been rumors of even 200mm cranks) in a variety of BCDs.
https://www.lightningbikes.com/cranks/

Kooka, Cook Brothers, Grafton, and gobs of other CNC cranks were available up to 181mm in a variety of anodized crazy 80s colors:
https://www.bikepro.com/products/cran...nk_table.shtml

High Sierra makes long cranks in classic styles and carbon integrated, both in a variety of spiders and BCDs:
https://www.hscycle.com/Pages/customcrankset.html

Throughout the 90s and 2000s a lot of people sourced from CustomCranks.de, but they are no longer manufacturing, but can probably be found on some bigger bikes. Great data points on historical racers crank lengths:
https://www.customcranks.de/en/cranklength.html

IRD crankset look passable enough on classic and vintage bikes if you polish out the IRD graphics, and use with say Spécialités TA rings. Probably the most affordable longer cranks out there (180mm, 200mm, 220mm lengths).
https://www.interlocracing.com/crank-...ple-crank-arms

Hard to find but Campagnolo has done 180mm cranks commonly, and even 182.5mm. For many people looking to build up a C&V bike the Stronglight 182.5mm crankset was seen as the longest available. Its a beautiful classic crankset, but Spécialités TA did cranks up to 185mm and with the options listed above BIG bikes shouldn't have to be ridding with tiny little clown cranks. Hope this helps.

Last edited by mtnbke; 09-18-15 at 01:06 AM.
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 12:28 AM
  #2  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
66cm Soma Smoothie on eBay, with Reynolds 631 tubing
66cm Soma Smoothie ES Frame | eBay

Anyone ever ride one of these, or have one? Not sure how stiff or wriggly it would be.



Supposedly a vintage version of this Soma ES (66cm steel frame still available). The Smoothie ES had the relaxed "road sport" geometry while the Smoothie (non-ES) was a purer race bike geometry:
https://www.somafab.com/archives/product/es
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
Soma Smoothie 66cm.jpg (97.8 KB, 1796 views)

Last edited by mtnbke; 09-18-15 at 01:10 AM.
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 12:56 AM
  #3  
Roger M
Banned.
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Snohomish, WA.
Posts: 2,997
Mentioned: 33 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 469 Post(s)
Liked 2,439 Times in 646 Posts
65cm Rossin Record



64cm Stan Johnson


Last edited by Roger M; 09-18-15 at 01:13 AM.
Roger M is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 01:15 AM
  #4  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Beautiful bikes! Want to share about the build and handling personality? Or the frame measurements?

A lot of BIG or TaLL bikes are unstable or develop "death wobble" or oscillations at high speeds. Many can't be ridden no hands at all. How does your Rossin or Stan Johnson ride? I read on the forums that all Stan Johnsons had Joe Bell paint. Would love to see some more pics. People who have Stan Johnson bikes treasure them from what I've read.

Zinn on BIG/TALL bikes and oscillations/wobbles:
Technical FAQ: Designing frames and components for big riders - VeloNews.com

Zinn follow up explaining its not resonance but nonlinear bifurcation:
Technical FAQ: Bifurcation and high-speed shimmy - VeloNews.com

Those downtube levers look like a long reach. Many C&V cyclists don't like the look of the Kelly Take-Offs which are mounts to bring the downtube shifters up interior of the levers on the drop bars. I love them, but no they don't exactly match a vintage Campy, Superbe Pro, or Mavic SSC group, but they do move the shifters to a position that is a little less relative to putting them slightly above the bottom bracket on a clown size bike. The bigger the bike gets the more that reach to the down tubes becomes cumbersome:
https://kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html

Attached Images
File Type: jpg
kelly_takeoff_photo.jpg (16.2 KB, 1747 views)

Last edited by mtnbke; 09-18-15 at 01:25 AM.
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 05:26 PM
  #5  
spiker
Full Member
 
spiker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Cape Cod
Posts: 468

Bikes: Lotus Odyssey - Shogun 400 - '75 Raleigh Tourist - Raleigh Grand Prix - Gitane Tour de France- Schwinn Le Tour - Univega Maxima Sport (winter bike) Trek 950

Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 27 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 6 Times in 5 Posts
My 69cm Shogun fixie commuter bike.
What I rode on the last CCRT ride.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
20141022_111619.jpg (91.5 KB, 925 views)
spiker is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 06:18 PM
  #6  
fleslider 
Senior Member
 
fleslider's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Posts: 1,511

Bikes: 1974 Paramount ~ 1974 Raleigh Pro ~ 1977 Pro-Tour ~ 1978 TX900 ~ IronMan 85,87:E/M,88:M/Pro,89:E ~ 98 Peugeot Festina Replica

Mentioned: 92 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 476 Post(s)
Liked 178 Times in 91 Posts
A new project that i have a 25.5" or 64.77cm 1977 Trek TX900 thats built as a single speed.

fleslider is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 09:38 PM
  #7  
cyclotoine
Senior Member
 
cyclotoine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Yukon, Canada
Posts: 8,775
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 113 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 16 Times in 14 Posts
That's cool. I wasn't aware of those IRD cranks. I have 185mm TA carmina cranks and like them, but find I prefer 180 which are pretty available. Shimano, Sram, sugino, takagi and campy all make or have made them and I have owned almost all of them. Right now I have sram rival in 180, shimano XT, Sugino/Ritchey, and Dura-ace 7800. The dura-ace are the best (stiffest and lightest) of course.
__________________
1 Super Record bike, 1 Nuovo Record bike, 1 Pista, 1 Road, 1 Cyclocross/Allrounder, 1 MTB, 1 Touring, 1 Fixed gear
cyclotoine is offline  
Old 09-18-15, 11:59 PM
  #8  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
To each there own, but for most cyclists riding 64cm and bigger bikes 180mm cranks are just inefficient.

I have around a 98-99cm PBH and when I ride the 180mm Race Face Turbine cranks on my 29er I feel so much weaker. I use 205mm Zinn/High Sierra square taper triple on my touring bike. Zinn/High Sierra 200mm captain tandem cranks on the tandem, and have some 200mm IRD crankset for other builds. On the sideline is a Surly Mr. Whirly 190mm crankset and a Zinn/High Sierra 195mm crankset. I haven't decided which to use on the 29er.

The problem with the mountain bike is clearance. Without a custom frame with a higher BB a proper size crank length means more rock strikes.

Most at tall cyclists are riding too short of cranks. The first time I rode my 200mm it was an epiphany. Manufacturers want to sell the fifteen different sized bikes between 49cm and 63cm with 170, 175, and 180 cranks. In reality EVERY bicycle size probably has a proportional crank length. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that tall people have proportionately longer legs.

Not only do we need longer cranks because we are taller but longer still because of HOW we are taller. Anything 64cm and up probably needs to be on 190mm and up.

My father is only 6'5" but rode a tiny 63cm bike because that was the tallest bike currently available from the shops he looked at. If you wear a size 15 shoe you don't buy just size 13 shoes and cut open the toes. You learn clown size shoe stores aren't where YOU get your shoes. However with cycling a lot of big guys are riding around on tiny cranks because cranks above 180mm aren't readily available. That doesn't make them the right size. The problem is without riding custom length cranks they'll never realize how much harder they are having to work.
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-19-15, 12:26 AM
  #9  
Lascauxcaveman 
Senior Member
 
Lascauxcaveman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Port Angeles, WA
Posts: 8,016

Bikes: A green one, "Ragleigh," or something.

Mentioned: 194 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1627 Post(s)
Liked 629 Times in 355 Posts
Ha ha! I am a tiny pip-squeak just slightly under 6'0" (and usually under 200 lbs) and I ride an enormous 64cm Raleigh SuperCourse fixie, even with NO HANDS, quite often! I think that crank is a 172.5. It seems to work pretty well for me.

I am your nemesis!
__________________
● 1971 Grandis SL ● 1972 Lambert Grand Prix frankenbike ● 1972 Raleigh Super Course fixie ● 1973 Nishiki Semi-Pro ● 1979 Motobecane Grand Jubile ●1980 Apollo "Legnano" ● 1984 Peugeot Vagabond ● 1985 Shogun Prairie Breaker ● 1986 Merckx Super Corsa ● 1987 Schwinn Tempo ● 1988 Schwinn Voyageur ● 1989 Bottechia Team ADR replica ● 1990 Cannondale ST600 ● 1993 Technium RT600 ● 1996 Kona Lava Dome ●


Last edited by Lascauxcaveman; 11-08-19 at 12:37 AM.
Lascauxcaveman is offline  
Likes For Lascauxcaveman:
Old 09-19-15, 04:25 AM
  #10  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by Lascauxcaveman
Ha ha! I am a tiny pip-squeak of barely 6'0" (and usually under 200 lbs) and I ride an enormous 64cm Raleigh SuperCourse fixie, even with NO HANDS, quite often! I think that crank is a 172.5. It seems to work pretty well for me.

I am your nemesis!
Actually big bikes are brilliant. Think about it, you don't ride a bike by standing over it, but riding on it. If you read about bike fit at Peter White and Rivendell they both debunk the notion that stand over has anything to do with bike fit. Finding the biggest bike that you can uncomfortably stand over and that doesn't have too long of a top tube should be the approach.

Look at cyclists on the road. Ninety-nine percent of them are perched up on top of their hoods and couldn't ride fifty percent of their milage in the drops on their OWN bikes if you waved a hundred dollar bill in front of them. Riding the biggest bike you can find, with C&V makes perfect sense. Back in the 70s there was a huge trend of smaller cyclists (5'10" or so) riding 27" (68-69cm) frames. The reason was simple, the handlebars are so much more neutral with saddle height. The problem with too big of a frame though is if the bike has too long of a top tube. That can't really be accommodated. The stem can only get so short.

With as much seat post extension as you're showing there, and with as much stem protrusion, I'd say as long as the TT doesn't get too long on you, go up a size!
mtnbke is offline  
Likes For mtnbke:
Old 09-19-15, 12:51 PM
  #11  
Eric S.
Senior Member
 
Eric S.'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 932

Bikes: '04 LeMond Buenos Aires, '82 Bianchi Nuova Racing, De Rosa SLX, Bridgestone MB-1, Guerciotti TSX, Torpado Aelle, LeMond Tourmalet 853, Bridgestone Radac

Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 101 Post(s)
Liked 46 Times in 36 Posts
I'm not quite big enough to participate in this thread, but close. I'm 6' 2" and rode nothing but 58cm frames for years until I picked up a 60cm Guerciotti on Craigslist last year. A few months later a 62cm Torpado frame was on CL for only $50 so I grabbed it and built it up.

I rode a 25" Nishiki when I was 13-14 years old but didn't grow enough to ever go bigger. I'm glad I got a couple of bigger bikes again - they're really nice to ride.

Attached Images
File Type: jpg
TORPADOweb.jpg (97.6 KB, 1706 views)
Eric S. is offline  
Old 09-19-15, 03:19 PM
  #12  
vtchuck
Senior Member
 
vtchuck's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 607

Bikes: Romic

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 127 Post(s)
Liked 27 Times in 21 Posts
How are we measuring these frames? Center of BB to center of top tube? top of top tube? top of seat tube?
vtchuck is offline  
Old 09-19-15, 05:18 PM
  #13  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Larger than 64cm c-c.

A 63cm Cannondale 3.0 Series road bike or 63cm Klein road bike will measure 66cm to the seat collar, but they are still just stock size small 63cm frames. Not BIG bikes.

Cannondale did make a special order 66cm CAAD 5 frame/fork, I'd love to see one of those in this thread.
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-19-15, 11:43 PM
  #14  
Campagnerdo 
Full Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: SoCal
Posts: 245
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 36 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 52 Times in 29 Posts
Originally Posted by mtnbke
Actually big bikes are brilliant. Think about it, you don't ride a bike by standing over it, but riding on it. If you read about bike fit at Peter White and Rivendell they both debunk the notion that stand over has anything to do with bike fit. Finding the biggest bike that you can uncomfortably stand over and that doesn't have too long of a top tube should be the approach.

Look at cyclists on the road. Ninety-nine percent of them are perched up on top of their hoods and couldn't ride fifty percent of their milage in the drops on their OWN bikes if you waved a hundred dollar bill in front of them. Riding the biggest bike you can find, with C&V makes perfect sense. Back in the 70s there was a huge trend of smaller cyclists (5'10" or so) riding 27" (68-69cm) frames. The reason was simple, the handlebars are so much more neutral with saddle height. The problem with too big of a frame though is if the bike has too long of a top tube. That can't really be accommodated. The stem can only get so short.

With as much seat post extension as you're showing there, and with as much stem protrusion, I'd say as long as the TT doesn't get too long on you, go up a size!
Hallelujah! I am sometimes chastised by others who prefer small frames, for riding large frames (my seat post is not bottomed out). I just keep riding on in the comfort that a large frame offers. I also enjoy finding those large framed vintage classics at a price that seems discounted due to real or perceived size limitations of many riders.
Campagnerdo is offline  
Old 09-20-15, 12:09 AM
  #15  
Iowegian
Senior Member
 
Iowegian's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Boulder, Colo
Posts: 2,038
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 101 Post(s)
Liked 14 Times in 12 Posts
What I'm riding? Usually my 64cm-ish Univega Grantursimo. It's my commuter and gets no love but just keeps on going.
One of my most comfortable rides is my 82 27" Schwinn Voyager SP. It's my biggest bike and fits just fine, thank you...
I also have a 63cm Cannondale touring bike that I like but would love a larger one. Just don't know where to find it
Iowegian is offline  
Old 09-20-15, 02:45 AM
  #16  
jpaschall
Senior Member
 
jpaschall's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Memphis, TN
Posts: 925

Bikes: 1982 Trek 613, 1988 Panasonic MC 2500, 1981 Schwinn Super Sport, 1975 Raleigh Super Course MKII, 1985 Miyata 210

Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 178 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 5 Times in 4 Posts
I am 6'2", long legs, short torso, really long arms, so fitting is something I can play around with. I currently have two rideable 61cm bikes that fit fine, but they have a somewhat racier fit to them than I might like. I have a technomic on the 720 to get the bars up higher. I recently acquired a 25.5" Schwinn Super Sport, which I am looking forward to trying out. I've been looking for a larger bike for a while to see how it will feel.

Untitled by Joshua Paschall, on Flickr

I don't think I'll need the bars to be quite that upright when I get it finished.
jpaschall is offline  
Old 09-20-15, 02:57 AM
  #17  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by Campagnerdo
Hallelujah! I am sometimes chastised by others who prefer small frames, for riding large frames (my seat post is not bottomed out). I just keep riding on in the comfort that a large frame offers. I also enjoy finding those large framed vintage classics at a price that seems discounted due to real or perceived size limitations of many riders.
The down side is that if you find something truly special like a 66cm Olmo dripping with pantagraphed Campy and other italian bits, or a custom Colnago or Pinarello you might find yourself getting stomped by a group of true Clydesdale cyclists that are jealous of your ride. Unlike everything else, big bikes just don't really exist that are good.

You can always find the Raleigh, Univega, Schwinn, Panasonic crap but the really special stuff that everyone rides in clown car sizes like Cinelli, Centurion Semi-Ps and Ps, Cenurion/Cinelli Equippe, Pinarello, Colnago, Masi, Olmo, Libertas, Merckx, etc. we never find that stuff. The mighty mites can find that stuff somewhere on craigslist somewhere EVERY day of the year.

So its kind of a Tall bike thread rule that BIG cyclists will stomp small cyclists on epic BIG bikes. Then afterwards congratulate you on your find and then offer to buy it!
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-20-15, 03:20 AM
  #18  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by Iowegian
What I'm riding? Usually my 64cm-ish Univega Grantursimo. It's my commuter and gets no love but just keeps on going.
One of my most comfortable rides is my 82 27" Schwinn Voyager SP. It's my biggest bike and fits just fine, thank you...
I also have a 63cm Cannondale touring bike that I like but would love a larger one. Just don't know where to find it
Cannondale touring bikes were sold in inch increments, not cm. You might have a 25" which are a hair smaller than 64cm, so they aren't really BIG bikes, being slightly bigger than just a road geometry 63cm. Like the 63cm Cannondale 3.0 series bikes that were epic for small folks. However, Cannondale made lots of 25" and 27" touring bikes.

Cannondale was just a backpack, sleeping bag, pannier, and soft goods company since about '74 to '82. In '83 they debuted the Cannondale Sport Touring bikes (ST). Those bikes led the way to what would propel them to completely change the very paradigm of sport and competitive cycling. As the Cannondale ST debuted the clock was ticking on the last steel bike to win the TdF (Indurain barely more than a decade later).

The Sport Touring bikes created the Cannondale STish style that has been copied forever since. Remember these were production bikes a year before Grant started working at Bridgestone and long before Rivendell. Think 1" quill stems, Nitto seat posts and stems, epic "peak Japan" fit/finish/polish/quality components like Superbe Pro triple/long cage touring derailleurs just for Cannondale, Brooks/Ideale leather riveted saddles, Sugino AT crankset, Superbe Pro pedals, Suntour Accushift Bar-Cons, fitment for wide tires, factory front and rear touring racks painted to match the frames. Grant fell in love with the Cannondale ST line, and his "country bike" ethos is literally just the original Cannondale marketing borrowed to help sell his steel frames. The great part of the Cannondale ST line is aside from their relaxed geometry, they are veritable rocket bikes that, in a pinch, can be raced with what was then contemporary steel. Ironically these touring bikes that are stiffer, lighter, and stronger than any comparable steel randonneur or touring bikes will actually out climb, outsprint, and ride away from that era of steel race bikes. Try that with a steel touring bike!

You can overload a Cannondale ST touring bike to the point you'll destroy the wheel set and with a load that would bust lugs on a lugged steel bike. There is no weight limit, and they are just stupid stupid strong frame sets.

Look at vintage Cannondale Catalogs for the 1986 ST 800. Its kind of the grail bike for Cannondale STs. The best part of riding a BIG Cannondale ST is that every time you run into some clown car size BOBish bike you can inwardly mock that cult for getting so much of the STish part right, but missing so significantly on the frame material. Steel is cheap, and when you want to sell bicycles with a higher profit margin you don't build a business model around the master aluminum welders that Klein/Cannondale had to employ in an era long before computer controlled feedstock systems, adjustable/programmable current controllers with "hot start", etc. Klein/Cannondale had to do with very very educated master aluminum welders. In both Chehalis and Bedford the struggle was always getting people with the education and experience to pull off the welding standards. The problem is that you can be Richard Sachs but you can't turn brazing steel frames into a skill that has industry/manufacturing demand. EVERY welder for Klein/Cannondale could always walk off and work for a defense contractor, industrial fabrication, etc. for more money. Cannondale really struggled to hire essentially every person that would graduate with a tech degree with a background in exotic welding/fabrication. Back then aluminum welding was a rare skill, education, experience.

In the long run, the supply of Cannondale ST series bikes is going to dry up, and the supply of BIG/TALL ones are really going to disappear. You literally can NOT buy a better, stiffer, stronger aluminum frame today from anyone, in a comparable 25"/63-64cm or 27"/68-69cm, bike. No one makes it. A custom Zinn is a much smaller bike with a much larger head tube extension to compensate for the "death wobble" that plagues BIG bikes.

If you look for a 25" or 27" Cannondale ST touring bike you'll find one in almost every major Craigslist market or on eBay pretty much lickety split. They are sometimes picked up for next to nothing, but worth whatever you have to pay for them. The value is in the frame. The fork is a nice bombproof Tange steel, too.

What to look for:

ST bikes with Canti brakes are preferable to the road calipers, unless you want a more road racer style build.
Look for three water bottle cage mounts.
Every ST bike regardless of ST400, ST500, ST600, ST800 or ST1000 is the same quality, the difference was merely the accouterments (canti posts, or the number of water bottle mounts).
They don't rust, and can be resprayed or powder coated, so look past rusty components or low-end kit. These bikes are worthy of being your "best bike."

If you can find an ST800 or ST1000 in a BIG size, buy it. You will never EVER find the similar value in another bike in your size ever. Heck the Brooks saddle and the Superbe Pro pedals can usually be sold on eBAy for more than the cost of the purchase. For people that fit 25" (63-64cm) and 27" (68-69cm) bikes these are pretty much grail finds. That being said ANY ST frame is about the best BIG bike most TALL cyclists will ever ride. When you put proportional sized cranks on them, they become rocket bikes to the point that on flats and rollers you're mighty might riding friends will start to get very very frustrated with your pulls. Clown car sized people are always going to out climb us. However, on the flats BIG cyclists on vintage BIG Cannondales can give a taste of "Big Mig" Indurain to the little climbers. Give them a sense of what he used to do the peloton in the time trials on his steel and aluminum Pinarrellos. Most cyclist can't comprehend the wattage a BIG cyclist can hammer along with as long as there isn't any elevation gain. That's what made Indurain so special, the rest of Clydesdales get crushed on the climbs, but he always managed to just not lose too much too the mighty mite climbers. The rest of us won't manage that, but we can still crush the peloton with promotional sized cranks on stiff efficient aluminum bikes, in the flats or on rollers. A 150lb Cat 1 roadie is a lot of things but he's a bug in the wind on his 170mm cranks compared to a BIG cyclist on 190mm plus cranks. When the road starts going up though, he more than makes up for it. That's what made Indurain special, as a BIG. He didn't lose on the climbs. The rest of us mortals lose more on the climbs than we gain with the power we have on the flats.

Last edited by mtnbke; 09-20-15 at 03:29 AM.
mtnbke is offline  
Likes For mtnbke:
Old 09-20-15, 02:50 PM
  #19  
Campagnerdo 
Full Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: SoCal
Posts: 245
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 36 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 52 Times in 29 Posts
[QUOTE=mtnbke;18178865]The down side is that if you find something truly special like a 66cm Olmo dripping with pantagraphed Campy and other italian bits, or a custom Colnago or Pinarello you might find yourself getting stomped by a group of true Clydesdale cyclists that are jealous of your ride. Unlike everything else, big bikes just don't really exist that are good.

You can always find the Raleigh, Univega, Schwinn, Panasonic crap but the really special stuff that everyone rides in clown car sizes like Cinelli, Centurion Semi-Ps and Ps, Cenurion/Cinelli Equippe, Pinarello, Colnago, Masi, Olmo, Libertas, Merckx, etc. we never find that stuff. The mighty mites can find that stuff somewhere on craigslist somewhere EVERY day of the year.

They do surface from time to time. From your list:

My 64 cm Centurion Project Cinelli
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...%252520002.JPG

My 66 cm center to top Cinelli SC, as equipped for Eroica CA
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...%252520003.JPG

I thought there was a 68 or 70 cm Cinelli SC that came up for sale in the last year or two. Can't be many of those.
Campagnerdo is offline  
Old 09-20-15, 05:15 PM
  #20  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Originally Posted by Campagnerdo
They do surface from time to time. From your list:

My 64 cm Centurion Project Cinelli
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...%252520002.JPG

My 66 cm center to top Cinelli SC, as equipped for Eroica CA
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I...%252520003.JPG

I thought there was a 68 or 70 cm Cinelli SC that came up for sale in the last year or two. Can't be many of those.
Ballpark what a Cinelli or Centurion/Cinelli is going to cost cheap/fair/dear on Craigslist?
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-21-15, 10:28 AM
  #21  
vtchuck
Senior Member
 
vtchuck's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 607

Bikes: Romic

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 127 Post(s)
Liked 27 Times in 21 Posts
64 cm c to c. Listed as 25.5" in the catalog. 1989 660. True Temper Team tubing. Nothing fancy.

Attached Images
File Type: jpg
T660 - 1.jpg (97.9 KB, 2001 views)
vtchuck is offline  
Old 09-21-15, 08:34 PM
  #22  
mtnbke
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Boulder County, CO
Posts: 1,513

Bikes: '92 22" Cannondale M2000, '92 Cannondale R1000 Tandem, another modern Canndondale tandem, Two Holy Grail '86 Cannondale ST800s 27" (68.5cm) Touring bike w/Superbe Pro components and Phil Wood hubs. A bunch of other 27" ST frames & bikes.

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 110 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Are you being funny? The fastback seat stays on your Trek are worthy of drooling over. Getting fastback seat stays with an integral seat clamp is just a brilliant bit of frame building flair that so many of the BIG bikes that fall to the rest of us are missing. That's special, considering the crap we usually get. If you go look at the Trek Project BIG from earlier in the thread, he had fastback stays with the integrated seat clamp as well. Very jealous.

That's what is so frustrating about BIG bikes. Every person that fits a clown car size bike can open up Craigslist and pick up a steel Colnago with the BB shell cutout, or the detailing on the seat stays brace, or one of my biggest pet peeves C&V vintage tiny bikes all have gorgeous engraved pantagraphed fork crowns. Look at almost ever Olmo, Colnago, Merckx fork and you'll see fork engraving on the crown with some form of fill color or pantagraphing. Most big bikes get unicrown crappiness.

BIG bikes for whatever the reason are plentiful in dime a dozen Univega, Miyata, Panasonic, Trek, even Cannondale frame forks that all might me great in their own right, but in terms of the detailing on the the frame building there just is no ART in the fabrication. That's why that fastback stays are so special on that Trek! I'd love to have ONE SINGLE frame building detail like that on any of my bikes.

Case in point, if we were to show this overpriced 68cm Bianchi to anyone who rides a kool but clown car sized Colnago, Merckx, Cinelli, Olmo, or even a Klein they just wouldn't get the one detail on this bike that jumps off the page:

68cm Bianchi Sport SX Mangy Tubing Shimano Lapreel Sakae Suzue Vtg Very RARE | eBay



They'd think nothing special of the Ishiwawta double butted tubing, as they sneer drinking their latte over the bars of their Reynolds 531 ride. Probably while wearing some gorgeous vintage wool Campagnolo or builder jersey in some child's equivalent size that BIG cyclists couldn't barely fit an elbow into. What makes the 68cm Bianchi special is that aside from no proper head badge (just a sticker), no chroming on the chain stays or fork, Bianchi dropouts not Campy, the bike actually gets a single kool build detail. One good frame building detail is usually one more than we usually get with BIG bikes. Look at the front fork. Looks like a cast B, for Bianchi. No it isn't the EM initials from a Merckx, or an Asso di Fiori of Colnago, but its something!

Which is why clown car cyclists never seem to understand when BIG cyclists become so clumsy. Its not our fault we're BIG and "accidentally" knocked that hot latte all over that gorgeous vintage wool jersey and the beautifully restored CycleArt repaint of the Reynolds 531 bike. Total accident. BIG and clumsy, I guess. We could pivot in the low post and windmill dunk, but can't barely stand up from the coffee table without always spilling our group ride friend's coffee all over him his kit, and his gorgeous fork detailing. Go figure. Accidents do happen.

I don't think people realize how often BIG cyclists dream of taking a frame fit fork pump and jamming it through the front wheel (Breaking Away style) while riding along with our clown car sized friend on their "another grail" 56cm bike they happened to find locally on Craigslist. You can only preach to your BIG friends so much about how epic your Reynolds unobtanium steel frame is before we want to beat your tiny little bodies into pulp with that very frame, while commenting, "Why yes, it does feel comfortable in my hands!" Think about the crap we ride that was available to us in 27" (68.5cm). Its all low tier steel. Its why we secretly hate all the little people. That and having to look at the tops of all their thinning heads all the time. Both, really.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
68cm Bianchi Sport .jpg (90.3 KB, 1755 views)
File Type: jpg
Bianchi fork crown.jpg (98.0 KB, 1750 views)

Last edited by mtnbke; 09-21-15 at 08:44 PM.
mtnbke is offline  
Old 09-22-15, 07:28 AM
  #23  
mstateglfr 
Sunshine
 
mstateglfr's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Des Moines, IA
Posts: 16,538

Bikes: '18 class built steel roadbike, '19 Fairlight Secan, '88 Schwinn Premis , Black Mountain Cycles Monstercross V4, '89 Novara Trionfo

Mentioned: 123 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 10902 Post(s)
Liked 7,390 Times in 4,148 Posts
This is a '79 Zebrakenko Thunder that I refurbished earlier in the year. It was used each week to get me to sand volleyball games as I could lock it up without hesitation for a few hours.
65cm with a 36.5" standover.

Low end hiten frame and fork, but all original aluminum components.
I typically ride 63cm/64cm/25" frames, but this wasn't too large as the reach and top tube weren't too long. The reach is actually less on this bike than my 63cm '87 Miyata 912.

I dropped it off last Friday as a donation to the local Bike Collective.

mstateglfr is offline  
Old 09-22-15, 08:22 AM
  #24  
Kobe 
Senior Member
 
Kobe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Schwenksville, Pa
Posts: 2,861
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 276 Post(s)
Liked 338 Times in 178 Posts
I know we have done Tall bike threads before, hopefully this may become the main one.

I know most people think of them as goofy and ungainly, but if you need one all of the bikes posted so far look great to me.

Probably like many of you I have had a lot of 62-64cm bikes come and go. I always find one I like and think I can make it fit but they never do. My sweet spot is 66-68cm ctc frames.

68 cm early eighties Casati.



68cm 1986 Bridgestone 400



68cm 2003 Serotta Colorado III.(Not quite vintage yet)

__________________
80 Mercian Olympic, 92 DB Overdrive, '07 Rivendell AHH, '16 Clockwork All-Rounder
Kobe is offline  
Likes For Kobe:
Old 09-22-15, 08:46 AM
  #25  
vtchuck
Senior Member
 
vtchuck's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 607

Bikes: Romic

Mentioned: 12 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 127 Post(s)
Liked 27 Times in 21 Posts
Originally Posted by mtnbke
Are you being funny? The fastback seat stays on your Trek are worthy of drooling over. Getting fastback seat stays with an integral seat clamp is just a brilliant bit of frame building flair that so many of the BIG bikes that fall to the rest of us are missing. That's special, considering the crap we usually get. If you go look at the Trek Project BIG from earlier in the thread, he had fastback stays with the integrated seat clamp as well. Very jealous.
I was impressed with the rear derailleur cabling running through the inside of the chain stay. Thought that was nifty. Also I think 89 was the last year Trek made a steel road bike, although they continued to make steel touring frames into the 90's. I guess I never thought of it as anything but standard production bike. However, the tubing is quite light and its one of my favorite rides.

I'm fortunate that I'm only 6'2" so I can ride 24" to 25.5" although my 24" frames seem small. I find 175mm cranks a must and I've fitted a couple of smaller frames with the Nitto Techmatic tall stems to bring the bars up.
vtchuck is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.