old versus new bike

[thiswayup]

Hi, i used to cycle a lot in the 80s and early 90s i am 6ft 2 inches tall
i used to ride a 25inch or 64cm frame but recently i tried the bike again
and i felt it was to big for me?.
Also it has the down tube shifters it is a claud butler brevet from 1984.
A 531c frame and forks .
I have been looking at the modern bikes with the sloping top tubes what
size frame would be best for me i have a 34inch inside leg.
regards mick.

 

[Bigtwin]

Size sounds about right for your leg. Possibly you are not as bendy now as you were then - in what way does it feel too big - too stretched, or can't get the saddle low enough?

 

[simon_brooke]

Hi, i used to cycle a lot in the 80s and early 90s i am 6ft 2 inches tall
i used to ride a 25inch or 64cm frame but recently i tried the bike again
and i felt it was to big for me?.
Also it has the down tube shifters it is a claud butler brevet from 1984.
A 531c frame and forks .
I have been looking at the modern bikes with the sloping top tubes what
size frame would be best for me i have a 34inch inside leg.

I'm much the same size, in the seventies and eighties I had 25" and 26" bikes, these days I ride 24" bikes. It's not us that's changed, it's the geometry of the bikes - it's now normal to show a lot more seat post.

You can't give a definite size recommendation for sloping top-tube bikes because different makers slope their top tubes differently; you really have to try the size of bike you plan to buy.

 

[Bigtwin]

I'm much the same size, in the seventies and eighties I had 25" and 26" bikes, these days I ride 24" bikes. It's not us that's changed, it's the geometry of the bikes - it's now normal to show a lot more seat post.

You can't give a definite size recommendation for sloping top-tube bikes because different makers slope their top tubes differently; you really have to try the size of bike you plan to buy.

Tried THE bike again. Are we not talking about the same machine here?

 

[swee'pea99]

I wouldn't be in any great hurry to abandon a CB with a 531c frame. 25" for a 34" inside leg is probably on the large side...but not vastly so. It's what I ride, and it works for me. (34" IL, tho' I'm 6'.) I'd persevere with it for at least a few hundred miles, maybe try adjusting the saddle/handlebar heights and front/back to see if that might help. Even change the quill stem? (I use a really short-reach one, eg.)

You'd be looking at a lot of money to get a new bike the equal of that one. nothing wrong with that, but I'd at least consider trying to make it work for me first...especially since you used to ride it back in the day.

 

[jimboalee]

That CB was sized to you by using the 'French fit' method. It was simply 1/3 of your height.

There is the Lemond fit, the Eddy fit and another sizing technique which decides the correct seat tube angle and top tube reach before deciding the seat tube length.

The CB top tube is probably just touching your crotch when you are on your heels in stocking feet. It was the way at the time when shoeplate cleats propped up the heel when you stood on the toe of the shoe and the plate.

I wouldn't disregard the CB. I haven't disregarded my Peugeot 531. It still rides a treat.