vintage city bikes....beauties

[sandra]

Beautiful bikes, but I was looking at them trying to figure out why they all looked a bit strange. Finally I realized that they all have the seatpost pushed down all the way. It makes them look like someone with their head tucked down low between their shoulders.

They are beautiful! I was thinking the same thing and was just about to post about the seatposts when I noticed that you had already mentioned it. Why do you suppose they are all so low?

[Bad JuJu]

I was thinking the same thing and was just about to post about the seatposts when I noticed that you had already mentioned it. Why do you suppose they are all so low?

Some of them are really low--they look like they're right down near the top tube. But others are up a little bit, which made me think of the old standard for how high the seat should be--it was "a fistful of seatpost"--that is, the correct amount of space between the top of the seat tube and the bottom of the saddle was approximated by wrapping your fist around the seatpost. I can't for the life of me remember where or when I learned that, but I've known it for a long, long time.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'd venture to say that those bikes were all ridden that way with the seats down low. These were bikes ridden by regular folks going to the store and work everyday. Likely none of them were into racing. I agree with Mimi.
Those people were probably shorter than us, wanted to put their feet down on the ground when they stopped at the corner, and were just pedaling around town on errands. They wanted to sit upright and be comfortable. They probably weren't riding long enough distances to experience knee pain due to low saddle position either. These were true utility bikes for regl'r folk.

[mimitabby]

shorter than YOU maybe.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

shorter than YOU maybe.

Point taken.