Soma Buena Vista Mixte

[NbyNW]

I'm learning a ton about frame geometry from reading this discussion!

FurryBlue -- re: your question about wheel size bias. (For background, I'm 5'1", short torso) When I was looking for my first road bike (maybe 15 years ago?) I wouldn't have known that I ought to be biased towards 700c wheels, but a small amount of research informed me about toe overlap being an issue with what was "standard" for road bikes, and I also had learned of Terry's approach to using a smaller front wheel. I was a poor student and couldn't afford a Terry, so I was basically discouraged from road bikes and spent my money on a mountain bike that became my all-purpose workhorse.

I started looking for a road bike again a couple of years ago, and this time I picked up a used touring bike outfitted with 650c wheels. I wasn't even interested in wheel size when I went for a test ride. All I knew was the bike felt incredible, and I was in love.

When I lost that bike and started looking for a replacement, all I could find (maybe I was looking at the wrong time of year?) were bikes with 700c wheels. And they all felt high to me, center-of-gravity-wise as well as difficult to step over (I have a bad hip). Long story short: the replacement bike has 650c wheels.

Maybe with the right frame design I might be comfortable on a bike outfitted with 700c wheels, but in my opinion the industry bias towards this wheel size generally makes it more difficult and more expensive for someone my size to find a bike that fits.

I'm sure some riders have their reasons for insisting on 700c wheels. I know that there are women about my height who use 700c, and I'm sure that setup makes sense for them based on the type of riding they do, skill level, etc.

Speaking just for myself, a smaller wheel size would NOT be a deterrent. I also commute on a folding bike with 20" wheels.

I've also never been picked to participate in a focus group, I think because researchers pick up pretty quickly that I'm not in sync with whatever plays well in Peoria . . .

[xeney]

Wheel size would not be a deterrent for me, either, but that seems a little irrelevant to this discussion given that they made the Buena Vista to work with 650B wheels. If they were doing that already I don't think it was wheel size that caused them to make the effective top tube so long and the seat tube angles so steep. I think they were just interested in building a men's mixte.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I had my custom Luna made with a slacker seat tube angle because on my other bike my weight was sort of balanced right on top of the crank, like a unicycle effect. I felt my weight too far forward onto my hands, and could not 'get behind' my pedaling. When you feel your weight falling forward most people just label it too long a reach, but I found it all works together- head tube angle, seat tube angle, top tube length, etc......to either make you comfortable or uncomfortable. Weight balance is a big part of the whole reach issue.
On my Luna, even though the reach is pretty similar to my older bike, the seat is further back from the crank and I no longer feel like my hands have to keep me from falling forward. Now my legs do that automatically. Thus, it no longer feels like the reach is too long.

[furryblue]

I had my custom Luna made with a slacker seat tube angle ...Weight balance is a big part of the whole reach issue.

Great comments. The Luna bikes look really nice to me.

[furryblue]

Wheel size would not be a deterrent for me, either, but that seems a little irrelevant to this discussion given that they made the Buena Vista to work with 650B wheels.

Hi Xeney, you know, at first the SOMA blog said something about 650B compatibility, but I'm skeptical.

Rivendell's Saluki and Bleriot are 650B specific and have a 67 mm bottom bracket drop, and that ends up being quite a low bottom bracket height. The issue with a low bottom bracket is more tendency to scrape the pedals on the ground when pedaling through corners.

The BV geometry says the bottom bracket drop is 74 mm, that is even lower than the Riv 650B specific designs which some complained were too low. So I guess you could put 650B wheels on the bike, but I don't think it's a good idea.

[furryblue]

FurryBlue -- re: your question about wheel size bias. (For background, I'm 5'1", short torso) ...all I could find (maybe I was looking at the wrong time of year?) were bikes with 700c wheels. And they all felt high to me, center-of-gravity-wise as well as difficult to step over (I have a bad hip). Long story short: the replacement bike has 650c wheels.

Thanks for your comments Jocelyn.

For my riding style the issue with 650c is most of the available tires are narrower than I like, and the mountain bike 26" tires tend to be heavy. But fit wise, I think those wheels are the way to go for many shorter people.

[elk]

http://www.terrybicycles.com/movies.html

Georgena Terry has some really swell videos here that illustrate her frame design choices....might add to the conversation....

(also her video on cleaning and lubing was helpful for me)

[KnottedYet]

Love her videos. I feel like I'm sitting at her table drinking a glass of iced tea while she explains stuff to me.