recommendations for frame size for my 5'2" wife...

[Catrin]

Indoor velodromes? Did I read this right? Interesting. We have a velodrome in my city but it is outside. It seems to see a lot of use. During the N.I.T.E Ride this summer, which starts at the velodrome, I saw my first race there before the ride started (well after dark). Interesting, but I was surprised at how steep the track was Fun to watch though!

[djb]

http://cyclingfunmontreal.blogspot.c...rome-1976.html

webpage that shows photos of it before and as it is now. In the blurb below the shots it mentions the Montreal velodrome being the first indoor one in the world....funny, I would have thought they would be all indoor, because of the wood. As I said, I never really paid attention to racing stuff that much, but assumed that like the hardwood floor of your living room, you wouldnt have a wood, banked bike velodrome open to the rain and snow.
But what do I know?

20 years ago I was finishing uni and thinking of trips to do, so the demise of this velodrome sorta went by me. The "Biodome" is however a great place for Montreal, Montrealers and tourists. I went there this spring with some Inuit kids my son's school were doing an exchange with, and it was magic for them to walk through the "Amazon" jungle section (kids from a fly-in-only small community waaaaaaaay up north)

[Catrin]

Very interesting. Our velodrome isn't wood of course, it is concrete.

[oz rider]

It's a shame you lost that one in Montreal, although the new facility must have merit too.

Reading your comments reinforces how lucky we are. Here's our local forum list of 20+ velodromes in the state and here is the international one that is used pretty much every day. The other indoor one is inner city but only used for big events (removable seating covers it when it's not in use for cycling).

Only the indoor ones have boards and are banked to the required 42 degrees on the turns Catrin; the others are concrete or bitumen and generally a lot flatter (often with access limited to the club), but still useful for night training and track skills or when you just don't want to play in the traffic. My local one also has toilets that are open late, shared with adjacent hockey pitches, so it's fantastic. Hope you can all agitate for better cycling facilities; it sure beats the trainer. At the other end of things though, we're probably short on curling and skating facilities.

[Catrin]

Only the indoor ones have boards and are banked to the required 42 degrees on the turns Catrin...

I do not know what the exact banking is of ours, but it is extremely steep - I find it amazing that anyone can ride on it but it was fun to watch.

I do not know how many non-racers use it, but they do seem to have a lot of races there. As for me, I enjoy my country roads

Interesting topic.

[djb]

I'm selling a custom Sweetpea touring/CX frame that could fit. I am 5'3" and never felt stretched out over the TT or had any problems with toe overlap. Here's the CL link in case you're interested:

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/bik/2069448436.html

I looked a while back but it was already gone, but thanks in any case.

To the others, I have still be looking here and there at used Terry bikes, shall keep an eye out still.
As for velodrome, my mother recently reminded me that my sister rode on the Montreal velodrome as a teenager once, she came with her highschool team or something. I vaguely remember but I will have to ask my sister about it, what my mother recalls is that she was scared to bits, especially being attached to the pedals firmly. I must say that while a part of me would be curious....the bigger part will take the country roads. That is what we and our friends enjoy.

As for skating etc, it has been down to -15c last night, and we have had about 40-50cm of snow so far, so biking is definitely out now, but it is quite pretty with all the white stuff, and I dont mind the shovelling.

[moderncyclista]

Are we still talking sizes here?

I'm 5'3" and I ride a 48 cm Trek and 46 cm Surly LHT. Longer torso, short legs, respectively. Best of luck.