Quote Originally Posted by nuliajuk View Post
Believe me, it's way better than it was 20-30 years ago.
Part of the problem with 'cross bikes, I think, is that they can't have a sloping top tube because there wouldn't be enough clearance to carry the bike over the shoulder. Compact frame geometry has created smaller frames that weren't possible years ago, but no-one is going to make a cross frame like that.
edited to add: Probably not quite what you had in mind, but this 'cross frame goes down to 42cm:
http://www.somafab.com/archives/prod...ble-cross-disc
That is lovely. What gets me is that my bike has the most amazing geometry for me (aside from toe-overlap, but I even know bigger guys who run into that), but Redline will only do that frame in low-end models. I guess it's not profitable for them to do carbon molds of that geometry, simply because they wouldn't sell enough of that smallest size. It's NBD for them to do that with aluminum and low-end components.