More Ride Impressions: Z1: Bikefanclub.com

I may be unfair to Calfee since I base my experience on but one long ride on a Tetra, a 58 which was waaaay too small for me. Many 58s are not too, too small but I had the distinct impression that I could go up to a 60 and still feel like the front end was too short. There is no way I can fit on a Calfee. (Just like there is no way I can really fit on a modern Colnago or DeRosa, but old ones are different, I can fit those...) Calfees have short head tubes. Add 1.5cm of ht extension and they are sorta' not too too short and that's as far as I can go. I found the Calfee ride too to be, well, like an American crit bike: quick handling, direct, one requiring my attentions, happy to turn and carve, quick to accelerate. What I didn't like was that I felt like I needed to be too attentive and honestly the ride did not meet my idea of comfort. Sure, smooth like carbon but I have already said that carbon is not my ideal. I dunno, I think it has a ways to go before it feel like metal. So when I said that I wouldn't go near a Calfee what I mean was near the purchase of a Calfee because I feel like there is no way I can get one to fit me and because the ride is too quick, too much like a crit bike. Others love their Calfees and more power to them! I have not the slightest notion that my body or preferences somehow should be others!! The world is large enough for differences, especially ones this trivial.

Why did I go to Hampsten when they are all the way out in Seattle and Parlee is a few hours away? Honestly, it's simple. I am a fit by numbers guy. I know what I like and just how I want to fit on the bike. What I need to convey to the builder are my real preferences and these easily come out with numbers. I've been involved with builders who just don't see it my way and try to change the build, usually making the bike smaller. I politely listen, try again to explain the logic, experience, and multitude of errors I've made to get to the point where I am and either we connect...or we don't. I have no qualms saying to any well-regarded builder that after a conversation with them about fit and design that I am not their boy. Call me arrogant but I confess to have bought dozens (no kidding...dozens!) of bikes on this or that one's advice and the fit is all wrong. FINALLY I sorta' hit my stride a few years back, largely by studying old French bikes, Daniel Rebour's Le Petit Livre, and listening to Grant Petersen, Mike Barry, and Ernest Csuka. I then take the principles of the taller French fit (which creates a perfectly fine "race" or fast bike) and apply them to modern bikes. You can't just size up since that may cause a poor pedal/knee position and other matters related to balance and handling. The whole design has to move with the notion of the taller front front end and hence less bar to saddle drop. A basic principle is to make the drops _much_ more useable and not resort to the STI/Ergo era principle that the hoods are the dominant position. How often do most people ride in their drops? Less than they could if they were fit on a bike where the drops were not so, so low.

I can go on about fit, but basically there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the _vast_ majority of American bike builders come through the traditions of Italian race frames and then adopt influences that come from modern racing (lots of aerodynamic positioning, etc.). These ideas have little to nothing to do with my bicycle riding, my body, an optimal position on the bicycle for me. (I am perfectly flexible, btw, and have no physical ailments that prevent me from moving easily on the bicycle.)
I maintain that _most_ recreational riders (I mean even weekend racers) would be far, far better off on a bike that fit more like what I call French fit than Italian racers. Second, most modern bike builders are clueless about the histories and traditions of fit and tell you that there is one optimal way to fit a bike, viz., their way. This is tripe, leaving aside that it is historically ignorant. Mention Herse, Singer, and the like and most look at you cross-eyed. Most riders know less than this! Last, the bike industry wants to sell you what the racers ride, more or less, because that is the latestgreatest and folks want to "look like them." The industry isn't dumb about marketing because they are selling bikes. But the bikes they are selling don't fit as well as they could. Just look at most headtube lengths on most "race" bikes and you will likely have either huge bar/saddle drops or tons of spacers, riser stems, and other truly foolish compromises.

I rant but when I dealt with Hampsten, they got my point totally. They understood tradition. They actually comprehended that there is more than one way to ride a bike fast and for fun. Look at their Strada Bianca, for example. It is much taller, more relaxed, more comfort oriented than most bikes (but for Rivendells and a handful of others) But I went further than the Strada Bianca, towards the complete "French fit" (my term but rooted in studying the tradition of Herse, Singer, Rebour, etc.) and Hampsten also got that: he understood that a modern bike could easily be built this way. He understood that these builders were wise and that they were simply offering a different notion. I was confident that the bike would be handsomely proportioned with clean lines, without compromises like long headtube extensions, riser stems, smokestack spacers, and that we could achieve a French style fast bike fit that brought modern materials and parts into a frame that is essentially the same design as a 1965 Rene Herse or a 1955 Alex Singer, you pick. Modern bikes can be designed the "old way" without the slightest bit of change but for materials and parts. These designs emphasize comfort as a feature of speed. They are not as aerodynamic, not well-suited to compete with racers today and the positions they assume. I don't ride like that and manage to keep up with the local racers just fine on my larger frame. I see no disadvanage since I'm not racing at any higher level and mostly I'm just riding for fun, be it fast or slow.

dbrk