Probably not a deal breaker for everyone, but perhaps worth considering... one downside of a longer than "normal" bike is that it won't fit on transit. My 65cm Homer barely fits on the bus/light rail racks here in Portland. Another cm in wheelbase length or fatter tires would make it incompatible with the front racks on the busses. I have 2-3 cm wiggle room on the light rail.
I haven't had any issues with heel strike on my Homer. Size 12 shoes + large-ish Arkel/Ortlieb bags. A Surly Big Dummy is my daily driver. It has an effective chain stay length (BB-DO) of about 82cm. Long bikes are great. The Appaloosa makes me thing of the stretched-out beach cruisers that were popular in Southern CA around the turn of the most recent century (not sure if they still are-- I'm in Portland now) They were fun to ride. I imagine the Appaloosa to be a better/ more functional version of that. --Smitty On Wednesday, January 2, 2013 9:52:55 AM UTC-8, William wrote: > > One potential custom idea that I think would be cool would be a proper > touring bike with really long chainstays. I'm thinking an Atlantis front > end with maybe 50-52cm chainstays. Virtually everybody who's tried to fit > a pannier knows that the downside to too-short chainstays on a touring bike > is that your feet hit the panniers and you may have insufficient clearance > for the tires you want to run. What's the downside to too-long chainstays > on a touring bike? I cannot think of one. Before riding the Appaloosa I > would have speculated that maybe it would be too flexy or maybe the > handling would be too weird. Now that I have ridden the Appaloosa, I know > first-hand that both of those fears are 100% misplaced. > > The longest chainstays I know of on traditional touring bikes are in the > 47-48cm range, but I'm not an expert on the topic. Another full inch or > two of heel room might be perfect for everything touring-related EXCEPT > packing the bike. Eventual lucky-raffle-winner, consider it! > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/NOruX8JtmJsJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
