frame size for 5' 8" woman

Hi, I am interested in getting a road bike. I have been offered a velosolex
(not the motorbike) with a 33 inch frame (measured from crossbar to ground)
.. Can I ride it comfortably? I am a 5' 8" woman. Thanks

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"FRANK GERACE" wrote:

Hi, I am interested in getting a road bike. I have been offered a velosolex
(not the motorbike) with a 33 inch frame (measured from crossbar to ground)
. Can I ride it comfortably? I am a 5' 8" woman. Thanks

Standover clearance is only one of the "fit issues", and there isn't
much info to go on here... that said,

1) It's unlikely that you'll be able to stand comfortably over a frame
that tall unless you're "all leg". I'm a 5'10" male and would have
trouble standing over that frame.

2) It's nearly certain that the "cockpit length" (top tube plus stem)
will be too long on a frame that tall.

Making a wild SWAG based on your height alone, you'd probably fit on a
54cm center-to-top frame (assuming your physique is near the center of
the bell curve for a US woman).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

"FRANK GERACE" wrote in message
news:QBrtg.1767$qd3.456@trndny05...
Hi, I am interested in getting a road bike. I have been offered a
velosolex
(not the motorbike) with a 33 inch frame (measured from crossbar to
ground)
. Can I ride it comfortably? I am a 5' 8" woman. Thanks

You should choose a bike with a frame that you can comfortably stand
over the top tube without making contact while wearing shoes that you
would normally be wearing while riding.

This makes getting on and off easier but more importantly you need some
clearance while getting your feet on the ground during a quick stop.

In an emergency stop, your knees will flex a little so you should choose
a frame size with 1" to 2" of clearance.

There are 2 dimensions commonly discussed in bike frames sizes.

The first is the seat tube height or length. That's the distance from
the center of the crank arm axle to the center of the intersection of
the seat tube and the top tube (center to center) or center to top of
the seat tube - not commonly used any more.

The second dimension is the center to center length of the top tube from
the seat tube to the steering tube. This relates to how far you have to
reach to grip the handle bars.

On modern bikes these dimensions are usually given in centimeters. For
example 54cm x 55cm - the center to center measurements of the seat tube
and the top tube.

The 33" dimension on the Velosolex bike would fit someone with a floor
to crotch inseam of 34" to 35". The average height from the ground to
the center of the crank axle was about 10 1/2" to 11". Subtract that
from 33" and you would have a 22" frame - give or take 1/2" which would
be 55 to 57cm.

We sold a few Velosolex bikes during the mid 1970's. They were late
comers to the bicycle boom and were better built that the average French
bikes of the era. We had 2 or 3 models: a standard steel frame and
components version, a version with Reynolds 3 main tubes and perhaps
Durifort forks and stays with moderate French alloy components and I
think we had 1 high end bike with and all Reynolds frame.

They were old stock so we got a pretty good deal on them because they
lacked the glitter of the newer bikes that were starting to come
equipped with Japanese components. They came in candy apple red,
metallic emerald green and I think we had a few metallic blue ones.

If I remember correctly, they had very long top tubes.

Good luck,

Chas.