experiMENTAL Whip 1

I've had a few ideas I've been meaning to try, and the delay in the cruiser tubes was the perfect opportunity to work on a play bike. Something to experiment on. Or, as the case may be, go totally experiMENTAL!

Driving premise- what does it feel like to be a Clydesdale (a race class where you must be over 6' or 200lbs)riding a standard tubed bike?

"Standard" is the typical steel road bike dimensions of a 1" top tube, and 1.125" down and seat tubes. "Partial oversized" (what used to just be "oversized", and is now sometimes called "standard") oft refers to 1.125" top and seat tubes and a 1.25" down tube. Most "modern" race bikes have moved into "Over-oversized", which isn't at all standardized and just means big, often shaped, tubing. In tubing, thick walls means strong, and big diameter means stiff. As bikes have been built with bigger pipes, those pipes have usually become thinner to offset weight.

I've seen quite a few big-tubed bikes lately, and man, do I love em for their applications. I'm "only" 175lbs, and my track bike has a 52mm deep down tube! But what does it feel like to be, say, 75lbs bigger? And riding a "normal" bike?

Only one way to find out!

I decided to build myself a frame where every tube (save the head tube and BB shell, because I can't yet make bearings) in one size smaller then standard! 7/8" top tube, 1" seat and down tube. Instead of 14mm seat stays I've gone with 3/8" (9.5mm)! I even cut off the ends of some ROR chain stays to get smaller then normal oval stays! The bike has made its way through paint and is in the assembly stage now. I'll be updating both the blog and my Flickr account with some of then many pictures I've taken.

Whats it ride like? How does the handling change? Can it survive (a real question for big folks on bikes)? Will I?



Wish me luck!