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Compact bikes.

garrynolangarrynolan Posts: 560
edited July 2009 in Road beginners
Hello readers, simple question - maybe dumb, but here goes... what exactly is a "Compact"? What are the pros and cons of such a bike? What size of person are they made for (or not)? Ta very much. [/b]
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  • GarzGarz Posts: 1,155
    Smaller frame and tyres.

    Comfortable and added bonus of they are easy to carry/store. Ideal for commuting in busy cities and catching trains etc.
  • gkerr4gkerr4 Posts: 3,408
    I think he means "compact frame" - does he not - as in, sloping top tube

    Giant claim to have pioneered it - makes the frame smaller and lighter (and stiffer, apparently) but mainly cos they can get away with making just 3 sizes of frame to fit all people as opposed to 5(ish)
  • redddraggonredddraggon Posts: 10,862
    gkerr4 wrote:
    Giant claim to have pioneered it - makes the frame smaller and lighter (and stiffer, apparently) but mainly cos they can get away with making just 3 sizes of frame to fit all people as opposed to 5(ish)

    Just because the top tube is sloping it doesn't mean it'll fit more people as the virtual TT is still the same.
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  • garrynolangarrynolan Posts: 560
    Not sure what I meant - probably compact frame. I'm short so finding a bike to fit is awkward. G.
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  • drudru Posts: 1,341
    standard vs. 'compact' frames

    Sloping top tubes on compact frames are supposedly to allow the manufacturers of the bikes to produce a stiffer frame with less material and hence a lighter frame.

    The best bit of advise is get what fits :)

    (mines a compact btw) :D
  • rally200rally200 Posts: 646
    garrynolan wrote:
    Not sure what I meant - probably compact frame. I'm short so finding a bike to fit is awkward. G.

    ah - well as said above compact describes the shape (can't spell geometry) of a frame, you can buy compact (or traditional for that matter) frames to fit a huge rane of people from vary small to very tall.

    There are pretty decent road bikes available made to to fit kids/teenagers, try a few lbs they'll beable to find you something
  • starsevenstarseven Posts: 112
    Compact frames allow manufacturers to fit anyone from 5'8 to 6'3 on a 560 top tube on a road bike. They can look cool on mountain bikes (in medium sizes) but a bit naff on road bikes. A lot depends on the size of the bike and the amount of slope, personally I'm prefering the traditional look these days.
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