54cm retro frame with 6'4" rider...
Hi all, first time poster with a fairly ludicrous question so please go easy!
Long story but I found my first ever road bike (low spec version of the late 80s Raleigh Banana 54cm frame) at the back of my uncle's shed. For sentimental reasons I'd like to do it up, and in a few years my daughter could use it as an entry bike. In the interim I was thinking about getting an extra long seat post and sticking it on my turbo trainer in the garage.
Aside from the fact it'll look ludicrous and I'll need spacers for the head tube, are there any disadvantages to this? I suppose the cranks will be a little short for a rider of my size and I'd have to check my knees don't hit the handlebars but that should take care of itself if the seat post is long enough? Hhhmmm.
I'm also a little worried about internal corrosion, it doesn't look too bad from the outside, and I've given it a tap, but anything else I should look out for? It looks OK around the bottom bracket.
Long story but I found my first ever road bike (low spec version of the late 80s Raleigh Banana 54cm frame) at the back of my uncle's shed. For sentimental reasons I'd like to do it up, and in a few years my daughter could use it as an entry bike. In the interim I was thinking about getting an extra long seat post and sticking it on my turbo trainer in the garage.
Aside from the fact it'll look ludicrous and I'll need spacers for the head tube, are there any disadvantages to this? I suppose the cranks will be a little short for a rider of my size and I'd have to check my knees don't hit the handlebars but that should take care of itself if the seat post is long enough? Hhhmmm.
I'm also a little worried about internal corrosion, it doesn't look too bad from the outside, and I've given it a tap, but anything else I should look out for? It looks OK around the bottom bracket.
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Comments
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1980s frame takes a quill-stem so you might need to search around for a longer one - you can adjust height by releasing clamp bolt on centre, give it a whack to free the wedge and pull it up to the max insert mark. If the bikes not been used, you may need a judicial application of anti-seize inside the fork steerer to help release the stem. As for frame corrosion, the killer is the chainstays behind the BB shell - if the paint isn't bubbled and rust breaking through, you should be OK.Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
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To be frank, I doubt if you will be able to get a suitable position. Bikes then were sized a bit differently. You could use a super- long seat pin, and use a very upwardly sloping long stem if one is available.
However, my real concern would be that using it on the turbo would likely kill the frame, all that sweat rots steel frames. I got through several gas- piping frames over the years. It would, in my view, be better to keep it nice for your daughter.
Most Raleigh Banana frames were mass- market level, but I know of a few top-end ones, including some 753s about still. Has the frame got a Reynolds tubing sticker on it anywhere?0 -
Thanks for the advice both, much appreciated.
giropaul - had a look into it and mine is definitely the mass market, gas pipe version (sadly!).0
