Large framed-small wheel tri-bike

meb said:

Recently saw a 55cm framed tri-bike with 24" wheels on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7134742576&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT
What might be the reason for such small wheels coupled with such a
large frame?

For an event bike, smaller wheels are lighter with a smaller
front surface (more aero). Since you can mount skinny tires
at very high pressure, the rolling resistance can be
comparable to a moderately inflated 700C.

I'm building a custom frame Record tri bike today that's
58cm with 650C as the owner 'read in a magazine' that 650C
are more aero and lighter. Added about $600 to the bike
overall.

As you may have heard, the customer is always right.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

"meb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Recently saw a 55cm framed tri-bike with 24" wheels on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7134742576&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT

What might be the reason for such small wheels coupled with such a
large frame?

--
meb

Dave sez, with less authority than required, the following:

There are several advantages that have been cited for small front wheels:

1) Less drag in the wheel itself
2) Lower rotating weight
3) Allows a more aero riding position due to lower stem
4) Allows closer drafting

1) In terms of power lost to front wheel drag,
http://www.bsn.com/cycling/WheelAerodynamics.html gives a pretty good
indication that there is much more variation between wheels of a given size
than between sizes.

2) As for less rotating weight, these bikes handle so poorly that they are
not used over challenging road courses, as a result there is minimal braking
during the trial. Rotating weight only comes into play if you are jumping to
stay with or break from a group or individual or when you do a lot of
braking. Over a flat easy TT course you only have to spin up a very few
times.

3) With the introduction of modern aero bars there is much less need to get
the front wheel lower.We now put our elbows nearly where the heels of our
hands were and we focus more on closing the "cup," not just getting low. It
used to be different when all we had were cow horn bars, folks used all
kinds of tricks to get the bars low and long. People used to do the
strangest of things to make their bodies stretch out and down, I have seen
a picture of Greg LeMond on a bike where the stem emanated from a slit in
the head tube.

4) If you take a look at what winning TTT teams are riding on you will often
see smaller wheels. Most are not going as small as the 24" wheels that were
popular on funny bikes of yore but there is some advantage here as long as
the bike handles well enough to keep the team safe at the close distances
and high speeds involved on the track. Here both the front and rear wheel
size are important to shorten the following distance.

Dave Reckoning

meb said:

Recently saw a 55cm framed tri-bike with 24" wheels on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7134742576&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT

What might be the reason for such small wheels coupled with such a
large frame?

Not everyone needs the ego boost of oversized wheels. 😉

--
Tom Sherman - Earth