Finding a road bike for someone who is 5' or under is not necessarily a simple task. The task is even further complicated when one doesn't really want to plop down $600 or whatever on one of the nice,new 24" wheel junior road bikes made by Trek, Felt and whoever else. I was delighted when a 47cm classic, lugged steel Faggin frame showed up on the local Craigslist. Well, to be fair, it was a frame, fork, seat post, brakes and bottom bracket. Since the bottom bracket is Italian threaded, having a nice one there to simply rebuild was handy. The fork had been replaced due to a mishap with the previous owner. So, the fork it came with (which is the one on it now) is a little goofy since it's cut long for the headset. It's also made for 27" wheels, so I figure for now I will leave it as it is and wait to find a nice chrome 700c fork that I can cut to fit properly if need be. The fork does not accomodate recessed brake mounting nuts. When I brought the bike home, I stuck the wheels it was going to use on it and it looked like this:
After patiently waiting its turn in the project queue, the Faggin re-emerged looking like this:
I had a 1993 Specialized Allez with a full RSX100 group to donate the wheelset and running gear. The appropriately narrow handlebar came from a 1976 Fuji (which was a 58cm bike, oddly enough). The seat was my son's selection and, obviously I suppose, the fit is still "just barely" there and thus the low seatpost. Here are some detail shots of the frame. This is a really beautifully constructed frame and it is fully chromed beneath the paint. I do not know what kind of steel tubing it has, but there is no doubting the quality.
After patiently waiting its turn in the project queue, the Faggin re-emerged looking like this:
I had a 1993 Specialized Allez with a full RSX100 group to donate the wheelset and running gear. The appropriately narrow handlebar came from a 1976 Fuji (which was a 58cm bike, oddly enough). The seat was my son's selection and, obviously I suppose, the fit is still "just barely" there and thus the low seatpost. Here are some detail shots of the frame. This is a really beautifully constructed frame and it is fully chromed beneath the paint. I do not know what kind of steel tubing it has, but there is no doubting the quality.