Mr and Mrs ballooner geometry

[J-wagon]

Some technical observations on men's and ladies frame geometry. Examples here are my 1936 Snyder men's fastback Rollfast badged and 1946 Snyder ladies. Built up for singlespeed klunking.

Pics and cockpit angle view :

Ladies wheelbase much shorter. Mainly due to chainstay length about 2" shorter. Based on riding characteristics, I suspected men's longer, but surprised by 2". Perhaps these 1930s fastbacks had relatively longer chainstays? Note: Length similar to my 1936 Monark Silverking, which I heard have longer than usual chainstays.

Men's bottom bracket noticeably higher

Both feel siimarly stable. I guess men's longer chainstay makes up for higher BB. And likewise for ladies shorter chainstay and lower BB.

Ladies headtube taller and headtube angle more slack. (Might be hard to tell from pic angle). Cockpit felt high and tight, so I upside-downed the bars to stretch out. Looks awkward sweep angles but immediate benefit for climbing either seated or out of saddle. And hand position not bad. With this cockpit setup, ladies is a superior climber.

Also, the step thru feature of klunkerette makes quick exits off the saddle a bit easier and no more knee strikes on the top tube during out of saddle climbing.

Overall, I think klunkerette becoming my favorite rider. Feels fast and zippy.
Thx!

 

[bloo]

I wonder if the difference is more a prewar/postwar thing? I think Schwinn for instance had fairly significant geometry changes after the war. They probably weren't the only ones. I have been intending to measure the angles on some of my bikes and try to look at differences in flop, trail, etc. I'm surprised so little is posted here about geometry.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

you really have to compare the same bike for this to make any sense.