Tall on a Platypus?

[Wesley]

I'm considering one fo the remaining Rosco Platys and want to hear ho the Platypus frame works for tall folks. I'm 6'3" with a 94cm PBH. Right now I have no Rivendell bike but I remember my former Atlantis fondly. I'm tired of maxing out the capacity of smaller frames with ridiculously tall stems and seat posts that leave few options for adjustment. The largest Platypus, at 60cm, isn't particularly large in the seat tube...

If you're about my size, what stem and handlebars are you running on your platypus? I like my handlebars a bit above seat level and a moderately upright, moderately stretched forward position. Currently I'm riding a mid-90s MTB (albatross bars with a maxed-out quill extension + riser treadless stem) as my everyday tank and a mid-80s road bike (drop bars with maxed-out dirt drop stem) when I want less weight/more speed.

-Wes

[Mathieu Brown]

Hi Wes,

I'm 6'4" and 95 PBH. I'm perfectly comfortable on my Platypus but I'm at the top end of the range and would go with a 62cm Atlantis in the future. I'd take a look at Will's setup on the site, that will give you an idea of what to expect.

https://www.rivbike.com/blogs/news/wills-60cm-platypus

My understanding is that the "true" height is about + 6cm. Will switched from a flat 67cm AHH to a 61.5cm AHH and says his handlebars are higher on the new bike. That means that 60cm should fit you but you'll need to top out the seat stem. 

My Stem is a nitto-fillet-faceplater-quill stem at 135mm 

My Bars are Nitto Losco at 54by 25.4  

For reference, my other bike is a 64cm Trek 620 and it doesn't fit me as well - It's noticeably a size smaller 

MATHIEU BROWN

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[Mack Penner]

Hi Wes,

You should get one. For a long while I was entertaining a Rosco Platy to go with my regular Platy bc I like it so much. I'm 6'7" with a 96.5 or 97cm pbh. My saddle height is roughly 86cm.

I've loved my Platy in a series of iterations, including one with upside down Albatross bars that were below the saddle a couple inches and a 110mm Technomic. With 43mm tires that was a sweet bike for the very gravelly country roads in my area, and with 2.2inch tires it was a slick all-rounder/tourer, it was just a little too flexy in the cockpit. Now I'm running it as a 3 speed with a 100mm Jim stem, Crust Juan Martin bars (my favourite ever) at saddle level, and 2.2s. With the Jim it's easy to get even zero-rise bars to saddle level or beyond. I ride it like a mountain bike and it's really great. Photo attached here, though it isn't the best quality. 

As some in the group will recall I recently have other bikes that are 67 and 68cm, and I'm partial to that fistful of seatpost look and have spent lots of time, like you, being frustrated with maxed out frames. But still: the Platy is awesome. 

Mack

[Garth]

I wouldn't do it Wesley. It's not the seat tube height, it's the reach and possibly the stack height. For having such a long front-center, the actual reach isn't that long with a shallow head tube angle. I asked about these from Riv and the 60cm has the following measurments:

HTA 69.6

STA  72

Effective TT  65.2 centimeters

Stack  66.6

Reach  43

Chainstay  54

Rake  6.7

Front-Center  72.6

Drop 8 cm 

The term "upright" can mean many things to different types of riders. Decreeing it by angles doesn't really work as every body is unique and in a constant state of motion, invariably variable. I'm close to your height and leg length Wesley and totally relate to maxing out too small of frames which never really feels quite right. Stock bicycle frame design to me is chronically too short in the front end and Rivendells have been no different. They finally started lengthening the front in 2019 with the Clem/Susie/Gus frames, but their road frames(the ones that take a stock 114-116L chain length) remain too short for me. The only Riv that worked for me prior is a 60cm Bombadil as it had the longest front-center-reach of any production frame for the given size, and even it is "just" enough, I could easily go longer. Seat tube height isn't a big deal anymore as seatposts are generally quite long these days. 

What I call "upright" is not so much about the body position but the ability to keep your head up comfortably and your body weight balanced as only a given rider can tell what that may be. You could be a full-on pro road racer or a causal recreational rider. No one can tell you what that balance may be, and there's certainly no way to dumb it down into a formula/box. That's why I even cringe at Riv's use of pee-bee-aytch. I think everyone should have a frame custom fit, frankly. To think that a set of 4 or 5 frames of fixed dimensions is going to work for everybody/anybody is how you end up riders using overly short and long stems and seatposts, trying out this-that and the other handlebar, and in between sizes and out of sizes. It's really no different than bike shop brands have been since I've been visiting them, the 1970's. I could say the thing about clothes, about having them tailored to fit the wearer, rather than the wearer wondering what's wrong when they don't fit into a prescribed box of dimensions. 

 A 59 Gus/Susie would fit you better Wesley as the stack height is quite tall along with the lengthened front. While the Clems are about the dimensions, but with a lower BB, I myself wouldn't want or recommend  a bike without some sort of top tube for a tall rider. These are not road bikes, however ..... bummer. Yes you can ride them on the road but they'll never be the same.  What anyone at Riv rides, particlarly Will as he is tall also, it's not really applicable to anyone else. About the only thing I really relate with anyone/anything at Riv is the love of bike riding, and does anything else matter ? 

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

Tough call. I really wish Rivendell would offer two more sizes in their mixte frames - something smaller than the 50 and larger than the 60. Their mixtes are such a hit that I think it could be justified. Maybe that geometry changes the whole bike or something, I don’t know, I’m not a frame designer, I’m just a Platypus fan. 

Let us know what you decide, Wesley.

Leah

[Johnny Alien]

The largest step through frames/builds are always the last to sell out. 

[David Sprunger]

I tried to send this message earlier, but got a scolding from Google because the pictures were too big -- apologies if you are seeing this twice.

I am (was) 6'4" but with shorter legs (PBH around 92). I have a 60 cm Cheviot, and it's a comfortable ride, but the seat post is maxed out and the bars feel close. I also have a 60 cm Bombadil (original iteration), and it is more comfortable overall although it still shows a lot of post. Both bikes have the same bar (Bosco Moose) but different seatposts. By contrast, Grant designed my custom road bike with a 64.5 cm seat tube and it fits great, but its dimensions are not as comparable because of the difference in handlebars and intended posture. 

I'll insert pictures of the three bikes. All the bikes are set up with about 98 cm from pedal spindle to top of saddle.

David Sprunger

North Newton, KS

On Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 6:38 PM Wesley <brooks...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Wesley Brooks]

Thanks folks for the thoughtful replies!

-W

On Aug 31, 2022, at 5:00 PM, Mathieu Brown <mathie...@gmail.com> wrote: