Remember them? Usually Japanese or Italian steel frames with the curved seat post and 700/650 rear/front wheel combo. I wasn’t following cycling back then, so wonder how these bikes were for TT’s in their day. I understand they were eventually banned. A guy in our club has one hanging in his garage. He says it was fast. Anyone know anything as to how the 700/650 wheel combo worked?
yeah, they are all over Ebay
and there were quite a few (and possibly still currrent) 40k TT National records set at Moriarty on these bikes.
the reason for these bikes are sort of muddled and confused. the principle one is that much like modern time trial bikes, builders knew they needed to get the handlebars lower. given quill stems and high stack threaded head sets it was really tough to get the handlebars low without using a small front wheel. the rear wheels weren’t shrunk due to gearing and shifting issues revolving around a 650 rear wheel. the top tubes sloped down due to the inability of anyone to invent long seat posts. bikes had to measure “center to center” not center to virtual center back then. if you rode 56 cm road bike, by god your time trial bike would also have a top tube which intersected the seat tube exactly 56cm above the bottom bracket, regardless of what that tube did on route from that point to the headtube.
another reason these bikes came about was due to the impact of track pursuit bikes on time trial design. builders designed pursuit bikes with small front wheels for all of the reasons stated above to an extent, but more importantly they did it so pursuit riders could ride closer to the guy in front of them thereby getting a better faster draft. this also made the “funny bikes” on the road better team time trial bikes.
I have one that is the basis of my first “Project Bike”, a bit of old, a bit of new, and a bit of scary.
This one in particular has quite a few palmares. This is a custom-built domestic (U.S.) bike frame, no bent seat tubes or internal routing. I am going to document all of the history with it when I finally put it up for sale. It is going to have Bunnyman Institute accessories (Delta cover made of carbon, rear mech plate, bunnyman special seat and seat post), as well as dual discs.
The 700c/650c (and sometimes the 700c/24") TT bikes were quite popular for a variety of reasons. The front was a lot lower without compromising body comfort, there were no shift problems with a 700c rear wheel, and they handled quite well (in my opinion), as the head tubes were super-slack. The team time trial was a good thing for these because of the draft issue, and they worked really well in the Kilo and time trial on the track, as well.
Why were they banned? Who knows the real reason why the UCI ultimately decided to ban them, and the intention of their rules (on time trial bikes) did not help much ($$$), as the Pinarello Montello is the most expensive stock TT bike in the world at this time ($20,000 USD) and it’s legal (?). Maybe it’s that at one time, 700c/650c or 24" bikes were all custom jobs? It’s senseless to me.
Good explanation by Craig. I would add that the introduction of aerobars pretty much eliminated the benefit of funny bikes as you didn’t need handlebars to be quite as low anymore. Still, funny bikes are way cool in that ol’ skool kind of way. Like a Hemi Cuda or a Vincent.
I built Funny bikes for a few years,and still TT on my first,and love the way they handle and look,these frames are getting cheap on ebay, and many would still make great rides for people. And belive me i know how to make a long seat post.
Someone who really can make things.( past owner of a bike frame building shop)
I had one when I was sponsored by a bike shop/manufacturer in the mid 80’s and raced and trained on the thing. Looked werid, at the time, and certainly got lots of looks. Seemed to work well for me as I recall winning a few races on the thing. The only pain was that you had to carry two spares when racing and training - one 650 and one 700.
700/650 setup works for Joe Boness.He passed me at St Croix, IMLP, and IMH. Man , he can ride. Did a 9:45 two weeks in a row at IMH and Great Floridian, which he won outright.Racing IMF this weekend. 3 IM’s in 4 weeks. Instead of carrying two spares he carries Tufo tire sealant. That guy is a DUDE!!!
Luc van Lierde won IMH '96 on a funny bike, Colnago Kronos, and I have the photos to prove it, LOL…
Paulo
I was given a Felt / Easton funny bike frame and many of the components from a friend who got a more modern TT setup. Built it up with more modern component mix, as I remembered watching guys in the Tour Du Pont on those things and dreamed about actually having one some day. Very different to ride it, having no previous TT bike experiences. The two spares business is a drawback, too. Have a tubular front, clincher back tire. Lots of fun on PCH and lots of looks from people who haven’t seen one before. Are these triathlon legal?
Neil
They are legal unless you are an ITU pro.
BTW, That old Felt funny bike was among the deffest rides ever. I never saw one in person but spent many an hour drooling over the catalog. Consider yourself lucky to have it.