Success Story - Regina Parlee Gallery 50 cm Top Tube 650c Wonder
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We are re-presenting some of our customer bikes since our ability to photograph them has improved. Also, we have a great success story to share about our friend Regina. We have known Regina for years and she is a hard working personal trainer who is passionate about cycling. She is petite and was riding a beautiful Colnago C40 which was a little long in the toptube. The result of years of riding an improperly fitting bike, no matter how beautiful and cool, was Regina developed severe back pain that set in around 20 miles.
Regina came to us after getting over five different fittings from other stores, and after we measured her we told her the bike was too big. Apparently we were the first to talk about "the pink elephant in the room" and tell her that her baby was causing the pain. It was a difficult time. Regina had grown very fond of her beauty and this was causing severe separation anxiety. Regina was desparate to continue riding, and was brave enough to allow us to specify a new custom Parlee.
This Parlee was going to be a little different than bikes Parlee had built, and certainly what Regina expected. She wanted a level toptube and minimal toe overlap, on a bike with a 50 cm toptube. This meant that a Z3 was out of the question, and a Z1 was the only option. The twist was, we needed to specify 650c wheels. As you may know, few topics in cycling cause more controversy than 650's. We knew the wheels would be right for Regina, and knew we needed to specify larger 56 / 44 tooth chainrings to compensate for the smaller wheel circumference. When Regina mentioned this to her colleagues, however, she got so many conflicting opinions that it was very stressful. Fortunately, she had faith in our expertise and experience and we proceeded on with the order.
56 / 44 chainrings compensate for the 650c wheel
When the bike arrived, it was stunning. Regina picked the color and paint scheme, and it was exactly what she wanted. When we built the bike up, Kevin took her on the inaugural ride and as expected, the wheels performed wonderfully. They climbed effortlessly as the smaller radius would imply, and the larger gears made hammering on the flats and fast downhills just the same as on a 700c bike. We tweaked the fit a little more, and found that we needed to shorten the reach another 10mm, going to a 90mm stem from the specified 100mm.
Six weeks later, Regina completed a hilly century ride with a personal best time, and most importantly, no back pain! We are so happy for her and she is the most thrilled; she can ride again as far as she wants, when she wants. We hope to help all our customers get "success stories" like Regina. Thanks for letting us share this one with you.
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