Old 08-06-14, 07:35 PM
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SkylarG
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Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Montreal, QC
Posts: 53

Bikes: Marinoni Pista (650c), Gunnar Crosshairs, Yakota Twin Peaks Tandem

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Front-loads and low-trail vs. wheel flop.

I'm hoping someone can explain where trail vs. wheel flop comes into play with handling front loads. The discussions I find all seem to attribute this to trail, where high trail will give leaning more streering force and lower trail will be more about hands-on steering.

Wheel flop, according to Wikipedia, affects steering "Because wheel flop involves the lowering of the front end of a bicycle or motorcycle, the force due to gravity will tend to cause handlebar rotation to continue with increasing rotational velocity and without additional rider input on the handlebars."

In the mob of low-trail 650b bikes I see around, they all rely on heavy rake forks to achieve low trail figures. I'm wondering why frames are not being designed to use a steeper head tube and a standard 43-50mm offset fork.

E.g. the Soma Grand Randonneur uses a 72d head tube angle, and 69mm offset fork to get 34mm trail and 10mm flop.
By contrast, a frame could be built with a 75d head tube angle, and a 45mm offset fork to get 41mm trail and also have 10mm flop.

It seems to me that having a 15lb bag sitting off your bars or on a front-rack that moves with and pulls your handlebars/wheel in the flop is a bigger factor than how the bike trails.

So, what I'm wondering is, can this steep head tube idea maybe offer a bike that can carry a front load well (low flop), yet also be a little more stable at higher speeds compared to the lower-trail alternative?
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