Originally Posted by carpediemracing

Most small bikes used to be made this way so that the front wheel clears more of your foot than it normally would (so you hit your toe, not the ball of your foot). My "crit/racing" designed bikes (Cdale, Spec) had 69-71 degree head tube angles. I was astounded at the handling improvement when I finally got on a 73 degree headtube angle bike (Giant TCR). The biggest difference was that I could initiate turns much quicker and I could also move laterally much easier when out of the saddle.

For regular cornering with a slack HT angle I'd just hunker down at my lean angle and hold it. But trying to change midstream wasn't natural.

cdr