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"Chopper" head-angle makes weird handling...

Old 09-23-14, 03:43 PM
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"Chopper" head-angle makes weird handling...

I just got my first CX bike. It's a 2010 Scott Comp, large, and it says it has 71-deg HT angle. Whew, I've never ridden such a chopper. I'm pretty much liking it so far. It carves a good turn. Understeers a lot. I have to hork it and dive it to get it to turn. The crazy thing though is if I get light on the bars it seems like the REAR of the FRONT tire gets away from me! I can crash myself. So when I'm horking the bars on a bumpy uphill if the front end gets light while bouncing the front tire zips out from under me in a weird new way.

Now this bike has a much shorter TT than my roadbike for a similar ST length, maybe 1.5" shorter!!! Our CX courses are mellow so I like using a similar position. To get that I need to use a 14cm stem instead of my usual 12. So maybe when my front end is bouncing around and I wiggle the bars maybe the longer lever moves the wheel around more.

I've also been road riding with this bike with the local fast group. I notice it sprints rock solid but when I'm just riding along the front wheel can wiggle around a lot if I jostle the bars -- moreso than with my roadbike. I have a '04 Giant TCR L with 73.5-deg. I like how that bike handles both for road and when I used it for CX.

Maybe my new chopper bike will have less hand-shock since the front end is more sloped back? I don't know the physics, tho.
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Old 09-24-14, 01:23 PM
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ps: Today I was really noticing how far down I have to shove the inside bars to get it to turn. It won't turn if you steer it, you gotta lean it. So do CX tires roll and grip better when banked really far over compared to when they're steered? I always thought that leaning created huge SHEAR forces for much easier slide-outs and other bad things. But I suppose maybe steering results in the tire PLOWING more? And maybe you can end up tripping over the outside of the wheel? I don't know if I've had that happen. Is the combo of 71degHT plus 14cm stem a crazy thing?
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Old 09-24-14, 10:18 PM
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