Originally Posted by
Turbotandem
Compared to the whisky fork 43mm offset on 396 axle to crown, the new 70mm offset 410 axle to crown, that has reduced trail from 65mm to 37mm and reduced flop from 18 to 10. That's with 45mm tires. With
2.3" tires the trail is 41 and flop 12. Any single joke maker would balk at a trail much under 50 as the trail reduces the bike can be dangerous at high speed. But on a tandem somehow the wheelbase of the bike has actually made the bike much more confident with less trail.
Note that the increased offset also added additional clearance over the top of the tire for larger tires because as the offset increased the axle to crown had to increase to maintain the same bike stance. Win win.
Great to see a high tech low trail tandem. Very much agree on the trail setup. It works great on a tandem with 38mm+ wide tires. In my mind the steering tube angle + fork offset makes up at least half the ride characteristics of the bike. Very stable if the captain uses a light touch. Some captains like to constantly squeeze the bars and the bike quickly responding to constant small back and forth steering makes the bike feel unstable.