Originally Posted by
Jughed
11mm shorter than the Emonda. Only 4.6mm of that is in the frame, the rest is in the fork rake/angle.
Can 4.6mm make that big of a difference in ride quality?
Wheelbase is wheelbase; there's no reason to separate the contributions of the frame and the fork to the wheelbase measurement. The frame designer certainly didn't.
And yes, you (and I) can feel that 11-mm difference in wheelbase. That would be the case even if a rider's position were to be reproduced identically and the saddle and handlebars and wheels and tires were identical. All of which is seldom the case for any given rider.
Just measured my fixed-gear bike and my current road bike, which both happen to be sitting nearby. The fixed-gear bike, which handles like a dream and might be my all-time favorite, has a wheelbase of a little over 97 cm. My road bike, which rides well but not quite as well for my taste as the fixed-gear bike, has a 98-cm wheelbase. (Both 54 cm nominal size, both aluminum, with a carbon fork on the road bike and a straight-blade aluminum fork on the fixed-gear bike, FWIW.)
I'm glad this topic came up. I never bothered checking the measurements before.