Originally Posted by Polaris43
Originally Posted by makeinu
Can you ride your twenty with no hands?
I'm glad this question has come up because it's something I was pondering the other day as I was riding my Mini.
...
Polaris, it's not just you. I can just barely ride my Mini with no hands, but don't; it's not stable. I cannot ride my Strida, nor my Moulton Stowaway, nor my Raleigh 20 (with original fork) without hands, not even a little bit.
But I have a MTB that I set up for commuter use, and I can ride
that with no hands, no problem. It's so stable I can go without hands long enough to take off a jacket and tie it around my waist without worrying in the least.
This came up not long ago in reference to this article on early Dahons:
http://www.johnforester.com/Articles...eEng/dahon.htm
According to Forester, it's not the wheelbase, but the "trail." According to the article, Forester modified his Dahon as follows:
Originally Posted by Forester in the article, link above
I changed the Dahon's trail distance by changing the rake of the fork blades. This required removing the front wheel and brake and applying a brazing torch to each fork blade in turn while I applied a bending force with a wrench-like tool. I did this in steps and test rode the bicycle at each step.
Original trail distance 1-9/16". Bicycle handled very badly, wobbled all over the road when I tried to ride without hands. Requires extreme movement of pelvis to get any steering response, and then that is uncertain and inconsistent.
Trail increased to 2". Rode much better without hands.
Trail increased to 2-1/4". Rode better still - no longer have to wave hands about to make it steer.
Trail increased to 2-3/4". Almost reasonable handling - almost like a touring bike.
I would like to do something similar to the Mini's fork... but not by bending it, that sounds risky!
Maybe we should start another thread, with a poll: what (folder) do you ride, and can you ride it no hands?
Rudi