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Old 06-25-09, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by LarDasse74
Danno - I think you may be looking at it backwards...

Larger wheel diameter gives more trail.

From http://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/trail.html (linked from Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary entry "Trail")

T = (R X Cos H -F)/Sin H
Where 'T' is Trail and 'R' is the tire radius.

If tire radius increases in this formula, trail increases.
And more trail results in more stability, slower steering, better straight line tracking. So the stock wheel should be twitchier, except for the friction of the wider, softer tire.

I've not found the ability to no-hand a bike to be based on trail, though others may have. I find if I have a problem riding no-handed (and I'm going fast enough), there is a bias in the bike frame. Either a binding/notchy headset, a warped fork, or a frame not aligned.
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