bt

The bike seems to have very little trail and is very twitchy. Not fun on long rides.

What are the fork option out there to make this bike handle more like a touring bike??

thoughts?

bikeM3987

I hope you are trolling....

If not though, why would you buy a race bike if you want it to handle like a touring bike?

softlysoftly

You'll have to measure the following:
head tube angle
rake
trail
wheelbase

Once you know these values it'll be easier to figure out what to change...

marcusbandito

A fork with less rake should be the answer. I did this on my Trek 2.3 and it made the bike much more stable (for me) on fast decents. Do your research though, and learn about frame geometry and how the fork's rake can effect it. If you're going to drop some cash on a fork you'll want to know what it is going to do to the bike. check this article :https://www.dclxvi.org/chunk/tech/trail/

carpediemracing 

+1

Less rake, for a frame with the head tube laying back a bit (i.e. normal), will give you more trail. Derny bikes (motorpaced track bikes) use vertical head tubes (90 degree) with a *negative* rake (fork points backwards). This gives tons of trail. Think shopping cart wheels. Ideal for pulling the front wheel in so the rider can get closer to the derny.

One caveat - if you have a slack head tube CR-1 (a smaller size) the front wheel will end up closer to your feet, esp when turning at very slow speeds.

If the bike is twitchy, it also be that you have too little weight on the front wheel, or (related) too short a stem. For example, if I ride a frame that's too tall for me, and I use a very short stem to compensate, it'll be very, very easy to make the handlebars turn, at least at slower speeds (i.e. "Century" vs "Crit"). You can ride on the drops more to get your weight down and farther forward but it's probably uncomfortable for a century and the fact remains that your front wheel isn't weighted down a lot.

A related thing, but I suspect this is not the case, is not steering with the hips. In other words, the rider. I did a regular group ride during the summer and one guy did not understand the concept of "not steering". He'd jerk the bars back and forth, swerving pretty aggressively, at all speeds, in all conditions. I don't know if he considers his bike "twitchy" but it's pretty clear what is causing the bike's twitchiness.

I personally look for the "twitchiest" frames because I know they'll be stable for a couple reasons:
- I usually need a long, low stem, due to my ape-like torso/leg ratio
- Any decent amount of trail, combined with the long, low stem, is stable enough for me to feel comfortable moving my hands around on flat out descents (40-50 mph for me, so far, on this bike).
- Such frames make it much easier for me to adjust my trajectory in the case of an emergency, like adjusting my line through a turn or during a sprint. I learned this only when I got my Giant (Size M), which had normal front geometry, to replace a "normal" 50 cm frame (Spec S-Works M2, and prior to that various Cdales) with a slack headtube (for toe clip clearance). I'll gladly sacrifice toe clip clearance to get a frame that responds to my every whim.

hope this helps,
cdr

AnthonyG

OK, my two bobs worth is that your problems have nothing to do with the trail and everything to do with the alignment and unfortunately you cant necessarily fix this with a new fork unless its the fork thats out of alignment.

I have a custom built 650c bike with the smallest trail (50.1 mm) plus shortest wheelbase (895 mm) of any of you and yes its VERY agile through the corners but its also perfectly stable in a straight line because its in proper alignment. I can ride it no handed with a little care. I previously rode 2 bikes that I couldn't ride no handed for quids. They both had longer wheelbases and more trail and I thought something was wrong with me but it wasn't. Those bikes were simply out of alignment.

Check your wheel alignment first before changing forks. I'm not a fan of modern vertical rear dropouts because of this reason. They need to be aligned absolutely perfectly in manufacture and if they aren't, which is common you have problems. My custom frame has traditional semi-horizontal dropouts which allow you to adjust your wheel alignment.

Anthony

bt

anyone have a thought on which fork to buy that would achieve more trail and be aesthetically pleasing on this bike?

softlysoftly

Reynolds uozo pro, Look HSC4 try getting one with rake between 40-43.
Of course this is not going to guarantee stability...

bt

cool all.

thx!

Is there any info on the internet that would tell me the rake/offset of my current OEM fork?

DScott

I read that as "more tail", and my first thought was to pull a dog in a trailer. Almost as much of a chick magnet as a baby, and LOTS simpler to explain.

hrt4me

Thanks for that tip

MONGO!

Sell the Scott and buy a bike more suited to your needs.

bt

could you suggest a frame?

curiouskid55

Responsive handling is not "twitchey". Ride with a lighter hand. If you move the bars the cr1 will turn.

CastIron

I have an '06 CR1. It's incredibly stable.

Twitchy is often in the eye of the beholder.