interesting. i didn't realise steering forces weren't fully understood. i always use the thought experiment of having a 1 metre stem - to turn from 90deg left to 90deg right would require covering an arc of 1.8m. you'd have to move your hands a lot to turn so you'd have a lot of leverage over the wheel, slowing steering response and stopping it from being twitchy. bar width has the same effect, extra width increases the arc required to steer so increases the leverage over the wheel and slows steering. that's why stem length and bar width should be considered together. increasing trail should just increase the self correcting trolley wheel effect and not change how fast or twitchy the steering response is. it's all clear as mud in my murky mind :o)
Aug. 25, 2017, 3:24 a.m. - c.ape
interesting. i didn't realise steering forces weren't fully understood. i always use the thought experiment of having a 1 metre stem - to turn from 90deg left to 90deg right would require covering an arc of 1.8m. you'd have to move your hands a lot to turn so you'd have a lot of leverage over the wheel, slowing steering response and stopping it from being twitchy. bar width has the same effect, extra width increases the arc required to steer so increases the leverage over the wheel and slows steering. that's why stem length and bar width should be considered together. increasing trail should just increase the self correcting trolley wheel effect and not change how fast or twitchy the steering response is. it's all clear as mud in my murky mind :o)