I mean, if you’re building a custom rigid fork + frame then for sure, you can play with HTA and offset to get your ideal trail different ways.
But, assuming Greg is talking about hardtails with suspension forks, it’s not like there’s a huge variation of offsets on tap. In my experience going between stock suspension fork offsets (say between 44mm offset and 51mm offset) on the same bikes doesn’t make for a night-and-day difference to handling. Similar (slack) HTA I’ll choose a shorter offset when I need to run a shorter stem and vice versa - if it’s up to me. But adapting to either takes five minutes and certainly one isn’t going to make skinnies “very awkward at slow speed” compared to the other.
I actually think the relationship of stem length to trail is more important for bike handling. I’ve played with that a bunch.
Nov. 22, 2021, 2:38 p.m. - Andrew Major
I mean, if you’re building a custom rigid fork + frame then for sure, you can play with HTA and offset to get your ideal trail different ways. But, assuming Greg is talking about hardtails with suspension forks, it’s not like there’s a huge variation of offsets on tap. In my experience going between stock suspension fork offsets (say between 44mm offset and 51mm offset) on the same bikes doesn’t make for a night-and-day difference to handling. Similar (slack) HTA I’ll choose a shorter offset when I need to run a shorter stem and vice versa - if it’s up to me. But adapting to either takes five minutes and certainly one isn’t going to make skinnies “very awkward at slow speed” compared to the other. I actually think the relationship of stem length to trail is more important for bike handling. I’ve played with that a bunch.