I'll bite
If you ever raced a road criterium in the rain, you will realize that you need proportionally more weight over the front tire while pedaling seated into 90 degree corners at 50 kmph and leaning the bike ~45 degrees.
The handling requirements of a road bike are about lateral grip (fore aft grip does not matter) for high speed relatively wide radius turns
Twitchy is not a bad thing. Fighter planes are twitchier than other planes of similar size, F1 and WRC race cars are twitchier than regular cars, MotoGP bikes are twitchier than cruisers and choppers...
Bermed turns on a mtn bike are kind of "set and forget" relative to road race crit turns flying/riding in formation mm's away from 100 other racers all fighting for the same line, and the infinite but infinitesimally small adjustments in line required
Jan. 21, 2022, 8:45 a.m. - taprider
I'll bite If you ever raced a road criterium in the rain, you will realize that you need proportionally more weight over the front tire while pedaling seated into 90 degree corners at 50 kmph and leaning the bike ~45 degrees. The handling requirements of a road bike are about lateral grip (fore aft grip does not matter) for high speed relatively wide radius turns Twitchy is not a bad thing. Fighter planes are twitchier than other planes of similar size, F1 and WRC race cars are twitchier than regular cars, MotoGP bikes are twitchier than cruisers and choppers... Bermed turns on a mtn bike are kind of "set and forget" relative to road race crit turns flying/riding in formation mm's away from 100 other racers all fighting for the same line, and the infinite but infinitesimally small adjustments in line required