> Higher skill riders prefer higher trail, because those riders tend to > go for higher speeds and tougher cornering situations, in which case > the increased stability and ability to hold the line helps keep the > bike stable over rough roads or under less than optimal conditions.
Well, this would depend on how you are riding. For the most part it is silly, not skilled riders who attempt high speed with a loaded self- contained touring bike. When you have 60+ pounds of gear, bikes do not stop fast, no matter how nice the brakes. When I was in college, I toured on a Paramount with a back pack and a rear Pletscher with a more stuff than it was designed to handle. That worked sort of with a plaint 20 year old body. Later I used a couple of bikes, including a Riv designed to carry most weight in the back. I actually felt less confident on descents as the rear biased weight made the front end skittish. I found and restored a Trek 728 which has one of the longer wheel bases of any bikes. I load it about 65% front, 35% rear. I find this to be the best handling and most comfortable tourer in my 15 years of touring. It handles well at the average speed and does not do anything to make you nervous on long downhills where it is better to let gravity do its thing than to ruin your brakes trying to slow you and all your gear. On Dec 30, 6:39 pm, "Piaw Na(蓝俊彪)" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Rivendells are spec'd with high trail, because that's the way Grant > > likes it. I suspect that there are a number of reasons for his > > preference, but I would like to say first and foremost that he > > probably considers trail to be insignificant in comparison to other > > design considerations; in fact, I've heard him say as much. That said, > > some of what I think might be informing that is his preference for > > rear loading (the proportion of rear/front load does indeed affect the > > way the bike handles), his feeling that toe-clip overlap is not > > significant, the speeds he likes on downhills, and that he prefers > > stability and the ability of a bike to hold a line well. > > Higher skill riders prefer higher trail, because those riders tend to > go for higher speeds and tougher cornering situations, in which case > the increased stability and ability to hold the line helps keep the > bike stable over rough roads or under less than optimal conditions. > For those riders, at low speed the increased wheel flop is not an > issue, because the rider is skilled enough to to compensate (I can > control my circa 1993 Grant-designed bicycle at 2mph climbing a hill > no matter what). Toe clip overlap is similarly not an issue. > > I've attempted to descend with Grant, and he's definitely a very > highly skilled descender, but having known his tastes his bikes, I'd > say that the feeling of agility and freedom when you get on one of his > designs is as much a factor in his design as to achieve such > performance goals. > > Unless you deliver newspapers off the front of the bike (i.e., what > Kogswell and Jan Heine seem to want to design for), I see no reason to > compromise high speed handling for the sake of being able to carry a > front load. > -- > Piaw Nahttp://piaw.blogspot.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bicycle Lifestyle" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bicyclelifestyle?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
