Bike Geometry And Handling

WisePranker

This is a bit of an anorak question but does anyone know of any sites that explain the relationship between a bikes geometry and it's handling?

I'm kind of curious as to how the differences can affect the bike theoretically as well as practically.

Northwind

Not websites... Thing is, it's really pretty complicated, discussions tend to oversimplify far too much. Frinstance, you hear "slack for descending, steep for climbing", right? But when I slacked off my 456 with a head angle reducer headset, it got better at climbing- longer, and I guess it moves the centre of gravity forwards and down a little too. But my Hemlock got a little worst at climbing when I did the same, front end went a little wandery.

I think only MBR magazine believes you can look at a geometry sheet and know much about the bike tbh... Even changing one part slightly can have surprising results and a tiny change can make a really big difference.

Don't really have any answers myself other than to say don't expect easy answers

Raymondavalon

This should help

1mancity2

Pretty much what Northwind says,

Shaggy_Dog

There are far more articles about motorcycle handling, they go usually into much more depth too.

There are a few generalisations as mentioned above. Slackening the head angle increases stability at speed because the trail increases, slowing down the steering response and secondly because it increases the wheelbase, but also reduces the risk of going over the bars as the front-centre measurement increases, effectively putting the front wheel further in front of the rider. The downside to a slack head angle is it can make the front wheel unresponsive at slower speeds, such as climbing and makes the bike a bit of a barge in very tight singletrack.

It's an awful lot to think about, and that's just one small aspect of geometry, change something else, and it all goes out the window!

Don't try to think too hard when choosing a bike, just ride a few until you find what makes you tick!