Originally Posted by
JGaerlan
Steamer, How do you like the feel of the front geometry with the reverse fork orientation and steep head angle (high 80 deg?). If I remember right , the fork trail on this design has the same fork trail as a regularly designed SWB with normal fork orientation and head angle in the 70's. Thanks for the feedback. Trying to see if I can use design on my next home built bent.
I find it to be a significant improvement. It's easier to control than bikes with more flop, most particularly at non-high speeds (say, 20 mph and lower). It has lots of trail without the usual associated downside of lots of flop. This bike is 85 deg. steering angle and -40mm rake resulting in 71mm of trail and 6mm of flop, using the 700x32c tire you see in the above picture.
Keeping the tire constant, if you changed the steering angle to 71 deg. and 45mm of positive rake, you'd get 72mm of trail and 22mm of flop.
The main thing to be aware of when using this approach is that the other aspects of the design need to be such that the tiller distance is still kept in check. If tiller distance ends up being high due to the bike being a direct steered LWB or the use of tiller / preying mantis type steering on a SWB, the benefits will be diluted.
And it probably goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, there are other design elements that affect how a bike handles. Steering geometry and tiller distance are some of the more important ones, IMO, but there are others to be concerned about as well.