Increasing "trail"

[E. Willson]

It seems to me that the my road bike steering responds too fast. I think this is due to the small
amount of trail that the front wheel has. This being the case, I am looking for a convenient way to
increase the trail. Any ideas/suggestions, short of rebuilding the bike, will be appreciated.

Thanks, Ernie

 

[Arthur Harris]

"E. Willson" wrote:
> It seems to me that the my road bike steering responds too fast. I think this is due to the small
> amount of trail that the front wheel has. This being the case, I am looking for a convenient way
> to increase the trail. Any ideas/suggestions, short of rebuilding the bike, will be appreciated.

Only practical way to increase trail on an existing frame is to reduce the amount of fork offset
(sometimes called "rake").

For a full discussion of the effect of wheel size, head angle, and fork offset on trail, see:

http://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/trail.html

Art Harris

 

[Matt O'Toole]

"Arthur Harris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> "E. Willson" wrote:
> > It seems to me that the my road bike steering responds too fast. I think this is due to the
> > small amount of trail that the front wheel has. This being the case, I am looking for a
> > convenient way to increase the trail. Any ideas/suggestions, short of rebuilding the bike, will
> > be appreciated.
>
> Only practical way to increase trail on an existing frame is to reduce the amount of fork offset
> (sometimes called "rake").
>
> For a full discussion of the effect of wheel size, head angle, and fork offset on trail, see:
>
> http://www.phred.org/~josh/bike/trail.html

Forks are available in different offsets, to accomodate different head angles and handling
preferences. Also, if your fork is steel, you might be able to re-bend it a little.

Matt O.

 

[Kbh]

"E. Willson" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> It seems to me that the my road bike steering responds too fast. I think this is due to the small
> amount of trail that the front wheel has. This being the case, I am looking for a convenient way
> to increase the trail. Any ideas/suggestions, short of rebuilding the bike, will be appreciated.

The simplest way known to man is to ride a front tire bigger than the rear. This will increase the
effective head tube angle, which increases trail.

Kyle

 

[G.Daniels]

i found my frame too fast for road surface variations near traffic flow. a spare bike solved the
problem, a woman's frame from the same manufacturer. The woman's fork was not more than 1/8" forward
of the man's model. The 1/8" or less slowed the handling/darting considerablely on a frame with
relaxed sport/touring geometry of 1987 and long chainstays