Increasing "trail"

E. Willson said:

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:

phred.orgtrail.htmlOpen ↗

Art Harris

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

Quoted message said:

E. Willson said:

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:

phred.orgtrail.htmlOpen ↗

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.

"E. Willson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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

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