Less offset gives you more front trail. Lowering the rear and raising the front both increase front trail as well. Do some research on front trail and you will understand where I'm coming from. I probably wouldn't do a good job at explaining it to you.
Loosing front end in corners
Started by
packetninja
, Apr 10 2012 08:58 PM
21 replies to this topic
Posted 17 April 2012 - 08:13 AM
packetninja, on 17 April 2012 - 06:15 AM, said:
Wouldnt lowering the forks in the tripple clamp have the opposite effect of less offset? If I reduced the offset from the stock 22 to 20.5 that would bring the front wheel in closer to the engine. Wouldnt lower the forks extend it out and move the wheel farther away from the engine?
Yes and no. While it's true that the wheel does move fore and aft as you make the adjustments described, the shift in weight bias has much less effect on things than the changes in geometry they cause. Lowering the fork in the clamp (raising the effective fork height) makes the head angle shallower. That would be good if the bike tucks, bad if it pushes. Decreasing the offset increases trail. Trail is the amount that the tire contact point trails behind the steering axis. Read: http://www.thumperta...95#entry3184395
If things are changed one at a time, increasing or decreasing the offset will not alter the steering axis angle (incorrectly called rake in the vernacular). However, altering head angle does affect trail. Making the steering axis shallower will increase trail; making it steeper reduces it.
You should also be aware that the amount by which the front axle is offset forward of the fork is part of the total steering offset.
