chalo colina wrote:

'Bent bikes tend to be longer, less triangulated, and smaller-wheeled
than uprights, and most of them suffer from compromised steering
geometry that does not not allow the sort of no-hands riding stability
common to uprights.

I think it's wrong to assume lack of no-hands means "compromised", it
will often just mean little or no trail. That's a Feature, not a Bug.
My Streetmachine won't ride no-hands (at least not with me!) but it's
steady as a rock with fingers on one hand only at some pretty high
speeds, and I've never experienced any sort of shimmy.

I do know people who've suffered on it, and they're all 'bent newbies
exhibiting the reasonably common problem of getting too nervous, hanging
on too hard and probably putting far too much power through the bars,
being used to uprights where you can heave all you want.

IME, 'bent bikes typically have most of their steering "problems"
resolved by relaxing not trying too hard, but of course that's much
easier said than done when you're nervous... I've never entriely got on
with tiller bars, and because of that I find tiller steering twitchy,
though I can ride an /otherwise identical bike/ with superman bars or
USS with no wibbles at all. I think psychology has a lot to do with
handling as well as the physics of the bike/trike.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/