In a message dated 10/12/2005 9:49:18 AM Eastern Daylight Time, jswan@optonline.net writes:
<< I recently made a set of bosses for Mafac Racers. Take a look:
http://centerportcycles.com/
Then I heard that Mike Barry at Mariposa had a run of them made up. >>
Way cool bike Jamie!
This correspondence, seeing your gray & black bike and the short trail issue addressed in it, brings up some simmering thoughts I have had about modern front end geometry. Or should I say, the perplexing nature of aforementioned applied theory.
In my far past frame building, I experimented a bit with testing those same theories ("X amount of trail = optimum stability.. and conversely too little trail = instability..")
As it looks like you have found, I discovered that things are no nearly so clear cut, and bikes that are supposed to handle like crap, actually are pretty good. My not-finalized-by-far thoughts are that straightness & tracking have a lot more to do with bikes handling than a certain proscribed geometry. Many bikes that are said to be improperly designed (even "master works") ride poorly mostly because the alignment was shoddy or disrupted.
Anyway, I have learned to not believe as gospel those manifestos about "the best" front end geometry issued by cycling talking heads.
Dale Brown
Greensboro NC USA