Joe, Your explanation is very logical, at least for motorcycles where the machine itself is quite heavy. I'm just wondering if for a light bicycle, where the rider weight is so much higher, placing the load closer to the wheels actually achieves the same purpose. I'll have to try it next time, but it's how the touring loading has evolved over time and I assume it's for a good reason.
I'm no expert, so just speculating... René Sent from my iPhone 4 On Oct 8, 2011, at 9:04 PM, Joe Bernard <joerem...@gmail.com> wrote: It probably has something to do with polar moment of inertia. Back in the day, Honda attempted to make their GP race bikes handle better by putting all of the weight - including the gas tank - as low as possible, and discovered they were hard to turn. It turned out the bike had a "middle" that the rider on top, and the wheels below, moved around. By putting most of the bike down around the wheels, the rider was forcing what amounted to much heavier wheels to the right as he was leaning left. In the next design, they centralized the mass in the handlebar/gas tank/seat plane, with the rider as the lighter "top", and the wheels as the lighter "bottom". Having most of the mass in the middle - around seat height - made for better handling because the heaviest parts were "neutral". We think the wheels stay in a stationary position, while the rest of the bike/rider leans from that axis, but it's not true. As you lean into a corner, the wheels drift the opposite way as a counterbalance. Therefore, loading the bags closer to the rider's seat means that mass stays put while the extremities of rider and wheels pivot around it. Make sense? Joe Bernard Fairfield, CA. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/hW5YhSW4rxoJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
