Quote:
Originally Posted by spoonrobot
Some people prefer to lean, some prefer to steer - within the bounds of what the machine wants.
As much from the bike as it does from your inner ear and other anatomical balance mechanisms.
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Well, of course it isn't as simple as just leaning vs. steering; balance and maneuvering a bike requires both - steering input affect lean, lean affects the steering input, which in turn affects lean, which in turn affects steering, etc. It's a big feedback loop, with the rider right in the middle of it all, both acting on, and reacting to, the dynamics of the bicycle. But I do agree that the rider's preferences and expectations, and how they've learned to react to feedback from the bike (all influenced by the rider's prior experience) will affect how a particular geometry feels and handles.
I've tested ridden a few BMC road bikes, and I personally didn't like how they handled. While they certainly tracked a straight line well, they felt unresponsive to steering inputs in quick maneuvers - in fact, it almost felt as if they were fighting back when I tried to turn the bars quickly. When testing one model of RoadMachine, it occurred to me like it handled nearly identically to my Redline cyclocross bike (whose stability is good on rough surfaces, but has ponderous handling on smooth surfaces). Afterward I compared geometries tables and found they sure enough, they had the same head angles and fork offsets, and nearly the same front center.
It was commented that the BMC geometry was tweaked in response to input from Cadel Evans. Evans originally competed in mountain biking (where he won many UCI races, including the World Cup Overall title twice) before switching to road racing. Mountain bikes tend to have slacker head angles, more trail, and longer front centers than road bikes, so maybe his preferences were formed during his earlier career on mountain bikes.