Wheel flop

Description

Wheel flop refers to steering behavior in which a bicycle or motorcycle tends to turn more than expected due to the front wheel “flopping” over when the handlebars are rotated. Wheel flop is caused by the lowering of the front end of a bicycle or motorcycle as the handlebars are rotated away from the “straight ahead” position. Mechanical trail is the perpendicular distance between the steering axis and the point of contact between the front wheel and the ground. It may also be referred to as normal trail. “Wheel flop factor,” the distance that the center of the front wheel axle is lowered when the handlebars are rotated from the straight ahead position to a position 90 degrees away from straight ahead, is depended on the trail and the head angle (the steering axis angle measured from the horizontal).