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Originally Posted by PSk
If you think about the only 2 constants on the bike related to the road, they are the 2 tyre contact patches. When you push one side of the handle bar, the front tyre turns, it does/can not slide across the road because of grip. Now because of rake when the front tyre turns something else has to move ... and that is ofcourse the head stock (or handle bar pivot, if I have not used the correct term).
Thus we have a lever situation, and thus on my bike atleast, the force of my push is magnified to a larger force that pushes the bike's head stock towards the centre of the turn, hence leaning the bike so positively.
Try it when you are stationary and you can feel the force pushing the head stock sideways or inwards.
This is (one of the reasons, or the only reason?) why rake is so important to bikes. It gives the rider the ability to balance the bike by using force on the handle bars. Witness bicycle riders who balance when stationary ... they move the handle bars around a lot, thus pushing the head stock of the bike left or right to balance.
Its nothing magical ... no gyroscopics involved, plain force balancing. The gyroscopic affects caused by wheels or the motor simply dictates how much force is required to lean the bike.
Pete
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Please correct me if I am wrong...but reading this made me think of a wheelbarrow....think of how you change direction with a loaded wheelbarrow....very little is required to get it to move off a straight line, just raise one handle a tiny bit.....same with rake....if the distance from the handle is short, it takes more effort to acheive the same amount of turn, conversely, if the handle is looooong, it takes a tiny amount of effort to inititiate the turn....the classic and basics of levers and leverage...same thing on a motorcycle, ne pas? Although, I wonder about the Easyrider bikes with the front wheel in another area code...how do they turn?
That is why rake and trail are so critical. Also, makes you appreciate unicyclists more, eh?