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Old 11-09-2009, 11:21 PM   #10 (permalink)
Peter7307
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Victoria , Australia.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Tele man View Post
...caster is "how far" the tire patch contacts the road AHEAD/BEHIND the projected pivot/axle.

...if the contact point is right under the pivot or behind it, you end up with the "grocery-cart" vibrations.

...if the contact point is too far forward, the tire edges will be scrubbed with every light turn, which definitely will kill FE (and the tires!).
I hate to indulge in pedantic semantics here...
Caster is the ANGLE formed by a line passing through the upper and lower suspension pivot points at the wheel hub when viewed from the side.

The distance between the point where this line meets the road surface and a vertical line drawn from the wheel centre to the centre of the contact patch (also when viewed from the side) is the "trail" distance.

The resultant side effects , resulting some times in "interesting" handling , mentioned above are both correct.

Pete.
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