littlefoot wrote:
Ai_1 wrote:
littlefoot wrote:
...You definitely don't want a deeper front than the rear
Why not, other than aesthetics?
No, it's a handling issue. The OP originally said his rear was a 404, but later responded and said it is an 808. Having a front wheel deeper than the rear will cause handling issues. Especially if they were looking to put an 80 or 808 or 90 on the front.
But, since his front is an 808, it's not really an issue as having a same size wheel isn't an issue.
If you haven't done so, you would notice an issue riding a deeper front and shallower rear.
While a deep front wheel will indeed move forward the neutral point or aerodynamic centre of the bike+rider combo (more useful than centre of pressure in this case), I don't think it's the primary issue people have with a deep front wheel. I think the main issue is that the front wheel is aerodynamically unstable around the steerer pivot and any increase in area has a proportionate effect on the steering moment produced by changes in wind speed or direction.
If the front wheel is deep enough to be problematic with a shallow rear wheel, it's still likely to be problematic with a deeper one. Some improvement yes, but it's not just a total system aerodynamic stability problem. That's superimposed on a front wheel specific steering problem. I think the two get conflated.
As for the total system aerodynamic stability proposition - It doesn't make sense to me that equal depths front and back is magically the point at which the problem goes away. Why is a slightly deeper front not ok or should we not all have rear wheels 50% deeper than the front?
What about the side area of the bike? I ride a Felt IA, so the bike's got plenty side area aside from the wheels. That seattube and seatpost gives me much more directional stability than most bike frames, but of course the wheels have much greater longitudinal distance from the centre of mass so are more significant, but my point is the system is being oversimplified into "front wheel must be shallower or equal to rear"