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From a webpage describing the pros and cons of 29-er bicycles:
When traveling at slow speeds, tight handling and steering response time is decreased.
Do they mean "the handling is tight, and steering response time is decreased"?
Or do they mean "tight handling time is decreased" - in such case, what is this "tight handling"?
In the context of bicycles, handling refers to the way the bike is managed when moving. Here’s an example of what handling refers to, from the page entitled Handling technique: cornering a road bike -
In that context, tight is likely to refer to road curvature, as the following examples suggest:
If the turn is tight or your speed increases, lean the bike farther in, and vice versa. - How to Corner on a Bike
Most riders know that bringing their inside leg up will ensure that the pedal doesn’t hit the ground on a tight bend. - How To: Corner a Road Bike at Speed.
Tight handling would then refer to the way one rides a bicycle through sharp turns. I’d take the assertion to mean that it’s harder to do this with the bigger wheel (the phrasing is a little awkward/compact, but decreased tight handling probably refers to decreased manoeuvrability around tight corners). Perhaps the greater angular momentum needed to twist the larger-diameter wheel contributes to the decreased “steering response time”.
Putting it all together, the quote says that it’s harder to control bicycles with bigger wheels when they are moving slowly.
I think there is a problem with the structure! How? Here is what tight handling means:
Tight handling-- (a.k.a. push, understeer) occurs during cornering when the car's front tires lose traction before the rear tires. When this happens, the car will not turn as much as intended by the driver's steering input, and will start to drift to the outside of edge the turn -reference
Obviously, when a vehicle is not under driver/rider's control, it's a disadvantage. So, if the tight handling is decreased, it means it's an advantage, but the source says that the point is under the subtitle of disadvantages.
Thus, here is how the bullet point I think should be -
Tight handling while traveling at slow speeds, and steering response time is decreased.
