Top heavy motorcycles don’t handle well

Blast from the past from January 2009: I was chatting to an email friend recently who happened to be new to motorcycles and he mentioned that top heavy motorcycles don’t handle well.

Now, I disagree based on logic and not physics.  After all a motorcycle rider sits on top of the motorcycle hence all motorcycles are top heavy.  Same with regular bicycles the rider sits on top hence top heavy.  So are my assumptions wrong?

Which bring up the question which I haven’t research yet – why do motorcycles lean to corner and not fall over –  after all a motorcycle is inherently top heavy!!!???

2021 Of course there was a bit of humor in the original post. But to be more informative post: There are physics and maths involved in the design of a motorcycle and plenty of variables and concessions to a design. It is a certain geometry between the lean angle, wheelbase, and weight distribution that allows the motorcycle to handle and go round corners. So for a motorcycle the lower the weight sits the hard it is to turn. This is the opposite of a 4 wheeled car where the lower the centre of weight it is to the ground (along with other design elements) the better the car handles.