Been thinking about this recently and not sure:
A floating bridge (whammy bar setup) is a balance between the tension on the strings against the tension on the springs.
the downside, as you know, is string bending takes more effort than a fixed bridge because as you bend a string the increase intension moves the bridge thus requiring further bending to reach the "target" pitch.
Q. How would fitting heavier or lower gauge strings affect this?
My guess is that it would make do difference. Lighters strings are easier to bend and require less force but equally there would be less spring-tension to create balance and any string bending would still require "extra" bending compared to a fixed bridge.
It's obviously a case of adapting if you play fixed bridges and floating bridges as each require different physical demands when string bending.
please share your thoughts, especially if you jump between fixed and floating bridges and how you deal with this.