A rod acquires linear momentum during a short-laser-pulse ablation of its front face. Initially, this momentum is localized within the propagating laser-induced mechanical pulse—the optodynamic wave—while later it is gradually transferred to the uniform motion of the entire rod. Among other effects, the dispersion of the optodynamic wave due to lateral inertia plays an important role in the linear-momentum transformation mechanism. We observed the dispersion using interferometric measurements of the rod’s rear-end staircaselike displacement. The displacements calculated using an analytical solution of Love’s equation for a laser-ablated free-free homogeneous rod agree well with our measured data.