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Andrew Dressel
 Standard Member
244 Posts
Milwaukee, WI
USA
Moto Guzzi
California Special
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 Posted - 03/06/2014 : 12:46 PM
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Besides the obvious need for gravity to press the tires onto the ground to create the friction necessary to control a bike, it has recently been shown that, if spring-loaded outriggers are added that exactly cancel the couple created by gravity and the ground reaction forces, riders find it impossible to turn. As soon as the wheels deviate from a straight path, the bike and rider begin to lean in the opposite direction, and the only way to right them is to steer back onto the straight path. This has implications for what is possible and what is impossible in the design of narrow track vehicles, tilting trikes, and related vehicles. Here's a link to the article in Science. Here's a link to a video posted by the authors.
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twowheelsbg
Junior Member
50 Posts
Burgas, Burgas
Bulgaria
Suzuki
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Posted - 03/14/2014 : 9:40 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Andrew Dressel
Besides the obvious need for gravity to press the tires onto the ground to create the friction necessary to control a bike, it has recently been shown that, if spring-loaded outriggers are added that exactly cancel the couple created by gravity and the ground reaction forces, riders find it impossible to turn.
Aaaaaa, we knew that long time ago 
Forcing a machine into corner means cornering force into play.
Cornering force comes from tire/road contact,
mass center is way up, which means machine tends to fall out of corner.
So for sure, we need something to resist such 'fall out' tendency.
Bike has it via the above mentioned gravity couple in action when leaned,
trike has it via two tires side by side distributing normal load.
That's why such freaky machine without classical resistance to fall-out needs something handy -
lateral jet rockets or lasso to catch those cornering pillions we pass by 
Just joking, Andrew, those super-pro friends of yours really can show us mechanics' basics in endless ways. |
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Gravity is necessary to steer a bike