Bike dynamics

[Ixion]

an interesting read. Thanks.

I have read a lot about girder forks - in particular one persons opinion why they are superior.

Sounds to me like they need to be used as a boat anchoring device.

Steve

Girder forks have a lot of advantages. When telescopics came out a lot of people were not impressed. Which led to 'orrible things like the Girdraulic . Not to mention the Dowty Pneumatic (I won't mention it , in case VeloFellow is listening).

And while leading links may have had some issues they ahd some advantages too. Especially if we include the earles fork, of BMW and Douglas fame as a leading link (which it is). Many people still swear that the Earles fork was the best design ever made. And the latest BMW forks are technically leading links.

[dpex]

Whoever was the driver in vid three, he/she needs to be grounded. Overtaking on double-yellow lines, blind hills, then overtaking a car overtaking.

You think this is good riding? If you do then you're a complete arsehole. And come your funeral I'll come to piss on your coffin.

[RiderInBlack]

Whoever was the driver in vid three, he/she needs to be grounded. Overtaking on double-yellow lines, blind hills, then overtaking a car overtaking.

You think this is good riding? If you do then you're a complete arsehole. And come your funeral I'll come to piss on your coffin.

Think ya need ta rewatch the vid and pull ya head in.

1. Firstly take in account that the cam was probably mounted lower than the rider's helmet, therefore the rider's view was better than the cams. the "Blind" hill wasn't blind for the rider.
2. First "overtaking" car the rider overtook had already finished overtaking and was moving back into it's lane at the time the rider passed with plenty of safe space. The last "Overtaking" car had slighty moved right to give more room for a parked car. The rider still had a safe passing space it that case too.
3. Where the rider passed on the "Yellow lines" he had clear view of the road ahead and the lines were ether just starting or just finishing.

By the way I have not ridden with that rider or am him.

[CookMySock]

You think this is good riding? If you do then you're a complete arsehole. And come your funeral I'll come to piss on your coffin.

Don't be nasty dpex. We all don't ride "good" all the time. Sometimes we play up, just like you do, and if you want to go do something dumb on a bike you should just go do it and have fun. If people are gunna get themselves killed doing crazy shit, then they MIGHT want to consider those who care about them, but thats their business, not ours.

Steve

[Crisis management]

I realise bike dynamics is a massive subject......
Stepping heavily on the inside peg.
Yet the bike stood up.

Mostly what others have said here but don't overlook the effect your peg weighting will have....loading the inside peg makes the bike stand up.

The lighter the bike the more effect you will have but you need to learn the basics of bike control.

My standard answer is read "Twist of the wrist 2", I know thats already been suggested but take this as another hint.

Try riding slowly and experimenting with the effects of different control inputs, thats what I do for days when I get a new bike.

Have fun.

[pritch]

Try riding slowly and experimenting with the effects of different control inputs, thats what I do for days when I get a new bike.

Good suggestion, it's a good idea after a layoff as well, like a couple of weeks ago when we had the first fine weekend in ages.

Also while riding around East cape last time a near miss involving a local plumber and his Xtra wide trailer suggested that instead of using the usual line I should use an imaginary line running parallel with the centre line but a metre toward my side.

In his book Pridmore suggests staying nearer the middle of the lane and that's hard to argue with...

[James Deuce]

Blimey. No one's picked up on "conservation of angular momentum" thing, have they.

More simply, the steering head acts as a pivot when you brake while leaned over.

You crank the bike over and you are describing the arc of a circle with your bike. You apply the brakes and one of the forces balancing the bike suddenly changes its vector from keeping you describing that arc to wanting to fly off at a tangent to that arc.

Thing is you are steering the bike, so rather than spearing off at a tangent all the mass behind the steering head (if you are turning right) tries to go left, while you continue to hold the bike down to the right. Thing is the mass heading to the left translates into a steering input to the left and et voila, bike stands up. Let the brake off and it will suddenly flop down to the right because you are (usually) trying to subconciously counter this force (if you aren't target fixated). Often letting the brake off is all you need to do to fix the problem you just created by braking.

Bear in mind that while all this is going on you are reducing the available amount of front end traction tremendously. The further over you are leaned, the less braking force you have available. If you need to brake hard in a corner, stand the bike up first.

I suggest going to a big wide open carpark and practicing that though, because it feels counter intuitive on the road.

Bring a trailer.