| Author |
Message |
    
Adrenaline_junkie
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 07:21 pm: | 
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You know what, at most I had a one hour lecture on gyroscopes in a freshman physics class nearly 20 years ago. I may have been hung over. I may have been absent. I haven't dealt with a gyro since. Obviously, there are people who have done their graduate school research on the matter. I'm not going to try and reach their level tonight. I will say I don't want to ride off into a turn at Daytona on a bike where the handlebars will turn as easily at 180 mph as they will at 20 mph especially when it doesn't make the bike lean into the turn. Sounds like a recipe for a high side.
Kid wants the computer. I'll check on this discussion in the morning. |
Sgthigg
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 09:48 pm: |
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Good god man try balancing this wheel at a tire change. |
Henrik
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 10:07 pm: |
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Oh well - there's a first time for everything, right  |
Gbr
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 10:38 pm: |
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Just a question for those of you who obviously know more about physics than I, but isn't the gyroscopic effect of the wheels what allows us 2 wheelers to stay upright relatively easily while moving? If you take away the gyro effect, wouldn't riding the bike become like balancing your bike at a standstill, except that now your moving?
Don't torch me too hard on this, like I said, I don't know much about the physics involved. After all, I'm only a dumb shop teacher.
gbr |
Sgthigg
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 12:43 am: |
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LOL!! "Rut Roe"  Im with the shop teacher!
I love this web sight! |
Blake
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 01:54 am: |
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GBR,
That is an all too common myth. Actually its the ability to turn the front wheel and change the bike's track that allows you to maintain balance. The gyroscopic effect does make a bike MORE stable at speed, but it is not necessary to achieve stability. The honest truth is that the gyroscopic effect builds with speed and is really a hindrance to good handling; in other words at high speeds, the gyroscopic effect makes a motorcycle too stable for its own good, at least that is the view you'll get if you talk to the folks who race the things at triple digit speeds.
A bike is kept upright and stable the exact same way a slalom water skier keeps himself upright and stable, it is steered.
Consider the tiny wheeled Razor brand scooters whose minuscule little wheels have virtually zero inertia, thus no dicernible gyroscopic effect. You can ride one of those scooters and keep it upright and stable just fine. How? By steering the front wheel to maintain balance. You start to lean left, you steer a little left, equilibrium is restored.
While you ride, the little steering inputs are second nature and usually unnoticed, but they happen, even at high speed. To convince yourself of this, pay very careful attention to the motion of your handlebar/triple clamp versus the rest of the bike. Tape a straw onto the triple clamp so it rests atop the airbox cover. As you go down the road, notice how much the end of that straw moves back and forth over the top of your airbox cover.
Interesting stuff.
I could learn a LOT from a shop teacher. Darn sure that shop teachers aren't dumb. |
Blake
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 01:57 am: |
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Disclaimer: If you become transfixed observing the little steering inputs as you travel down the road, you may run off the road which can result in injury or death. So please be warned. Taking your eyes off the road to observe steering inputs is dangerous. Do so at your own risk. |
Jima4media
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 02:47 am: |
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Interesting. |
Bomber
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 12:16 pm: |
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Junkie
you DO deal with this stuff alla time, bud -- there's a reason a sport bike is easier to turn than a bagger (well, a buncha reasons, but the gyro thing is one a them)
Blake
if it's book learning, I was very poor at it -- the insistance of my memorizing equations when they were clearly printed in the back of the book had me shut down after Geometry (which I found engaging in the extreme) -- if I had paid attention, and not snuck off to the boys room quite so often, I'd be really dangerous --
thank goodness you and others do thrive on it ;-} |
Gbr
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 03:37 pm: |
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Blake,
Thanks for the info, it makes sense to me now. Don't think I'm going to try the straw thing though, too tempting to lose focus on the important stuff.
gbr |
Blake
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 04:23 pm: |
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Bomber,
I betcha you remember this one... 
a2+b2=c2 |
M1combat
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 04:48 pm: |
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I thought... Hey... How do I get the little "squared" 2's up there damnit?
Anyway... I thought X2+B2=R2... Please mentally move those twos up half a line .
Back to your regularly scheduled programming . |
Blake
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 05:13 pm: |
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http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/discus.cgi?pg=formatting#text |
Bomber
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 05:16 pm: |
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Blake -- remember? you bet!
I even know the lil song! |
Spike
| | Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 01:00 pm: |
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Update: Brakes were tested at Jennings GP
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=25479
Video:
http://www.reverserotatingrotors.com/whyitworks2.html |
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