Steering in bicycles and motorcycles

American Journal of Physics

Volumn 68, Issue 7, 2000, Pages 654-659

  Fajans, J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034411928     PISSN: 00029505     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1119/1.19504     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. S. Timoshenko and D. H. Young, Advanced Dynamics (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1948), pp. 239-243.
2. J. Lowell and H. D. McKell, "The stability of bicycles." Am. J. Phys. 50, 1106-1112 (1982).
3. A. J. Cox, "Angular momentum and motorcycle counter-steering: A discussion and demonstration," Am. J. Phys. 66, 1018-1021 (1998).
4. J. Robinson, Motorcycle Tuning:Chassis (Newnes, Boston, 1994), pp. 1-16.
5. A. W. Jackson and M. Dragovan, "An experimental investigation of bicycle dynamics," Am. J. Phys. (submitted).
6. Mathsoft Inc., Cambridge, MA.
7. http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~fajans.
8. s, is small.
9. D. E. H. Jones, "The stability of the bicycle," Phys. Today 23 (4). 34-40 (1970).
10. λ is smaller than the bicycle's leaning moment because the center of mass is lower.
11. The turning radii used in Figs. 2 and 3 are the minimum highway turning radii allowed at the given speeds. See http://www.dot.ca.gov:80/hq/oppd/ hdm/chapters/tables/tb203_2.htm.
12. Adam Curtin, private communication.
13. J. Higbie, "The motorcycle as a gyroscope," Am. J. Phys. 42, 701-702 (1974).
14. W. T. Griffith, The Physics of Everyday Phenomena (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1998), pp. 149-150.
15. Photograph courtesy of Amanda Curtin.