So I obviously have the fear of leaning on my moped. I mean I do lean on turns, and when I take a couple of the sharp turns I normally take on my routes, I do lean into it.
But i could take these turns faster, with more lean. This is safer, isn't it? The gyroscopic effect is greater (and more safer) at higher speeds?
My fear is of tipping obviously, but much more so of slipping sideways. Somebody alleviate my fears. or confirm them lol
Lots of variables here, watch out for sand, tire inflation and tread wear, how low can you go before your kickstand drags? Only you can tell. Don't be scared, Be careful!
Dude just ride comfortable to you and to the road. Its not a stunt bike its a moped.
go for iiiiit
Depends on your tires, stock tires are not designed for high performance riding, hard rubber compound and relitively flat tread footprint. Also be aware of worn or dry rotted tires as these can fail at will. If you want to corner hard get high performance tires. Watch out for wet or dry leaves, sand etc, also oil on the road especially in intersections after a light rain.
Those fears are categorized as survival reactions, or SRs. Perfectly normal - you can to learn why you have them, and how to control them.
Leaning is how a bike turns - which is to say it falls. To fully illustrate this counter steering needs to be introduced into the conversation. Counter steering is how a bike steers, which is different than three and four wheel vehicles. Turn the bars to the left and the bike falls and turns to the right. Turn the bars to the right and the bike falls and turns to the left. Well into the 1970s and 80s people didn't believe this discovery - even today some people don't. When the bike falls it leans, and thus to effect a proper turn the bike does lean.
The issue with leaning is that at some point the tires will lift off the ground - GP riders hang off their bikes so that they can reduce the amount of lean on the bike by changing the center of gravity, the less the bike leans the more traction it has and thus the faster it can go.
The gyroscopic effect, which holds the bike up and makes it stable, is stronger at higher speeds. A big part of learning how to ride is learning to let the bike do what it was designed to do. This can be quite a challenge because the SRs get in the way.
There is a great book on this by Keith Code, actually he's written two, _Twist of the Wrist I and II_. He has also made a video of the same name. Keith runs the Superbike school in SoCal and is the premier motorcycle riding authority. The people I know that really know how to ride have read these books and swear by them. My riding skills have increased by magnitudes since I started reading and applying Keith's technology.
_Rob_
have you considered training wheels?
In a corner too much lean is not as spilly as not enough lean, though not enough lean does make for spectacular video it is not so fun for the rider. Get good tires before you experiment with speed on a ped and never push yourself beyond your own comfort zone, better to be 2 minutes late then spend months in physio.
what
just ride more and try not slowing down as much when you go into the corners. all that will happen if you blow it is you'll go too wide, so do it when there aren't any cars around
your wheels don't act as gyroscopes to keep you up.
1: good tires
2: push left, lean left, go left.
The old countersteering trick: on a flat, wide piece of road push the handlebars gently one way and the other, and notice where the bike actually goes. MOST of the time you intuitively countersteer, if you are aware of it, you ride better.
brake _before_ you start to turn/lean. ease off the brakes as you start to lean. give it gas half way through the turn. this will "stick" the lean.
a decent set of tires help a lot. as does getting lower on your bike.
Drag keeps the moped up
RuPaul uses drag to keep his moped up!
Crazy you bring this up. Just two days ago Cedric from the ghostriders broke his femur from leaning into a turn while in a "roundabout". Apparently he started to slip and tried catching it with his leg while cruisin through. The sheer force of it compacted his leg and smushed it.
It's 90% tires. My cimatti has stocker tires and I feel it slipping on mild turns, whereas my Puch has Gazells and I can turn completely upside down in a corner with no problem. Good tires make all the difference. I like the training wheel idea though.
lean iit baby
"your wheels don
Hahaha you need a certian speed for any gyroscopic force. The larger the diameter, the easier. You can balance because you are always correcting with your steering. Gyroscopic forces do not happen until higher rpm's, which is why you can do the "turn quickly the opposite way" to get it to lean the other way. I do that often on my moped.
Well, certainly there is a gyroscopic force in the wheels and in the motor. I remember my first physics class where the teacher spun a bicycle wheel and it stayed upright. Now, having enough force to keep you up, I'm not sure of, but motorcycles definitely act that way.
okay.. test it out... get your moped set on top of a point. so it can lean side to side, unless you hold it up, having the back tire off the ground. Rev the hell out of it. get it up as fast as you can... now see how long your bike balances. NOT long, because even though, at higher speeds a gyroscopic force can be made, it won't hold it up long. it is NOT what keeps your bike from falling over when you ride.
you could get more forece yet by adding balanced weight to the outer edge of your wheel, but it still wouldn't be enough to "balance" your bike. Yes, you could feel the gyroscopic force at those speeds, but that little bit isn't nearly enough keep you balanced. On larger motorcycles, this force certainly increses. it would keep you upright alot longer, but even at a constant speed with the gyro-force, it won't keep there.
Oh well, I hate arguing over something so meaningless anyway. But physics is physics.
+1 deez
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions?wasRedirected=true
"Gyroscopic forces are not required for a rider to balance a bicycle. [114][115][116] The stability of a bicycle is determined by its geometry and the rider's ability to counteract tilting by steering."
Ah fuck Steve you beat me to it
I beat ya all to it, and I didn't need any books to tell me any of it. hehhee
When teaching myself how to ride a bicycle I found to my wonderment that if I moved the steering back and forth I could stay up on the bike. Then with that established I was able to get up to speed where to my amazement I didn't have to keep compensating with the steering just to stay up.
hmmmm I want to see you try staying up WITHOUT steering.
hey thats me!!!
Maybe I have been doing it all wrong by leaning instead of steering. Thanks for the tip Deez. Or have I been steering by leaning? The leading edge of the tires contact patch pulls into a turn when leaned less than vertical
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