The last 10 minutes of this afternoon's Law in Action was about cycling, RLJ and so on.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016wzrn
It's not available on iPlayer yet.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
Law in Action - Radio 4 8/11/11
(6 posts)-
Posted 13 years ago #
-
Brave enough, yes (I have ridden a motorcycle and sidecar!)
Enough space to keep one or money to buy one, afraid not....Posted 13 years ago # -
As I understand the dynamics are much the same but the centre of mass is higher which exacerbates the problems.
Phoned the mighty Alastair Gow last night to ask for some Schwalbe winter tyres for mine. In winter is is prey to the same issues as a car when it comes to stopping and starting. There're is also a little bit of yaw as the back end drifts down the camber. What it doesn't do is fall over on ice like a bike does. It falls over because of Newton's first law.
Posted 13 years ago # -
Posted 13 years ago #
-
@WFB the tipping problem is not in itself the main problem with a motorcycle and sidecar, briefly, it is the asymetry, when you accelerate the rig pulls hard left (in the UK) and when you decelerate it pulls to the right, it has to be set to run true on a slight left camber but at any other time it needs a good firm pressure on the bars to run straight, but worse yet is the effect of the asymetry during cornering, we've probably all seen someone lifting the chair wheel on a tight left turn, and it is mostly relatively safe, (though not always), the problem comes during a tight right turn where it feels safe, however at the right (wrong!) moment when the forces become high enough it will flip over violently and un-recoverably.
Apart from that they're really safe and sensible :-o
(but actually a lot of fun to ride once the initial terror subsides...)Posted 13 years ago # -
The drive side is an issue with one wheel drive trikes too. In the UK they use left wheel drive so that it pushes thief up out of the gutter. Mine is two wheel drive so it doesn't have that problem but it is a little heavier and more complex. Sitting normal to the camber foxes most people as they steer left to counter the perceived fall and then crash into the kerb.
Posted 13 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
