On Thursday 26 February 2004 00:41, Pigeon wrote: > On Wed, Feb 25, 2004 at 05:04:26PM -0500, Bijan Soleymani wrote: > > On Wed, Feb 25, 2004 at 10:46:08PM +0100, Richard Lyons wrote: > > > It's not too difficult to work out the maximum breaking force that can > > > be applied before you get thrown onto the road. > > > > I believe it is 0.67g. Of course you can't achieve this with the rear > > wheel alone so by not using the front wheel you're sure not to flip > > over, but you're also getting much less deceleration. > > It's g tan theta, where theta is the angle between the vertical and a > line drawn from the point where the wheel touches the road and the C > of G of the (bike + rider).
Thanks Pigeon -- I was too lazy to sketch the diagram. > However, the available friction force > between the tyre and the road places an upper limit on this, which > will probably be something between 1 and 1.5 g depending on how sticky > your tyres are. Which means that, for given conditions, there is a position which you have to move your butt behind to ensure you don't flip. Unfortunately, in dry conditions at least, on most push-bikes this position is way behind the saddle (and probably out of reach of the pedals, handlebar -- and thus out of reach of the brakes too!). -- richard -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]