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106-668: Motorcycle Live is an annual motorcycle and scooter show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham , England. The event first started in 1981 as the International Motorcycle and Scooter Show . In 2010 it was renamed Motorcycle Live . Black Horse , a vehicle finance provider, is a sponsor of the Black Horse Stage. Motorcycle A motorcycle ( motorbike , bike , or, if three-wheeled,

212-418: A manual five- or six-speed sequential transmission drives the swingarm -mounted rear wheel by a chain , driveshaft , or belt . The repair can be done using a Motorcycle lift . Motorcycle fuel economy varies greatly with engine displacement and riding style. A streamlined, fully faired Matzu Matsuzawa Honda XL125 achieved 470 mpg ‑US (0.50 L/100 km; 560 mpg ‑imp ) in

318-588: A trike ) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar from a saddle-style seat. Motorcycle designs vary greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting , cruising , sport (including racing ), and off-road riding. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and being involved in other related social activities such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies . The 1885 Daimler Reitwagen made by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Germany

424-495: A bike feel difficult to steer. Bikes with negative trail (where the contact patch is in front of where the steering axis intersects the ground), while still rideable, are reported to feel very unstable. Normally, road racing bicycles have more trail than touring bikes but less than mountain bikes. Mountain bikes are designed with less-vertical head angles than road bikes so as to have greater trail and hence improved stability for descents. Touring bikes are built with small trail to allow

530-413: A bike stays upright when it is steered to keep its center of mass over its wheels. This steering is usually supplied by a rider, or in certain circumstances, by the bike itself. Several factors, including geometry, mass distribution, and gyroscopic effect all contribute in varying degrees to this self-stability, but long-standing hypotheses and claims that any single effect, such as gyroscopic or trail ,

636-481: A bike to balance itself. They designed a two-mass-skate bicycle that the equations of motion predict is self-stable even with negative trail , the front wheel contacts the ground in front of the steering axis, and with counter-rotating wheels to cancel any gyroscopic effects . Then they constructed a physical model to validate that prediction. This may require some of the details provided below about steering geometry or stability to be re-evaluated. Bicycle dynamics

742-495: A bike which is just as tall but with a lower center of mass. This is an example of a vertical second-class lever . A small force at the end of the lever, the seat or handlebars at the top of the bike, more easily moves a large mass if the mass is closer to the fulcrum, where the tires touch the ground. This is why touring cyclists are advised to carry loads low on a bike, and panniers hang down on either side of front and rear racks . A factor that influences how easy or difficult

848-399: A bike will be to ride is trail , the distance by which the front wheel ground contact point trails behind the steering axis ground contact point. The steering axis is the axis about which the entire steering mechanism (fork, handlebars, front wheel, etc.) pivots. In traditional bike designs, with a steering axis tilted back from the vertical, positive trail tends to steer the front wheel into

954-460: A broomstick is more easily balanced in the hand than a pencil, a tall bike (with a high center of mass) can be easier to balance when ridden than a low one because the tall bike's lean rate (rate at which its angle of lean increases as it begins to fall over) will be slower. However, a rider can have the opposite impression of a bike when it is stationary. A top-heavy bike can require more effort to keep upright, when stopped in traffic for example, than

1060-428: A certain threshold, going faster increases the chances that a bike is contributing to its own stability. The farther forward (closer to front wheel) the center of mass of the combined bike and rider, the less the front wheel has to move laterally in order to maintain balance. Conversely, the farther back (closer to the rear wheel) the center of mass is located, the more front wheel lateral movement or bike forward motion

1166-417: A finite angle to the direction of motion, a lateral force is developed at the contact patch of the tire. This force creates a torque around the longitudinal (roll) axis of the bike, and this torque causes the bike to lean away from the initially steered direction and toward the direction of the desired turn. Where there is no external influence, such as an opportune side wind to create the force necessary to lean

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1272-789: A full motorcycle licence or endorsement for completing a Motorcycle Safety course varies by province. Without the Motorcycle Safety Course the chance of getting insurance for the motorcycle is very low. The Canada Safety Council , a non-profit safety organisation, offers the Gearing Up program across Canada and is endorsed by the Motorcycle and Moped Industry Council. Training course graduates may qualify for reduced insurance premiums. Motorcyclists and motor scooter riders are also exposed to an increased risk of suffering hearing damage such as hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing ears). The noise

1378-460: A minimum, two coupled, second-order differential equations are required to capture the principal motions. Exact solutions are not possible, and numerical methods must be used instead. Competing theories of how bikes balance can still be found in print and online. On the other hand, as shown in later sections, much longitudinal dynamic analysis can be accomplished simply with planar kinetics and just one coordinate. When discussing bike balance, it

1484-654: A motorcycle ( German : Motorrad ). Excelsior Motor Company , originally a bicycle manufacturing company based in Coventry , England , began production of their first motorcycle model in 1896. The first production motorcycle in the US was the Orient-Aster, built by Charles Metz in 1898 at his factory in Waltham, Massachusetts . In the early period of motorcycle history, many producers of bicycles adapted their designs to accommodate

1590-414: A motorcycle either as OEM (factory-fitted) or aftermarket . Such accessories are selected by the owner to enhance the motorcycle's appearance, safety, performance, or comfort, and may include anything from mobile electronics to sidecars and trailers . Motorcycles have a higher rate of fatal accidents than automobiles or trucks and buses. United States Department of Transportation data for 2005 from

1696-445: A nearly 30% increase. If the tires are only 6 inches wide, then the lean angle increase is only 3.16°, just under half. The couple created by gravity and the ground reaction forces is necessary for a bicycle to turn at all. On a custom built bicycle with spring-loaded outriggers that exactly cancel this couple, so that the bicycle and rider may assume any lean angle when traveling in a straight line, riders find it impossible to make

1802-412: A range of forward speeds for a given bike design at which these effects steer an uncontrolled bike upright. It has been proven that neither gyroscopic effects nor positive trail are sufficient by themselves or necessary for self-stability, although they certainly can enhance hands-free control. However, even without self-stability a bike may be ridden by steering it to keep it over its wheels. Note that

1908-426: A rider can balance a bike by the same principle. While performing a track stand , the rider can keep the line between the two contact patches under the combined center of mass by steering the front wheel to one side or the other and then moving forward and backward slightly to move the front contact patch from side to side as necessary. Forward motion can be generated simply by pedaling. Backwards motion can be generated

2014-402: A role in how a motorcycle performs in given conditions. For example, one with a longer wheelbase provides the feeling of more stability by responding less to disturbances. Motorcycle tyres have a large influence over handling. Motorcycles must be leaned in order to make turns. This lean is induced by the method known as countersteering , in which the rider momentarily steers the handlebars in

2120-421: A spring connecting the front fork to the frame to provide a progressive torque that tends to steer the bicycle straight ahead. On bikes with rear suspensions, feedback between the drive train and the suspension is an issue designers attempt to handle with various linkage configurations and dampers . Motions of a bike can be roughly grouped into those out of the central plane of symmetry: lateral; and those in

2226-455: A turn, gyroscopic if being steered, and aerodynamic if in a crosswind. Steering may be supplied by a rider or, under certain circumstances, by the bike itself. This self-stability is generated by a combination of several effects that depend on the geometry, mass distribution, and forward speed of the bike. Tires, suspension, steering damping, and frame flex can also influence it, especially in motorcycles. Even when staying relatively motionless,

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2332-402: A turn. As soon as the wheels deviate from a straight path, the bicycle and rider begin to lean in the opposite direction, and the only way to right them is to steer back onto the straight path. To initiate a turn and the necessary lean in the direction of that turn, a bike must momentarily steer in the opposite direction. This is often referred to as countersteering. With the front wheel now at

2438-488: Is 43.47 which is 28 times higher than for cars (37 times more deaths per mile travelled in 2007). Furthermore, for motorcycles the accident rates have increased significantly since the end of the 1990s, while the rates have dropped for passenger cars. The most common configuration of motorcycle accidents in the United States is when a motorist pulls out or turns in front of a motorcyclist, violating their right-of-way. This

2544-439: Is caused by wind noise while riding, rolling noise from the tyres and the engine itself. The helmet only provides insufficient protection against high sound pressure levels. Medicine (as of 2024) is not able to cure hearing damage. Wearing hearing protection, such as special earplugs for motorcyclists, can help prevent hearing damage. The motorcyclist's riding position depends on rider body-geometry ( anthropometry ) combined with

2650-425: Is in front of the steering axis, then the pull of gravity will also cause the front wheel to steer in the direction of a lean. This can be seen by leaning a stationary bike to one side. The front wheel will usually also steer to that side independent of any interaction with the ground. Additional parameters, such as the fore-to-aft position of the center of mass and the elevation of the center of mass also contribute to

2756-425: Is in the idealized case. A slight increase in the lean angle may be required on motorcycles to compensate for the width of modern tires at the same forward speed and turn radius. It can also be seen however that this simple 2-dimensional model, essentially an inverted pendulum on a turntable , predicts that the steady-state turn is unstable. If the bike is displaced slightly downwards from its equilibrium lean angle,

2862-593: Is increasingly problematic. The first (petroleum fueled) internal-combustion motorcycles, like the German Reitwagen , were, however, also the first practical motorcycles. If a two-wheeled vehicle with steam propulsion is considered a motorcycle, then the first motorcycles built seem to be the French Michaux-Perreaux steam velocipede which patent application was filed in December 1868, constructed around

2968-479: Is laterally unstable when stationary and can be laterally self-stable when moving under the right conditions or when controlled by a rider. Conversely, a bike is longitudinally stable when stationary and can be longitudinally unstable when undergoing sufficient acceleration or deceleration. Of the two, lateral dynamics has proven to be the more complicated, requiring three-dimensional , multibody dynamic analysis with at least two generalized coordinates to analyze. At

3074-472: Is maintained by steering in the direction of a lean. In 1897, the French Academy of Sciences made understanding bicycle dynamics the goal of its Prix Fourneyron competition. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, Carlo Bourlet , Emmanuel Carvallo , and Francis Whipple had showed with rigid-body dynamics that some safety bicycles could actually balance themselves if moving at the right speed. Bourlet won

3180-438: Is necessary to distinguish carefully between " stability ", " self-stability ", and " controllability ". Recent research suggests that "rider-controlled stability of bicycles is indeed related to their self-stability". A bike remains upright when it is steered so that the ground reaction forces exactly balance all the other internal and external forces it experiences, such as gravitational if leaning, inertial or centrifugal if in

3286-610: Is necessary to pass the basic motorcycle licence test. These include the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). Along with increased personal safety, riders with these advanced qualifications may benefit from reduced insurance costs In South Africa, the Think Bike campaign is dedicated to increasing both motorcycle safety and

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3392-493: Is often a racing counterpart to each type, such as road racing and street bikes, or motocross including dirt bikes. Street bikes include cruisers , sportbikes , scooters and mopeds , and many other types. Off-road motorcycles include many types designed for dirt-oriented racing classes such as motocross and are not street legal in most areas. Dual purpose machines like the dual-sport style are made to go off-road but include features to make them legal and comfortable on

3498-401: Is required to regain balance. This can be noticeable on long-wheelbase recumbents , choppers , and wheelie bikes . It can also be a challenge for touring bikes that carry a heavy load of gear over or even behind the rear wheel. Mass over the rear wheel can be more easily controlled if it is lower than mass over the front wheel. A bike is also an example of an inverted pendulum . Just as

3604-406: Is solely responsible for the stabilizing force have been discredited. While remaining upright may be the primary goal of beginning riders, a bike must lean in order to maintain balance in a turn: the higher the speed or smaller the turn radius , the more lean is required. This balances the roll torque about the wheel contact patches generated by centrifugal force due to the turn with that of

3710-477: Is sometimes called a SMIDSY , an acronym formed from the motorists' common response of "Sorry mate, I didn't see you". Motorcyclists can anticipate and avoid some of these crashes with proper training, increasing their visibility to other traffic, keeping to the speed limits, and not consuming alcohol or other drugs before riding. The United Kingdom has several organisations dedicated to improving motorcycle safety by providing advanced rider training beyond what

3816-423: Is still easy to balance while riding. One other way that a bike can be balanced, with or without locked steering, is by applying appropriate torques between the bike and rider similar to the way a gymnast can swing up from hanging straight down on uneven parallel bars , a person can start swinging on a swing from rest by pumping their legs, or a double inverted pendulum can be controlled with an actuator only at

3922-413: Is the caster angle of the steering axis. However, unlike other wheeled vehicles, bikes must also lean during a turn to balance the relevant forces: gravitational, inertial, frictional, and ground support. The angle of lean,  θ , can easily be calculated using the laws of circular motion : where v is the forward speed, r is the radius of the turn and g is the acceleration of gravity . This

4028-483: Is the 1958 Honda Super Cub , which went on to become the biggest selling vehicle of all time, with its 60 millionth unit produced in April 2008. Today, this area is dominated by mostly Indian companies with Hero MotoCorp emerging as the world's largest manufacturer of two wheelers. Its Splendor model has sold more than 8.5 million to date. Other major producers are Bajaj and TVS Motors . Motorcycle construction

4134-406: Is the approximate radius, w {\displaystyle w\,\!} is the wheelbase, θ {\displaystyle \theta \,\!} is the lean angle, δ {\displaystyle \delta \,\!} is the steering angle, and ϕ {\displaystyle \phi \,\!} is the caster angle of the steering axis. As a bike leans,

4240-585: Is the engineering, manufacturing, and assembly of components and systems for a motorcycle which results in the performance, cost, and aesthetics desired by the designer. With some exceptions, construction of modern mass-produced motorcycles has standardised on a steel or aluminium frame , telescopic forks holding the front wheel, and disc brakes . Some other body parts, designed for either aesthetic or performance reasons may be added. A petrol-powered engine typically consisting of between one and four cylinders (and less commonly, up to eight cylinders) coupled to

4346-568: Is the largest force resisting forward motion. At faster speed, aerodynamic drag becomes overwhelmingly the largest force resisting forward motion. Turning forces are generated during maneuvers for balancing in addition to just changing direction of travel. These may be interpreted as centrifugal forces in the accelerating reference frame of the bike and rider; or simply as inertia in a stationary, inertial reference frame and not forces at all. Gyroscopic forces acting on rotating parts such as wheels, engine, transmission, etc., are also due to

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4452-442: Is wheel radius, A h {\displaystyle A_{h}} is the head angle measured clock-wise from the horizontal and O f {\displaystyle O_{f}} is the fork offset or rake. Trail can be increased by increasing the wheel size, decreasing the head angle, or decreasing the fork rake. The more trail a traditional bike has, the more stable it feels, although too much trail can make

4558-644: The Australian Capital Territory , Tasmania and the Northern Territory , it is compulsory to complete a basic rider training course before being issued a Learners Licence, after which they can ride on public roads. In Canada, motorcycle rider training is compulsory in Quebec and Manitoba only, but all provinces and territories have graduated licence programs which place restrictions on new drivers until they have gained experience. Eligibility for

4664-482: The Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge "on real highways – in real conditions". Due to low engine displacements (100–200 cc (6.1–12.2 cu in)), and high power-to-mass ratios, motorcycles offer good fuel economy. Under conditions of fuel scarcity like 1950s Britain and modern developing nations, motorcycles claim large shares of the vehicle market. In the United States,

4770-705: The FIM in the light of the safety concerns. From the 1960s through the 1990s, small two-stroke motorcycles were popular worldwide, partly as a result of East German MZs Walter Kaaden's engine work in the 1950s. In the 21st century, the motorcycle industry is mainly dominated by Indian and Japanese motorcycle companies. In addition to the large capacity motorcycles, there is a large market in smaller capacity (less than 300 cc) motorcycles, mostly concentrated in Asian and African countries and produced in China and India. A Japanese example

4876-478: The Fatality Analysis Reporting System show that for passenger cars, 18.62 fatal crashes occur per 100,000 registered vehicles. For motorcycles this figure is higher at 75.19 per 100,000 registered vehicles – four times higher than for cars. The same data shows that 1.56 fatalities occur per 100 million vehicle miles travelled for passenger cars, whereas for motorcycles the figure

4982-500: The US Department of Transportation , the number of fatalities per vehicle mile traveled was 37 times higher for motorcycles than for cars. The term motorcycle has different legal definitions depending on jurisdiction (see § Legal definitions and restrictions ). There are three major types of motorcycle: street, off-road, and dual purpose. Within these types, there are many sub-types of motorcycles for different purposes. There

5088-470: The gravitational force . This lean is usually produced by a momentary steering in the opposite direction, called countersteering . Unlike other wheeled vehicles, the primary control input on bikes is steering torque , not position. Although longitudinally stable when stationary, bikes often have a high enough center of mass and a short enough wheelbase to lift a wheel off the ground under sufficient acceleration or deceleration. When braking, depending on

5194-496: The 1920s stood out. Initially, using converted a Woodmann-designed OHV Blackburne engine it became the first 350 cc to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h), recording 100.81 mph (162.24 km/h) over the flying kilometre during April 1924.[7] Later, Chater-Lea set a world record for the flying kilometre for 350 cc and 500 cc motorcycles at 102.9 mph (165.6 km/h) for the firm. Chater-Lea produced variants of these world-beating sports models and became popular among racers at

5300-466: The First World War, motorbike production was greatly ramped up for the war effort to supply effective communications with front line troops. Messengers on horses were replaced with despatch riders on motorcycles carrying messages, performing reconnaissance and acting as a military police. American company Harley-Davidson was devoting over 50% of its factory output toward military contract by the end of

5406-521: The Isle of Man TT. Today, the firm is probably best remembered for its long-term contract to manufacture and supply AA Patrol motorcycles and sidecars. By the late 1920s or early 1930s, DKW in Germany took over as the largest manufacturer. In the 1950s, streamlining began to play an increasing part in the development of racing motorcycles and the "dustbin fairing" held out the possibility of radical changes to motorcycle design. NSU and Moto Guzzi were in

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5512-591: The Prix Fourneyron, and Whipple won the Cambridge University Smith Prize . It is not clear to whom should go the credit for tilting the steering axis from the vertical which helps make this possible. In 1970, David E. H. Jones published an article in Physics Today showing that gyroscopic effects are not necessary for a person to balance a bicycle. Since 1971, when he identified and named

5618-581: The United States by organisations ranging from state agencies to non-profit organisations to corporations. Most states use the courses designed by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), while Oregon and Idaho developed their own. All of the training programs include a Basic Rider Course, an Intermediate Rider Course and an Advanced Rider Course. In Ireland , since 2010, in the UK and some Australian jurisdictions, such as Victoria , New South Wales ,

5724-417: The art at the time. Starting was by compressed air. The engine was liquid-cooled, with a radiator over the rear driving wheel. Speed was controlled by means of a throttle valve lever. No braking system was fitted; the vehicle was stopped by raising and lowering the rear driving wheel using a foot-operated lever; the weight of the machine was then borne by two small castor wheels. The driver was seated between

5830-403: The average motorcycle fuel economy is 44 miles per US gallon (19 km per liter). Very high fuel economy equivalents are often derived by electric motorcycles. Electric motorcycles are nearly silent, zero-emission electric motor-driven vehicles. Operating range and top speed are limited by battery technology. Fuel cells and petroleum-electric hybrids are also under development to extend

5936-560: The awareness of motorcycles on the country's roads. The campaign, while strongest in the Gauteng province, has representation in Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and the Free State. It has dozens of trained marshals available for various events such as cycle races and is deeply involved in numerous other projects such as the annual Motorcycle Toy Run. Motorcycle safety education is offered throughout

6042-497: The bike in order to keep either the torso or the bike more or less upright if desired. The angle that matters is the one between the horizontal plane and the plane defined by the tire contacts and the location of the center of mass of bike and rider. This lean of the bike decreases the actual radius of the turn proportionally to the cosine of the lean angle. The resulting radius can be roughly approximated (within 2% of exact value) by: where r {\displaystyle r\,\!}

6148-631: The canonical linearized equations of motion , in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A , along with verification by two different methods. These equations assumed the tires to roll without slip, that is to say, to go where they point, and the rider to be rigidly attached to the rear frame of the bicycle. In 2011, Kooijman, et al., published an article in Science showing that neither gyroscopic effects nor so-called caster effects due to trail are necessary for

6254-424: The central plane of symmetry: longitudinal or vertical. Lateral motions include balancing, leaning, steering, and turning. Motions in the central plane of symmetry include rolling forward, of course, but also stoppies , wheelies , brake diving , and most suspension activation. Motions in these two groups are linearly decoupled, that is they do not interact with each other to the first order . An uncontrolled bike

6360-531: The direction of a lean, independent of forward speed. This can be simulated by pushing a stationary bike to one side. The front wheel will usually also steer to that side. In a lean, gravity provides this force. The dynamics of a moving bike are more complicated, however, and other factors can contribute to or detract from this effect. Trail is a function of head angle, fork offset or rake, and wheel size. Their relationship can be described by this formula: where R w {\displaystyle R_{w}}

6466-514: The direction opposite of the desired turn. This practice is counterintuitive and therefore often confusing to novices – and even many experienced motorcyclists. With such short wheelbase , motorcycles can generate enough torque at the rear wheel, and enough stopping force at the front wheel, to lift the opposite wheel off the road. These actions, if performed on purpose, are known as wheelies and stoppies (or endos) respectively. Various features and accessories may be attached to

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6572-440: The dynamic behavior of a bike. The role of the gyroscopic effect in most bike designs is to help steer the front wheel into the direction of a lean. This phenomenon is called precession , and the rate at which an object precesses is inversely proportional to its rate of spin. The slower a front wheel spins, the faster it will precess when the bike leans, and vice versa. The rear wheel is prevented from precessing by friction of

6678-446: The effects mentioned above that would combine to produce self-stability may be overwhelmed by additional factors such as headset friction and stiff control cables . This video shows a riderless bicycle exhibiting self-stability. Longitudinal acceleration has been shown to have a large and complex effect on lateral dynamics. In one study, positive acceleration eliminates self stability, and negative acceleration (deceleration) changes

6784-455: The elbow. The rider applies torque to the handlebars in order to turn the front wheel and so to control lean and maintain balance. At high speeds, small steering angles quickly move the ground contact points laterally; at low speeds, larger steering angles are required to achieve the same results in the same amount of time. Because of this, it is usually easier to maintain balance at high speeds. As self-stability typically occurs at speeds above

6890-474: The first "modern motorcycle". Introduced in 1915 it had a 550 cc side-valve four-stroke engine with a three-speed gearbox and belt transmission. It was so popular with its users that it was nicknamed the "Trusty Triumph". By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest manufacturer, with their motorcycles being sold by dealers in 67 countries. Amongst many British motorcycle manufacturers, Chater-Lea with its twin-cylinder models followed by its large singles in

6996-429: The five brands with enough data to draw conclusions, Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha were statistically tied, with 11 to 14% of those bikes in the survey experiencing major repairs. Harley-Davidsons had a rate of 24%, while BMWs did worse, with 30% of those needing major repairs. There were not enough Triumph and Suzuki motorcycles surveyed for a statistically sound conclusion, though it appeared Suzukis were as reliable as

7102-406: The front suspension, due to heavy braking for example, can steepen the steering axis angle and reduce trail. Trail also varies with lean angle, and steering angle, usually decreasing from a maximum when the bike is straight upright and steered straight ahead. Trail can decrease to zero with sufficiently large lean and steer angles, which can alter how stable a bike feels. Finally, even the profile of

7208-402: The front tire can influence how trail varies as the bike is leaned and steered. A measurement similar to trail, called either mechanical trail , normal trail , or true trail , is the perpendicular distance from the steering axis to the centroid of the front wheel contact patch. A factor that influences the directional stability of a bike is wheelbase , the horizontal distance between

7314-515: The front wheels. It was not, however, a success, as Butler failed to find sufficient financial backing. Many authorities have excluded steam powered , electric motorcycles or diesel-powered two-wheelers from the definition of a 'motorcycle', and credit the Daimler Reitwagen as the world's first motorcycle. Given the rapid rise in use of electric motorcycles worldwide, defining only internal-combustion powered two-wheelers as 'motorcycles'

7420-905: The geometry of the motorcycle itself. These factors create a set of three basic postures. Factors of a motorcycle's ergonomic geometry that determine the seating posture include the height, angle and location of footpegs, seat and handlebars. Factors in a rider's physical geometry that contribute to seating posture include torso, arm, thigh and leg length, and overall rider height. Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics Bicycles and motorcycles are both single-track vehicles and so their motions have many fundamental attributes in common and are fundamentally different from and more difficult to study than other wheeled vehicles such as dicycles , tricycles , and quadracycles . As with unicycles , bikes lack lateral stability when stationary, and under most circumstances can only remain upright when moving forward. Experimentation and mathematical analysis have shown that

7526-411: The ground contact points of the front and rear wheels. For a given displacement of the front wheel, due to some disturbance, the angle of the resulting path from the original is inversely proportional to wheelbase. Also, the radius of curvature for a given steer angle and lean angle is proportional to the wheelbase. Finally, the wheelbase increases when the bike is leaned and steered. In the extreme, when

7632-457: The ground, and contact with the atmosphere. The internal forces are caused by the rider and by interaction between components. As with all masses, gravity pulls the rider and all the bike components toward the earth. At each tire contact patch there are ground reaction forces with both horizontal and vertical components. The vertical components mostly counteract the force of gravity, but also vary with braking and accelerating. For details, see

7738-466: The head angle instead, and offset created by the triple tree is used to diminish trail. A small survey by Whitt and Wilson found: However, these ranges are not hard and fast. For example, LeMond Racing Cycles offers both with forks that have 45 mm of offset or rake and the same size wheels: The amount of trail a particular bike has may vary with time for several reasons. On bikes with front suspension, especially telescopic forks, compressing

7844-402: The inertia of those rotating parts. They are discussed further in the section on gyroscopic effects below. Internal forces, those between components of the bike and rider system, are mostly caused by the rider or by friction. In addition to pedaling, the rider can apply torques between the steering mechanism (front fork, handlebars, front wheel, etc.) and rear frame, and between the rider and

7950-406: The lean angle is 90°, and the bike is steered in the direction of that lean, the wheelbase is increased by the radius of the front and rear wheels. Another factor that can also contribute to the self-stability of traditional bike designs is the distribution of mass in the steering mechanism, which includes the front wheel, the fork, and the handlebar. If the center of mass for the steering mechanism

8056-411: The location of the combined center of mass of the bike and rider with respect to the point where the front wheel contacts the ground, and if the front brake is applied hard enough, bikes can either: skid the front wheel which may or not result in a crash; or flip the bike and rider over the front wheel. A similar situation is possible while accelerating, but with respect to the rear wheel. The history of

8162-555: The new internal combustion engine. As the engines became more powerful and designs outgrew the bicycle origins, the number of motorcycle producers increased. Many of the nineteenth-century inventors who worked on early motorcycles often moved on to other inventions. Daimler and Roper, for example, both went on to develop automobiles. At the end of the 19th century the first major mass-production firms were set up. In 1898, Triumph Motorcycles in England began producing motorbikes, and by 1903 it

8268-408: The other three Japanese brands while Triumphs were comparable to Harley-Davidson and BMW. Three-fourths of the repairs in the survey cost less than US$ 200 and two-thirds of the motorcycles were repaired in less than two days. In spite of their relatively worse reliability in this survey, Harley-Davidson and BMW owners showed the greatest owner satisfaction, and three-fourths of them said they would buy

8374-493: The public and scans of over 30 detailed reports have been posted at this TU Delft Bicycle Dynamics site . Since the 1990s, Cossalter, et al., have been researching motorcycle dynamics at the University of Padova. Their research, both experimental and numerical, has covered weave, wobble, chatter, simulators, vehicle modelling, tire modelling, handling, and minimum lap time maneuvering. In 2007, Meijaard, et al., published

8480-579: The range and improve performance of the electric drive system. A 2013 survey of 4,424 readers of the US Consumer Reports magazine collected reliability data on 4,680 motorcycles purchased new from 2009 to 2012. The most common problem areas were accessories , brakes , electrical (including starters , charging , ignition ), and fuel systems , and the types of motorcycles with the greatest problems were touring, off-road/dual sport, sport-touring, and cruisers. There were not enough sport bikes in

8586-427: The rear frame. Friction exists between any parts that move against each other: in the drive train , between the steering mechanism and the rear frame, etc. In addition to brakes , which create friction between rotating wheels and non-rotating frame parts, many bikes have front and rear suspensions . Some motorcycles and bicycles have a steering damper to dissipate undesirable kinetic energy, and some bicycles have

8692-484: The rider to control a bike weighed down with baggage. As a consequence, an unloaded touring bike can feel unstable. In bicycles, fork rake, often a curve in the fork blades forward of the steering axis, is used to diminish trail. Bikes with negative trail exist, such as the Python Lowracer, and are rideable, and an experimental bike with negative trail has been shown to be self-stable. In motorcycles, rake refers to

8798-516: The right. The moment is small compared to the moment generated by the out-tracking front wheel, but begins as soon as the rider applies torque to the handlebars and so can be helpful in motorcycle racing . For more detail, see the section countersteering , below, and the countersteering article. Between the two unstable regimes mentioned in the previous section, and influenced by all the factors described above that contribute to balance (trail, mass distribution, gyroscopic effects, etc.), there may be

8904-400: The same bike again, followed by 72% of Honda owners and 60 to 63% of Kawasaki and Yamaha owners. Two-wheeled motorcycles stay upright while rolling due to a physical property known as conservation of angular momentum in the wheels. Angular momentum points along the axle, and it "wants" to stay pointing in that direction. Different types of motorcycles have different dynamics and these play

9010-466: The same time as the American Roper steam velocipede , built by Sylvester H. Roper of Roxbury, Massachusetts , who had been demonstrating his machine at fairs and circuses in the eastern U.S. since 1867. Roper built about 10 steam cars and cycles from the 1860s until his death in 1896. In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle, and the first to be called

9116-424: The same turn at the same speed. The increase in lean angle due to a tire thickness of 2 t can be calculated as where φ is the ideal lean angle, and h is the height of the center of mass. For example, a motorcycle with a 12 inch wide rear tire will have t  = 6 inches. If the combined bike and rider center of mass is at a height of 26 inches, then a 25° lean must be increased by 7.28°:

9222-409: The same way on a fixed-gear bicycle . Otherwise, the rider can take advantage of an opportune slope of the pavement or lurch the upper body backwards while the brakes are momentarily engaged. If the steering of a bike is locked, it becomes virtually impossible to balance while riding. On the other hand, if the gyroscopic effect of rotating bike wheels is cancelled by adding counter-rotating wheels, it

9328-409: The section on longitudinal stability below. The horizontal components, due to friction between the wheels and the ground, including rolling resistance , are in response to propulsive forces, braking forces, and turning forces. Aerodynamic forces due to the atmosphere are mostly in the form of drag , but can also be from crosswinds . At normal bicycling speeds on level ground, aerodynamic drag

9434-428: The speeds of self stability. In order for a bike to turn, that is, change its direction of forward travel, the front wheel must aim approximately in the desired direction, as with any front-wheel steered vehicle. Friction between the wheels and the ground then generates the centripetal acceleration necessary to alter the course from straight ahead as a combination of cornering force and camber thrust . The radius of

9540-621: The street as well. Each configuration offers either specialised advantage or broad capability, and each design creates a different riding posture. In some countries the use of pillions (rear seats) is restricted. The first internal combustion , petroleum fueled motorcycle was the Daimler Reitwagen . It was designed and built by the German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Bad Cannstatt , Germany, in 1885. This vehicle

9646-563: The study of bike dynamics is nearly as old as the bicycle itself. It includes contributions from famous scientists such as Rankine , Appell , and Whipple . In the early 19th century Karl von Drais , credited with inventing the two-wheeled vehicle variously called the laufmaschine , velocipede , draisine , and dandy horse , showed that a rider could balance his device by steering the front wheel. In 1869, Rankine published an article in The Engineer repeating von Drais' assertion that balance

9752-471: The survey for a statistically significant conclusion, though the data hinted at reliability as good as cruisers. These results may be partially explained by accessories including such equipment as fairings, luggage, and auxiliary lighting, which are frequently added to touring, adventure touring/dual sport and sport touring bikes. Trouble with fuel systems is often the result of improper winter storage, and brake problems may also be due to poor maintenance. Of

9858-533: The tires on the ground, and so continues to lean as though it were not spinning at all. Hence gyroscopic forces do not provide any resistance to tipping. At low forward speeds, the precession of the front wheel is too quick, contributing to an uncontrolled bike's tendency to oversteer, start to lean the other way and eventually oscillate and fall over. At high forward speeds, the precession is usually too slow, contributing to an uncontrolled bike's tendency to understeer and eventually fall over without ever having reached

9964-580: The tires' contact patches move farther to the side causing wear. The portions at either edge of a motorcycle tire that remain unworn by leaning into turns is sometimes referred to as chicken strips . The finite width of the tires alters the actual lean angle of the rear frame from the ideal lean angle described above. The actual lean angle between the frame and the vertical must increase with tire width and decrease with center of mass height. Bikes with fat tires and low center of mass must lean more than bikes with skinnier tires or higher centers of mass to negotiate

10070-462: The torque of gravity increases, that of centrifugal force decreases and the displacement gets amplified. A more-sophisticated model that allows a wheel to steer, adjust the path, and counter the torque of gravity, is necessary to capture the self-stability observed in real bikes. For example, a bike in a 10 m (33 ft) radius steady-state turn at 10 m/s (36 km/h, 22 mph) must be at an angle of 45.6°. A rider can lean with respect to

10176-416: The turn of an upright (not leaning) bike can be roughly approximated, for small steering angles , by: where r {\displaystyle r\,\!} is the approximate radius, w {\displaystyle w\,\!} is the wheelbase , δ {\displaystyle \delta \,\!} is the steer angle, and ϕ {\displaystyle \phi \,\!}

10282-405: The upright position. This instability is very slow, on the order of seconds, and is easy for most riders to counteract. Thus a fast bike may feel stable even though it is actually not self-stable and would fall over if it were uncontrolled. Another contribution of gyroscopic effects is a roll moment generated by the front wheel during countersteering. For example, steering left causes a moment to

10388-462: The vanguard of this development, both producing very radical designs well ahead of their time. NSU produced the most advanced design, but after the deaths of four NSU riders in the 1954–1956 seasons, they abandoned further development and quit Grand Prix motorcycle racing . Moto Guzzi produced competitive race machines, and until the end of 1957 had a succession of victories. The following year, 1958, full enclosure fairings were banned from racing by

10494-449: The war. The British company Triumph Motorcycles sold more than 30,000 of its Triumph Type H model to allied forces during the war. With the rear wheel driven by a belt, the Model H was fitted with a 499 cc (30.5 cu in) air-cooled four-stroke single-cylinder engine. It was also the first Triumph without pedals . The Model H in particular, is regarded by many as having been

10600-638: The wobble, weave and capsize modes, Robin Sharp has written regularly about the behavior of motorcycles and bicycles. While at Imperial College, London, he worked with David Limebeer and Simos Evangelou. In the early 1970s, Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory (CAL, later Calspan Corporation in Buffalo, NY USA) was sponsored by the Schwinn Bicycle Company and others to study and simulate bicycle and motorcycle dynamics. Portions of this work have now been released to

10706-481: Was a three-wheeled vehicle, with the rear wheel directly driven by a 5 ⁄ 8  hp (0.47 kW), 40 cc (2.4 cu in) displacement, 2 + 1 ⁄ 4  in × 5 in (57 mm × 127 mm) bore × stroke, flat twin four-stroke engine (with magneto ignition replaced by coil and battery) equipped with rotary valves and a float-fed carburettor (five years before Maybach ) and Ackermann steering , all of which were state of

10812-803: Was designed as an expedient testbed for their new engine, rather than a true prototype vehicle. The first commercial design for a self-propelled cycle was a three-wheel design called the Butler Petrol Cycle, conceived of Edward Butler in England in 1884. He exhibited his plans for the vehicle at the Stanley Cycle Show in London in 1884. The vehicle was built by the Merryweather Fire Engine company in Greenwich , in 1888. The Butler Petrol Cycle

10918-414: Was named 26 of Discover ' s 100 top stories of 2011. In 2013, Eddy Merckx Cycles was awarded over €150,000 with Ghent University to examine bicycle stability. If the bike and rider are considered to be a single system, the forces that act on that system and its components can be roughly divided into two groups: internal and external. The external forces are due to gravity, inertia, contact with

11024-447: Was producing over 500 bikes. Other British firms were Royal Enfield , Norton , Douglas Motorcycles and Birmingham Small Arms Company who began motorbike production in 1899, 1902, 1907 and 1910, respectively. Indian began production in 1901 and Harley-Davidson was established two years later. By the outbreak of World War I, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world was Indian, producing over 20,000 bikes per year. During

11130-506: Was the first internal combustion, petroleum -fueled motorcycle. In 1894, Hildebrand & Wolfmüller became the first series production motorcycle. Globally, motorcycles are comparable numerically to cars as a method of transport: in 2021, approximately 58.6 million new motorcycles were sold around the world, while 66.7 million cars were sold over the same period. In 2022, the top four motorcycle producers by volume and type were Honda , Yamaha , Kawasaki , and Suzuki . According to

11236-464: Was unlike either the safety bicycles or the boneshaker bicycles of the era in that it had zero degrees of steering axis angle and no fork offset , and thus did not use the principles of bicycle and motorcycle dynamics developed nearly 70 years earlier. Instead, it relied on two outrigger wheels to remain upright while turning. The inventors called their invention the Reitwagen ("riding car"). It

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