jack@rlgvax.UUCP (05/27/83)
Relay-Version:version B 2.10 5/3/83; site harpo.UUCP Posting-Version:version B 2.10 5/3/83; site rlgvax.UUCP Message-ID:<537@rlgvax.UUCP> Date:Fri, 27-May-83 11:55:06 EDT Organization:RLG Corp., Reston, VA To negotiate a curve on a motorcycle at high speed, I put the machine into a lean (mostly by countersteering), ride through the curve, then straighten the bike up by countersteering again. While turning or while going straight, the motorcycle seems quite stable -- it wants to keep following a path of the same curvature and keep its same lean angle until manhandled into a different lean angle. My questions are about the role of gyroscopic effects of the REAR wheel in the kind of stability I just described. Do they have such a role? To change the lean angle, must the frame exert torque on the rear axle? If so and the torque is not at right angles to the rotation of change of lean, the frame is doing work on the axle. In that case, where does the energy go?