Bike vs Car

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Tim.Wright
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Andres125sx wrote: I´ll take advantage of the occasion to see if you may solve a contradiction I´ve never managed to solve by myself, and the reason must be related with the discussion. It´s about the reason on MX bikes (not only on MX bikes, but that´s been my pasion for more than 10 years) you need to move your body forward or backward to improve traction on the wheel you need. Move forward to enter the corner and maximice turning perfomance, and move backward at the exit to improve traction and avoid too much sliding. This is a basic technic in motocross world.

My first though was since the total weight (bike + rider) is always the same, but you´re changing the vertical load on each tire, you´re changing the grip.

But then I think the total mass of the bike must be irrelevant for each wheel, because if you´re moving your weight forward/backward you´re also changing the mass each wheel must "hold", so the two effects should cancel each other as you´ve just explained...
Here you are talking about longitudinal dynamics so the explanation is different but still the physics and the points I raised before remain unchanged. Essentially, the longitudinal forces are an 'overdefined' set of forces acting on the CG. You have 2 forces but only 1 output (longitudinal acceleration) so the traction/braking forces are usually NOT dependent on the weight force that they carry. Or more correctly, the PEAK tractive force depends on the vertical force and the friction but unless you have AWD and 4 wheel ABS you generally can't have all wheels operating at their peak. What you can do at least is modify the which axle operates closest to its peak by moving the CG around with your body.

For example, on a bike, 100% of the traction force comes from the rear tyre regardless of where you transfer the weight. And this traction force is responsible for 100% of the acceleration of the car. If you have a friction coefficient of 1.2 again and a baseline weight distribution of 50%, then the rear tyre has to accelerate the WHOLE mass of the car using only 50% of the vehicle weight as its vertical load. So its maximum tractive force is Mass x MassDistribution x Friction = Mass x 50% x 1.2 = Mass x 0.6 = 0.6g

If you move your weight back to give 60% rear distribution then you can get Mass x 60% x 1.2 = Mass x 0.72g. This is the physics behind why moving back helps traction.

On turn in - generally brake systems are designed to overbrake the front axle and underbrake the rear axle in order to leave some cornering stiffness available on the rear axle for stability. So if you are braking on the limit there might not be enough lateral force capability in the front tyres to give you a turn-in force from the front axle. However if you move forward it will increase the front axle vertical load which will decrease the front axle slip ratio and give you some margin to add some cornering force. The price you pay here is a loss of stability but perhaps this isn't such an issue at low speed offroad.

So basically - the DISTRIBUTION of the front/rear braking/traction forces is fixed by the braking system/driveline NOT by the CG location. However by moving around you can increase the vertical load and therefore grip on the axle which is closest to its peak (front axle in braking, rear axle in traction) to effectively increase the traction capability.
Not the engineer at Force India

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Andres125sx
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Thanks Tim, I understand the advantages of moving your weight to improve traction or braking perfomances, but my question was more related to pure cornering. I think I didn´t word it properly sorry

In my very first days on MX I did some practice to understand bike behaviour and learn a little bit, one of those tests was doing a circle at constant speed leaning the bike as much as possible, up to the limit of grip, and with my body on a neutral/centered position. Once you´re at the limit with both tires almost losing grip, only moving your body you cause the bike to slide from the oppossite axle, if you move forward your rear slides and if you move backward it´s the front one wich loose grip, without applying throttle or brakes at all, only moving your body. It was a really illustrative test, I learned a lot about controlling slidings (also about raising the bike to improve grip, but not relevant here)

Here you perfectly explained the reason lighter vehicles are faster around corners than heavy ones (Caterham R500 faster than Lotus Ellise as Phil posted, Moto3 faster than MotoGP...):
Tim.Wright wrote: A heavier car produces more vertical force and therefore more grip but it also requires more cornering force per G of lateral acceleration so the 2 effects "cancel" each other and you are left with a cornering performance which is independent of weight.

In reality, a tyre does not have a constant coefficient of friction but instead on that drops with vertical load. Typical values might be 0.01 - 0.05mu/kN (very rough numbers btw). So a change in mass is going to change the peak Ay by something in the range of a few percent. E.g. a 10% reduction in mass on a 1000kg car will net you about 1-5% more grip depending on the tyre.
But to me this is contradictory to my tests, because moving my body forward/backward I´m increasing tire load but also the weight on that tire, so if we imagine for example the front wheel as an independent vehicle, when my body is centered it weight 50% of the total bike + rider weight, but if I move my body backwards it only weight 40%, so it´s lighter, but instead of improving grip, it´s decreased, because it slides

Basically with my tests I proved right this you´re saying here
Tim.Wright wrote: However by moving around you can increase the vertical load and therefore grip on the axle which is closest to its peak (front axle in braking, rear axle in traction) to effectively increase the traction capability.
But I can´t get the reason a lighter vehicle is faster around corners, but loading a vehicle axle make it faster around corners.... I know both statements are true, but don´t get the reason, the physics behind, I surely am missing something...

Maybe the contact patch of the tire? Loading an axle you´re increasing that tire´s contact patch and reducing the opposite...

J.A.W.
J.A.W.
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Re: Bike vs Car

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If you want 'to get it' , then I'd suggest you buy/borrow yourself a tidy, well running example of an Aprilia RS 250 roadbike..
..esp' since being virtually - a double 125, you should have a fair handle on its working characteristics/keeping..

Or if its really ' by/buy the book' - that you want.. try here.. http://www.tonyfoale.com/
Last edited by Steven on 06 Jun 2015, 16:49, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Removed some personal comments
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"

Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).

autogyro
autogyro
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Tony Foale consulted on this project way back.

http://oi43.tinypic.com/330civq.jpg

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Tim.Wright
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Re: Bike vs Car

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OK Andres, sorry I misunderstood - now I think I understand better.

Honestly it's a hard one to explain. After a lot of thought, I'm suspecting it could be due to gyrocopic coupling between yaw and pitch. Not something I have a lot of experience in calculating but I can try a ghetto explanation. Probably a good idea to google gyroscopic couples and inertia tensors for verification. Even if this isn't the reason behind the behaviour that you feel, it's at least interesting stuff to know...

Basically what happens in any "shape" when it is yawed around a corner is that it has the potential to induce a pitch and roll moment as a response to the yaw movement and these 'induced' moments change the wheel vertical loads on a car or bike.

The pitch moment comes from the physical location of all the various masses that make up the body with respect to the total CG. In simple terms its referring to the "shape" of the body and in physically correct terms it's represented by the "inertia tensor".

Here's an example to explain the effect. In the top diagram you have a single point mass of 4kg "yawing" around a turn centre at a radius of 10m at 20deg/sec (circa 0.35rad/sec).
Image

You can calculate the required centripetal acceleration which is:
A = R x Yawrate^2 = 10m x (0.35rad/s)^2 = 1.219m/s^2
and this requires a centripetal force of:
F = mass x acceleration = 4 x 1.219 = 4.874N

But if this shape is not a point mass but instead made up of a number of masses which add up to 4kg and have the total CG in the same place as before you can see that these masses all have a different radius of rotation and therefore a different centripetal acceleration (bottom diagram):
Mass a: Aa = Ra x Yawrate^2 = 10.5m x (0.35rad/s)^2 = 1.279m/s^2
Mass b: Ab = Rb x Yawrate^2 = 9.5m x (0.35rad/s)^2 = 1.158m/s^2

and this requires a centripetal force for each mass of:
Mass a: Fa = Ma x Aa = 2 x 1.279 = 2.559N
Mass b: Fa = Mb x Ab = 2 x 1.158 = 2.315N

The 2 centripetal forces add up to 4.874 which is the same as the first case but we can see the force above the CG is bigger than the one below it. So they create an unbalanced moment about the CG:
Top mass creates a moment of: Ta = Fa x L = 2.559 x 0.5 = 1.279Nm
Lower mass creates a moment of: Tb = Fb x L = 2.315 x 0.5 = 1.157Nm

The 2 moments oppose each other but they don't completely cancel each other out because their centripetal forces are different. So there is a 'residual' roll torque remaining at the CG:
Sum Moments = Tcg = Ta - Tb = 1.279 - 1.157 = 0.122Nm

So by "yawing" this shape around a turn centre, we actually get a "roll" torque of 0.122Nm. If this was a car, it would be a torque which creates an extra lateral load transfer.

So basically yawing this shape creates a roll torque because its masses are not aligned with the global vertical and horizontal axes of yaw and roll. In fact, the axes where the masses lie are called the "principal axes of interia" (green line). These are significant in that if you spin the body about that axes, you don't induce any torques about other axes. A 3D body like a car or a bike have 3 principal axes of interia.

Coming back to the bike, it is highly unlikely that a cornering bike has its principal axes of inertia aligned perfectly vertically and laterally and longitudinally. So the action of travelling around a corner is inducing a roll torque (like we see in the example) and a pitch torque (due to a similar coupling between yaw/pitch). Incidentally, the roll gyroscopic moment is a part of what stops a motorcycle falling over during a corner. But its the pitch gyroscopic moment which creates affects the tyre vertical loads and the balance of the bike.

So, when you move around on a bike, you are changing the principal axes of interia and therefore the inertial pitch moment reaction. This pitch moment obviously changes the front and rear tyre loads and this therefore changes the balance. Bear in mind that when you are near the grip limit, your tyre cornering stiffness' are very low, therefore you only need small changes in the tyre vertical forces to have a noticable change in the balance of the car (which is basically which end is sliding more as you described it).

So, in your case - I'd guess that moving forward induces a gyroscopic pitch moment in the "nose down" direction which loads the front wheel and unloads the rear wheel and therefore you feel the rear sliding more.

With some time, this could be verified in a CAD package and some calculations. If you model a bike + rider in the 2 conditions of leaning forward and back the CAD package can calculate for you the orientations of the principal axes of inertia. Then you can calculate the gyroscopic pitch moment for a certain turn radius and see how it is different between the 2 cases. If it follws the trend in the previous paragraph that its quite likely that this is the reason behind this behaviour. Its a calculation I'd like to do one day if I find time - but its not a 5min job unfortunately.
Not the engineer at Force India

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Andres125sx
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Wow, thank you very much for taking your time with this explanation Tim =D>


If I get it correctly, we could say the pitch giroscopic moment created by my body movements causes a tire load "free" of weight load, so it´s not a tire load cancelled by a weight load as you explained previously what would not change grip, but a tire load with no counterpart, so grip is increased. This would be similar to downforce, increasing tire load with no weight load, but obviously at a much lower scale so it´s only noticeable when you´re at the limit of grip

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Tim.Wright
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Andres125sx wrote:
If I get it correctly, we could say the pitch giroscopic moment created by my body movements causes a tire load "free" of weight load, so it´s not a tire load cancelled by a weight load as you explained previously what would not change grip, but a tire load with no counterpart, so grip is increased. This would be similar to downforce, increasing tire load with no weight load, but obviously at a much lower scale so it´s only noticeable when you´re at the limit of grip
Yup
Not the engineer at Force India

J.A.W.
J.A.W.
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Re: Bike vs Car

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One track dynamics are quite involved, & we cannot overlook the 'counter-steering' necessary ( for directional change,
cornering) in order to initiate the required - gyroscopic precession - turn in - response..

Interestingly, there was - briefly - a thread on another forum section - whereby the use of motorcycle engine/transmission
units in FSAE competition cars was being discussed - & the matter was raised - did the 4-wheeled chassis actually
provide a superior track performance, given the dimensional penalties associated with the bulkier car design?

Perhaps those interested - can continue the discussion here..

So.. here's a 'starter for 10'..

A trio of youtube clips showing bikes doing an FSAE-like carpark gymkhana routine..

1, A porky fully equipped Harley Davidson 'bagger'.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1iq2ExxmNc

2, A Nippon porker bike - in the wet.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVoXGGXRl5k

3, A regular roadbike 600/4 of the type used by FSAE as mill donor.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXWVYtsf43Y

They don't seem to be having too many weight/grip/leaning/balance issues there.. even at low speed/tight turns..
Now - what could those guys do on a purpose built comp-bike, equivalent to an FSAE machine?
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"

Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).

autogyro
autogyro
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Not really my field but surely the same forces in Tim's post are also present in four wheeled vehicles.
I would be interested to learn how they affect an unsprung kart design that an associate of mine is looking into for me.

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Andres125sx
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Tim.Wright wrote:
Andres125sx wrote:
If I get it correctly, we could say the pitch giroscopic moment created by my body movements causes a tire load "free" of weight load, so it´s not a tire load cancelled by a weight load as you explained previously what would not change grip, but a tire load with no counterpart, so grip is increased. This would be similar to downforce, increasing tire load with no weight load, but obviously at a much lower scale so it´s only noticeable when you´re at the limit of grip
Yup
Great explanation then, if I got it :mrgreen:

Thanks again :D

J.A.W.
J.A.W.
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Re: Bike vs Car

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autogyro wrote:Not really my field but surely the same forces in Tim's post are also present in four wheeled vehicles.
I would be interested to learn how they affect an unsprung kart design that an associate of mine is looking into for me.
Forgive my limited understanding of the tightly proscribed karting regs A-G.. but is it permissable to run adjustable
wheel trim settings such as camber & toe - on front & rear axles - of such unsprung karts?
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"

Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).

J.A.W.
J.A.W.
109
Joined: 01 Sep 2014, 05:10
Location: Altair IV.

Re: Bike vs Car

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Andres125sx wrote: Great explanation then, if I got it :mrgreen:

Thanks again :D

Curiously enough, A-125..
..you have added no comment regarding the motorcycle eventing videos posted above on this page..

Especially since you were so scathing about big Harley-Davidson motorcycles in an earlier thread..

A case of 'res ipsa loquitur' perhaps.. & for TW too, empirical evidence-wise..
"Well, we knocked the bastard off!"

Ed Hilary on being 1st to top Mt Everest,
(& 1st to do a surface traverse across Antarctica,
in good Kiwi style - riding a Massey Ferguson farm
tractor - with a few extemporised mod's to hack the task).

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Andres125sx
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Re: Bike vs Car

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No, it´s only that I´m not impressed at all with a bike dragging metal parts with only 30 degrees leaning... Maybe you´re fooled with the fast direction changes, but that doesn´t change those bikes are really slow cornering wise.

If you really think they´re cornering fast enough to post that video here as a proof of how fast are bikes, then you´re even more biased than I was assuming

And this comes from a biker, but I´m not blinded by my pasion
Last edited by Andres125sx on 09 Jun 2015, 10:53, edited 1 time in total.

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Tim.Wright
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Re: Bike vs Car

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Post some roll corrected steady state lateral acceleration values then we can start a discussion. Anything else is just handwaving I'm afraid...
Not the engineer at Force India

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Andres125sx
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Re: Bike vs Car

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J.A.W. wrote:But, just don't get one of biker cops behind you
Not a big problem considering I can corner faster than they even off-road... :mrgreen: :twisted:
Image
J.A.W. wrote:& no, a play-dirty only, weekend-warrior - does not really count as a 'biker' - either IMO, A-125..
Ok next time I want to use the term "biker" I´ll ask for your permission beforehand :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

btw, my mx experience finished some years back, now I own an Aprilia Pegaso (the most extreme road bike an mx junk like myself is willing to accept :P ), and with that I can also corner much much faster than those cops. I also drag my footpegs with my pegy like I did with my mx bikes on bankings, as you can see on that picture, and that´s almost double the leaning angle those cops can achieve with a harley, so no, I´m not impressed at all with your videos...

Does that convert me on a biker or I still don´t have your permission to use the word? :mrgreen:
Last edited by Andres125sx on 09 Jun 2015, 11:06, edited 1 time in total.