"Doki" wrote in message
...

David Martin wrote:
On 21/6/04 3:56 pm, in article , "Peter
Clinch" wrote:

Rear steer is a different matter. I think it was in C+ that someone
asked this and Mike Burrows answered it. IIRC he basically said that
what's fine in theory doesn't work quite so well in practice and rear
steer bikes tend to be patronised by people called Koko with large
red noses...

I was just thinking about this and considering what pushing a rear
steer trolley is like.

Just a case of practice, IME of pushing trolleys with the steering wheels at
the back.

Do you actually know of any documented case of someone being able to ride a
rear-steered bicycle?

All the experiments I have read of have concluded that it's pretty much
impossible.

It could easily be built into tricycles if you wanted to though.

There is only one word I can think of to
desribe the thought of rear wheel steering on a fast downhill and
that is SCARY (followed by lots of road rash and a stay in hospital).

There is a reason the back wheels follow the front and that is
stability. Rear steering involves the back going it's own way.
Interesting...

The problem is that to turn away from an obstacle you have to steer towards it.
This means that situations can arise where it is not possible to avoid the
obstacle with rear steering but it could have been avoided with front steering.

It wouldn't be difficult to castor the rear wheels so that they return to
straight ahead of their own accord. The opposite occurs in a car when you
reverse, so it gives you the impression that rear steer is much more
unstable than it has to be.

Very few HPVs have reverse gears[1], so the necessary corrections possible with
a car are not available.

[1] Yes, I know there are a few.
--
Mark South: World Citizen, Net Denizen