if you wanted maximum braking, where would you sit?
wle wrote:
if you could position your center of gravity anywhere, to ensure
maximum braking power, where would it be?
obviously over the front wheel is no good, you would flip.
there is a point, leaning either ahead of the front wheel, or
behind the back wheel, that the opposite wheel is off the ground.
clearly those are 2 limits, the answer must lie between them.
if there were very little friction, it would hardly matter.
assume a level road, brakes that can cause a skid no matter what.
ok, so where do you sit?
state assumptions, like coefficient of friction between tire and road,
weight of bike and rider.
I would sit near or below the level of the front axle to reduce or
elminate the tendency for the rear wheel to lift off of the ground, and
I would also be near the rear wheel for more favorable weight
distribution for braking. This describes a recumbent lowracer. Braking
can be improved by adding a second wheel in front (tadpole trike) as
weight transfers forward to two contact patches during braking, and
locking one or both front wheels under braking will not lead to a loss
of balance.
Tom Sherman - Quad Cities
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