Mark South wrote:
"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.

I was thinking of a pair of rear wheels TBH. I've not tried it, or read up
on. I wouldn't even want to try riding a rear steer bicycle, too much weight
over the wheel that's lurching across the road quite rapidly...

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.

I'm afraid I don't really *get* countersteering. I must do it, but I've
never noticed myself do it. Probably all bunged away in the brain stem and
never consciously thought about.

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.

I wasn't thinking of having a reverse gear on the bike, just that if you
ever try reversing at speed in a car, the slightest steering input results
in the car winding a lot of lock on by itself. The same effect gives the
steering self centring when you're going forwards.