Category: bicycles

Why is it easier for you to make sharp turns more quickly when your center of gr…

Lou Bloomfield Leave a comment

Why is it easier for you to make sharp turns more quickly when your center of gravity is over the handle bar?

The force that causes you to turn is friction between the front wheel and the ground. When you turn left, friction pushes the front wheel left and you turn left. By putting all of your weight over the front wheel, you accomplish two things. First, you increase the maximum static frictional force between the ground and the front wheel. You push them together harder so that they are less likely to slide (skid). Second, you make it easier for that sideways friction force to accelerate you; the force acts closer to your body and more directly on you. There are fewer torques on the bicycle that might cause it to skid about on either the front or rear wheel.

How is it that the torques cancel when you turn a bicycle?

Lou Bloomfield Leave a comment

How is it that the torques cancel when you turn a bicycle?

During a turn, you lean the bicycle into the turn. For example, when you turn left, you lean the top of the bicycle toward the left. The result is that you (and the bicycle) experience two torques. First, the support force from the ground tries to rotate you one direction—it tries to make your head go left and your feet go right. Second, friction from the ground, which is making you and the bicycle accelerate toward the left as part of the turn, tries to rotate you in the opposite direction—it tries to make your head go right and your feet go left. These two torques will cancel one another if you are leaning just the right amount. As a result, the bicycle doesn’t undergo angular acceleration and you don’t tip over.