- #1
VVS2000
- 145
- 17
Thanks in advance
Unplanned direction changes with single track vehicles are difficult:While going on a bicycle, how can I take a quick turn when there is a obstacle ahead of me.
Wow. I would not have though of that but if you could pull it off (I'm confident I could not) I think you are right that it would be a possible solution.I would lean forward above the handlebars so the bicycle becomes a freewheeling unicycle, and then stick out a leg to one side while counter-steering by the appropriate magnitude to avoid the obstacle. This simplifies the equations to the forces acting on only one wheel.
In addition to the other tips, keep in mind that different bicycle geometries will be able to maneuver more quickly than others. The "rake" and "trail" of the front forks will have a big impact on how quickly the bicycle can steer.Summary: While going on a bicycle, how can I take a quick turn when there is a obstacle ahead of me.
That is not a good thought to have. You can pretty much *always* slow down some, even while you are turning hard. It takes practice (especially on a street motorcycle), but it should become a muscle-memory reaction to get on the brakes hard (with good braking balance front-to-back) while you are taking evasive maneuvers. At the very least, if you end up hitting the thing you are trying to avoid, the energy of the impact decreases as the square of your velocity, so hitting it at half speed will hurt you a lot less than hitting it at full speed.Summary: I cannot slow down
There is always the advice that you should never be going so fast that you can't avoid hitting 'unexpected items'. That's impossible to do without going at walking pace - but it is possible to cycle (and drive) with that advice in mind, taking blind corners slowly *slower) etc. etc.. Unfortunately, the majority of fast cyclists tend to be young men who have testosterone-enhanced force fields around their cycles and also, immortality. (Times ten for motorcycles.)Practice your emergency braking and evasive maneuvers before you need them, and ride safe and smart!
I mean I was actually looking for a mathematical point of view, like cornering your way around and therefore making an angle with the ground and resolving forces... like how you do it in a banked road situationHow do you think you might do it?
That's really not what you want to do though if you want to stop quickly. Fixed gear cyclists do this to show off. If you want to stop quickly with no front brakes, you need to shift weight as far back as possible so you have as much weight on the braking wheel as you can, and then you want to hold the brakes at just the right level so the wheel almost starts skidding (but doesn't actually lock up - grip levels are higher for wheels that are rolling).That’s how fixed gear cyclists stop all day with no brakes, they “unweight” the rear wheel by leaning forward, lock their legs (the bike has no freewheel mechanism so doesn’t coast), let the rear wheel fall back down, initiating a controlled skid which turns the rear tire into a brakepad. These skids can be arbitrarily long depending how far they lean forward.