A riderless bicycle can automatically steer itself so as to recover from falls. The common view is that this self-steering is caused by gyroscopic precession of the front wheel, or by the wheel contact trailing like a caster behind the steer axis. This study shows that neither effect is necessary for self-stability. Using linearized stability calculations as a guide, a bicycle was built with extra counter-rotating wheels (canceling the wheel spin angular momentum) and with its front-wheel ground-contact forward of the steer axis (making the trailing distance negative). When laterally disturbed from rolling straight, this bicycle automatically recovers to upright travel. The results of this study show that various design variables, like the front mass location and the steer axis tilt, contribute to stability in complex interacting ways. (Author/publisher)
Abstract