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stabilisers for motor-cycles
a stabilising under-carriage similar to the ones on kiddies pushbikes to be deployed at brief stationary rests e.g. traffic lights. | |
motor cyclists look faintly ridiculous at the best of times in all that ungainly leather gear and silly painted helmets plus the huge amounts of padding in the hottest of weathers, no wonder their faces are permanently red - or is it embarrassment? So when they fall off their bikes at traffic lights
for no apparent reason they do appear the clowns of the highway.
also, as a pretty incompetent driver, I fret about driving over their feet. shirley some sort of stabilising mechanism could descend to the ground via a lever or button that means the hapless motorcyclist can keep his feet off the ground and remain upright.
(?) Gyroscopic stabilisers for monowheels
http://www.dself.de...torwhl/motorwhl.htm
still looking for the automatic retractable stabilisers for a motorbike (I know they exist). [st3f, Apr 25 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Enclosed Motorcycle
http://motobykz.co....raves_Ecomobile.htm
with stabilisers that come down then it stops. [st3f, Apr 25 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Commercial stabilisers 1
http://www.winglandinggear.com
that'll teach you to larf at the afflicted... [angib, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Commercial stabilisers 2
http://www.safetyfeatures.com/
there's more than one of these... [angib, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
Alternative to stabilisers
http://www.mtcvoyager.com/
so why have a bike at all? [angib, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]
[link]
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//motor cyclists look faintly ridiculous//
The more, the merrier |
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As a recent ex-clown of the highway, all I ask of motorists is to stop pulling out in front of me. |
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The fun in motorcycling is to make sharp leaning turns. This will add to the number of sticking-out-bits ready to dig into the road surface during such a manoevoure. |
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Shirley this problem is confined to motorcyclists who insist on riding a bike that is too big for them - and their feet can't touch the ground? Motorbikes seem to actually sit closer to the ground than pushbikes. I am a cyclist and I have to have my seat high so that pedalling is efficient and doesn't look like a bandy-legged bicycle policeman. However the distance between crossbar and ground has to be less than my inside leg measurement otherwise (a) I can't pause as you describe and (b) ouch. |
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It seems to me that the tandem configuration of a motorcycle wouldn't lend itself very well to the side-by-side method used by the Segway, no? |
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[st3f]: Did you ever just pretend you were invisible? Friends tell me that that is what they do when they ride. I guess drivers just don't see the bikes. Maybe a motorcycling invention that adds a continuously frantically-waving pair of fake arms is in order. |
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Baked. Its called the Sidewinder and was used to flout the laws here in the UK. The law stated that whilst you were limited to a 125cc motorcycle it was legal to ride any size bike as long as it was fitted with a sidecar. The Sidewinder was as close to a single stabiliser as you could get, it served no purpose as a sidecar. |
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I don't trust any car driver when I'm on my bike, assume they are all out to kill you and ride defensively. |
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/// I fret about driving over their feet//
Christ, something else to worry about now. [Po] could you let us know the make, model, colour and registration number of your car so we can keep an eye out for you? |
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green vauxhall astra g reg London area ;) |
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//Shirley this problem is confined to motorcyclists who insist on riding a bike that is too big for them // |
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?? Is this an epedemic overseas? I don't recall ever falling over at a light. As I ride a large dual-purpose bike it is very high, I can touch tippy toe on each side, but normally lean slightly to one side and put one foot down. |
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In order for po to run over feet she'd have to hit the entire side of the bike! |
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So, as a safety measure: 1) ride a large bike (ie big engine, great brakes) 2) air horns. |
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rbl, it depends on a. the size of your feet and b. which side of the road you are riding (left in UK) and the side you put your foot down (right in UK) - am a skilful enough driver to crush your toes and leave your bike unscathed. |
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eleven and a half, and I'm particularly glad there is an ocean and a continent between po(oey) and I |
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po: Motorcyclists generally put their left foot down (whatever country they are in) so that they can keep their right foot on the back brake. |
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bristolz: Yep, defensive riding -- work out what each car on the road could do that would most put you in danger and prepare for it. It's quite tiring but very necessary. |
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I read recently of a Swedish invalid who was patenting wheeled stabilizers that extended whenever the motorcycle slowed below a certain speed. |
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st3f, beg to differ. its often the right foot used to balance, that is how I have noticed the problem. |
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while it might increase the length of the queue at the lights, you could always treat the motorcycle as a car and not pull up beside it at all? it's going to move off faster than you when the lights turn green anyway, so why not just give it a little space? |
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po: Motorcyclists tend to put their right foot down when they have come to an unexpected or sudden stop so that they can use their left foot to click down through the gears ready to start off again. A motorcyclist frequently putting the right foot down may be showing signs of inexperience (which could explain why these people are falling off at traffic lights). |
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I know two people who have had legs amputated as a result of horrific accidents while they were riding their motorcycle. In both cases, it was the fault of a driver pulling out in front of them. (My cousin went right through the side walls of a panel van.) |
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This happens so often that I believe there is a general and inherent visibility problem with motorcycles. You will not catch me on one. |
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You might find that experienced motorcyclists are better behind the wheel of a car, as they still maintain the "everyone is out to kill me" alertness. They also duck when things (debris, bird) fly at the windshield and can often be found leaning into a corner in a futile attempt to get the car to bank properly. |
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[Po] duly noted, If you ever become aware of a motorcyclist in ungainly black leather salopettes, (and yes I know I look ludicrous and not at sexy, particularly with the ubiquitous baggy bum that leather trousers seem to develop) trying to tuck their feet underneath the bike and waving frantically,-its me.
[rbl] I havn't fallen off either, but I have seen it happen and indeed Mrs Ivan No.2 fell off a 1500cc Goldwing at lights, left the bike where it was, marched the few feet back to where I was sitting on my machine, and punched me in the stomach really really hard. Thats when I knew I truly loved her because anybody else would just have dissolved in tears. |
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//motor cyclists look faintly ridiculous// |
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...still wondering how retractable training wheels would make them look less ridiculous. |
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Ivan, why did she punch you? were you laughing?
yes, I will most certainly look out for you but your description fits half the bikers in London. |
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1/2 mad, I wanted the undercarriage to disappear as neatly somehow as it does in a plane. |
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did a bit of a snapshot census on the way home from work - in half an hour, I saw 5 motorbikers at rest. 4 dressed to the right and 1 to the left. 1 pushbiker at rest - dressed to the right also. I am beginning to think it has nothing to do with gears or brakes but to do with right handed-ness / right footed-ness. |
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The ones I like to watch at the lights are those who make a little game of how long they can manage to remain stopped without putting down either foot. I've seen some who can do it for a long time, indeed, a minute or better. |
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[waugs]: I didn't know you were a motorcyclist, especially one so good that no one could catch you. |
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No... I meant that you won't catch me if you're on a motorcycle. |
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[Po] I wasn't laughing, apparently I was doing something much worse, I was "smirking all over my face", I try to stay in Shropshire but occasionally come to London, I will probably be arrested next time for waving at green Astra drivers. |
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I would wave back, Ivan, but most bikers waving at me are usually also mouthing obscenities. <g> |
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Two Problems: (1) When it fails, and all things mechanical do... you fallover with no legs extended to recover, creating greater damage, injury and law suits against the stabilizer company. (2) The stabilizer presupposes a hard level pavement below, a mistake motorcycle riders don't make. If you get an unlevel pavement or gravely surface then your stabilizer is worse than nothing at all. (3) BONUS PROBLEM - As you come to pull up along side some friends, will your stabilizer deploy between the pedestrian's foot and the pavement? All that weight concentrated into the contact surface area of those pods would easily crush bones. |
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you say that as though it were a *bad* thing. |
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How about using some of the breaking to spin-up a gyro, the engine can keep it going on tick over it's only ever engaged while in first gear.
[po] I'm getting clown boots, so when you *think* you've run over my foot, you in fact have run over the shoe inserted water-sac for my squirty flower. |
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I saw a video of an enclosed 2-wheel vehicle that had little retractible arms that held it upright at rest. I don't recall the name of it or the inventor, I'll keep looking |
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Sounds more like you need to put training wheels on your motor bike. Unless your some kind of crazy mad scientist that can stabilized the thing with gyros. |
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