Investigation Michael Roeder Abstract Position and rotation measuring instruments and data acquisition systems will be placed on a motorcycle to gather data which will then be quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed in an effort to understand the nature of motorcycle steering. To make a right turn, rather than turning the handle bars to the right, the rider pushes the bar away on the right side. Then the tires roll like a cone instead of like a cylinder and the motorcycle makes the turn.
Centripetal acceleration acts to hold the motorcycle up and carry it through the turn.
The outtracking model holds that countersteering causes the front wheel's contact patch to deflect opposite the intended direction of the turn. The motorcycle, reacting to this sideways force below its center of mass, rotates longitudinally about its center of mass leans into the intended direction of turn. The fork pivot inclination then causes the front wheel to deflect back to the intended direction of turn, and the motorcycle turns. Centripetal acceleration acts to hold the motorcycle up and carry it through the turn. There are obvious similarities in these two models.