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Originally Posted by Dezmo
OK, I have put some thought into this, and theres one major flaw with thinking the bike 'falls' into the corner without the influence of gyros, and its the one force that cannot be cancelled out while on earth.....gravity.
Watch a GP or Superbike race sometime, and pay close attention to a particulary tight corner.....see how fast those guys slam the bikes over? Gravity alone cannot do this....if you need proof go hold your bike upright, then tip it just off center and let go....it will fall but it takes a second or so for any speed to build up. (You dont really have to do this, just using an example). If gravity isnt moving the bike over that fast, what is?
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When a bike corners the tyres grip the road, thus the bike is trying to push the road away. But the road cannot be pushed away and the earth has too larger mass for this bike cornering process to make it move ... thus where has all this force gone?
Obviously if the rider has not leaned the bike over enough this cornering force will make the bike stand up and he/she will crash.
If the rider leans over correctly to balance the force then that force has been BALANCED and all the cornering G's are going directly down through the CoG of the bike and rider combination. Thus if the rider wants to change the cornering direction/line of the bike he just needs to alter the bike and rider combination's CoG again. As the bikes is perfectly force balanced this takes no more effort than if the bike was vertical EXCEPT he/she now has the cornering G force to counter. This unfortunately makes it harder for the rider to move because they will be G
cornering * their mass heavier.
Counteracting their request for the bike to alter direction will be the gyroscopic force of any rotating object on the bike, definitely not aiding their request for the bike to lean.
Pete