Vertical Forces at the wheels for a bicycle (rear wheel)
Description
Though longitudinally stable when stationary, a bike may become longitudinally unstable under sufficient acceleration or deceleration. The normal (vertical) ground reaction forces at the wheels for a bike with a wheelbase L and a center of mass at height h and at a distance b in front of the rear wheel hub, and for simplicity, with both wheels locked, can be calculated by the L, h, b,the total mass and the coefficient of friction, which is an empirical property of the contacting materials.
Related formulasVariables
| Nr | Vertical ground reaction force at the rear wheel (N) |
| m | Total mass of the bike and rider (kg) |
| g | Standard gravity |
| L | Wheelbase ( horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels) (m) |
| b | Distance in front of the rear wheel hub (m) |
| μ | Coefficient of friction (dimensionless) |
| h | Height of the center of the mass (m) |