Major Softie wrote:Yes, Rob, if that vertical axis force, which certainly does exist, is followed down through to where it leaves the bike, you will see that, in a corner, that axis must travel through the air to reach the ground. That vertical axis force is being resisted by the contact patch, which is not aligned with the force axis, and that resistance is not perpendicular to the force axis. The torquing of the forks that vanzen is talking about is the result of your axis of force, and his contact patch, not being in alignment. Thus, the force is trying to bend the fork out of alignment.
On a banked turn, if the banking and speed are such that the axis you spoke of is perpendicular to the "ground" of the banking, then no such torquing of the fork would occur, as the contact patch would be perfectly centered on that axis.
No sorry, I'm still not getting this...
If you resolve the forces acting on a bike in a curve using - say - a vector diagram there will be a number of differing forces. These will include gravity, precession from the rotation of the wheels, inertia from the movement through the bend and others. These can all be resolved into one overall 'force' known as the resultant. With emphasis on the assumption that we are talking about a balanced bike in a constant bend on a smooth surface, the point where that resultant intersects the ground must be within the contact patch of the tyre (if it isn't, the bike will fall into or out of the bend which means that our initial assumption is no longer true). It follows that, in these somewhat idealised circumstances, the resultant must be parallel to the vertical axis of the bike... or at least within a degree or two of that. This being the case, the pressure applied to each stanchion will be (more or less) the same and there is no reason for one stanchion to be compressed more than the other.
Rob
