Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Moore
....If you've made things so the bike can't ground when leaned over at full bump, you could still have problems if the pro-squat bottoms out the suspension while leaned over and the suddenly infinite wheel rate causes a loss of traction.....
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Michael,
I agree with what you said above.
And to add to that.
Let's say we have a motorcycle that is setup with a good inclination of the swing arm while under power (anti-squat).
Now we are entering a curve, while still under power and we have adequate ground clearance to make the turn.
Suddenly a deer runs across the road in front of us, and yikes, we have to back off completely (let's not even talk about grabbing the front brake hard).
What happens?
The power is lost so the suspension drops and now the undercarriage hits the ground, making it very hard, if not impossible to make through the turn.
This is exactly what happens to a bike with shaft drive and a big, powerful motor too. It has natural anti-squat tendencies.
I would prefer to design the rear swing-arm so that it squats under hard acceleration and therefore does not "drop" when you remove the power source while in a bend in the road.
Normally when a seasoned rider is in a turn, there is a slight amount of throttle held on to keep the same momentum through the turn, and not scrub it off with the front tire. This action keeps the chassis stable and also keeps adequate ground clearance throughout the turn. One typically would only add an excessive amount of power in a turn in this scenario, 1) if they are wreckless, or 2) want the undercarriage to hit, or 3) want to see how close they can come to crashing.
I tend to use the "Kenny Roberts" technique of rounding a curve, which if anything implies that I ere on the side of too much throttle through a turn as this would kick out the rear slightly and still allow the front to steer the motorcycle. This action is a polar opposite of how Kel Carruthers (spelling) of the Yamaha racing team used to ride through turns. His front tire was gone after a race, while the rear looked pristine. The main drawback to this of course, is that if he pushes too hard and looses the front, the odds are that it's gone for good, and he's down!
Obviously this also implies that one is not going too fast through the turn to begin with!!
Sorry I did not think of this sooner as it came to me in bed last night.
Jim.