Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
Why do you say that? So long as the rear wheel trails behind the outside front wheel you're good to go. |
Physics. Rollover resistance determined by the track and the height of the roll center. The narrowing the track or raising the roll center increases risk of rollover.
With a 4 wheel vehicle with equal track front and rear the roll over resistance is equal on the front and rear axles. With a trike roll-over resistance is zero on the end with one wheel. For a trike to say stable it is key to keep weight over the end with 2 wheels.
Traditional trikes with one wheel in front and two in the back are very prone to roll-over under braking. As the vehicle brakes entering a corner weight shifts to the front single wheel. The harder the braking the more weight shifts the more likely vehicle rolls.
Reverse trikes fix this by putting two wheels in front. The more braking the more weight shifts over the axle with 2 wheels and the more resistant to roll-over.
That is all great until the rear wheel loses traction, the vehicle spins and now the back is the front....
EDIT: For your stool example example do this experiment.
On the 4 legged stool lean back until you are on two legs and then lean side to side. Then move to your 3 legged stool, lean back onto one leg and lean side to side. Which one falls over first?