Dear Ed

I was disappointed to hear a rider who had recently had an ‘off’ at very low

speed say: ‘I guess at that speed the ‘gyro’ effect of the wheels wasn’t working’.

This was offered as a contribution to the spill. I take issue with this ‘new’ thinking

that gyroscopic effect is a significant contribution to bike stability. It’s far more

likely that our colleague’s upset was due to lack of inherent steering agility at low

speed, the initial requirement for steering correction probably incurred by poor

road surface (or diesel?).

Whilst being no expert in Applied Mathematics I think the forces

surrounding gyroscopic effects can be easily over-dramatised. Rather than

offering strong forces of stability, the attribute of a gyroscope is the taking in of a

force and delivery of a reaction in an unexpected way. The reaction of a gyro to a

force is at 90 degrees to the input, not to absorb the force and create stability!

The bikes stability is a function of steering geometry and centre of gravity. There

must be gyro effects from bike wheels and engines but the contribution to bike

stability is minimal.

I only raise this because we all seek the Nirvana of bike riding where

confusion and distraction are not welcome. I’m sure our rider changed his ride

plan to allow for the consequences of slow riding(?), e.g. more awareness of

road conditions because of poor low speed maneuverability. Far better he do this

than tense-up at the thought that his ‘gyro’ effect has failed and he might fall!

Great new magazine by the way.

Regards

Ian Elford

EKAM had been invited by the TREK (Trail Rides

for East Kent) Motorcycle Club to watch their

competitive event and then to try off-roading

themselves.

The event was held in a wood near Dover. It

consisted of a marked out route winding through the

wood, consisting of various tricky stages, each of

which had to be done in turn. Four EKAM members

turned up at 8.30 a.m. to help marshal the 30-odd

TREK riders as they negotiated the 15 sections

through the woods.

Each stage involved slowly negotiating around trees,

over logs or around holes in the ground. It is an

extreme test of slow

riding and machine control. Each stage had a

marshal, who waved the competitors through one at

a time, and then marked their score card according

to if they had 'cleared' the section, or how many

times they had put their foot down. The lower the

score the better.

 Nigel entered the main event, and by virtue of his

riding skill, scored the lowest points and won the

event. Nigel bought along his son and a friend, both whom also entered the trial. 

Later on they ran a slow riding competition around

cones and yes, Nigel won that as well! 

They all made it look very easy, but when nine

EKAM members had a go later after the main event

on borrowed bikes, it was a different story.

Nigel made the point that it was good to have fun

on bikes with family

and friends without the dangers of  traffic. The

other EKAM members will echo this and we found

the TREK members were very sociable. The feeling

was, “when could we do this again?”

Many thanks to Dave Rolfe and the TREK

membership for inviting us along to “have a go”.