A New Facility for Testing Motorcycle Tires

Analysis of the dynamic modes of the single-track vehicle has been hampered by the general lack of facilities for gathering force and moment data on motorcycle tires under dynamic test conditions. The facility described was designed and constructed by UMTRI under the sponsorship of the HONDA Research and Development Company in order to alleviate this problem. Unlike conventional tire dynamometers, this new facility allows for testing under dynamic conditions and provides for non-zero path curvature. These particular capabilities hold promise for advancement in the state-of-the-art understanding of the dynamic operating modes of the single-track, pneumatic-tired vehicle.

The facility is unique in its physical design in that it employs a small, light tire-mounting head which is controlled by a mechanically simple system of servo-controlled hydraulic cylinders. This mechanical simplicity is achieved, however, at the cost of a complex electronic control system involving substantial on-line digital calculation.