Considerations of Turning Performance for Motorcycles

Tyre properties are one of the important factors in order to determine the handling performance of the motorcycles.

In this paper, to analyse the relationship between the tyre forces and moments and the behaviour of a motorcycle during running, the front and rear tyre forces and moments were measured using the newly developed wheels with load cells, in addition to current measuring devices. A comparison was attempted between the results obtained from the simulation of the behaviour in steady state turn and experimental results using the mechanical analysis language, and the validity of the simulation model was confirmed from the perspectives of the tyre forces and moments and the behaviour. Additionally, the slip angle, which was estimated from a comparison between the cornering force collected from the tyre test and the actual cornering force, could be related to the steering response. Furthermore, the parameter study was executed for the moment Mz, which is the sum of the aligning torque and the camber torque, and the cornering force Fy. The Mz in the front tyre especially affected to the steering torque, and the Fy in both the front and rear tyres affected to the steering torque and steering angle.