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Questions tagged [bicycles]

37 questions
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Why don't motorcycles have as good a turning radius as bicycles?

The question is about why are motorcycles not manufactured with handlebars that can turn to great degrees like a bicycle. In most motorcycles, you hardly have a steering angle of about 20-30 degrees, whereas on a bicycle, you can even go beyond 90…
Siddh Aarth
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What are the technical obstacles for using flywheel-based regenerative braking on bicycles?

Is it possible to convert the energy you would normally lose when braking your bicycle to rotational energy by attaching an extra wheel which would start to rotate once you use your brakes? E.g., when facing a red light after riding down a hill. If…
Gert
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What makes scooters unstable at high speeds?

Scooters and skateboards are obviously meant for slower speeds, below 5 MPH. Typically if you go faster than that, it becomes harder and harder to control the scooter, and you will fall off. An example of this is the speed wobble, examples easily…
user16388
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1 answer

Clamping force of a bicycle quick release skewer

In brief: between a standard quick-release skewer and a bolt-on skewer, which will provide greater clamping force? More detail: Modern bicycle wheels are held in place by clamping skewers that run through hollow axles. The typical "quick release"…
Carl
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Calculate max deceleration without front wheel slipping (bicycle)

I am trying to calculate the maximum braking force/deceleration for a bicycle. Note: the question assumes only the front brake is used Free body diagram: Typo: in the image above, "$F_{a,\ max(dry)} = g X_3 / h$" is wrong, since it is an…
Maarten -Monica for president
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Why is the open-front bike stem design so widespread despite that it may be inferior to the closed-front design?

Context Even major bicycle corporations have the occasional product recall on handlebars. It's easy to see why. The bike itself is a gentle, light, and nimble ~10 kg (for a road bike) object, whereas the weight of the brute riding it is anywhere…
Sam7919
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How do I add magnets to the mechanism of my exercise bike?

I have an exercise bike that works by a (I'm assuming solid iron) flywheel and a 'horseshoe' of magnets that are moved in and out to set the difficulty. I have attached an image of the same design found on Google Images so you can see what I…
Tim
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Actual amount of reinforcement gained by adding gusset to welded steel tube construction

This question bothers me for quite a while and is about bicycle frame construction, specifically a BMX frame and even more specifically it's front triangle. It is a heavy duty frame by definition, and most common point of frame failure in this area,…
MumenRider
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How fast could a human pedal a car?

Suppose that we were to install bicycle pedals into a passenger car, say a civic coupe, in such a way that pedaling is as mechanically efficient as riding an ordinary bike. Further suppose that we have a transmission with whatever the appropriate…
Him
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What is the impact toughness for some common bicycle frame materials?

I've been trying to compare popular materials for bicycle frames in terms of their mechanical properties. One thing I noticed is that it's hardly possible to find a data sheet specifying the impact toughness of a material. I've only found it for…
Slovakov
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Why there is no piston style pedal bicycle?

I have interested in walking bicycle. For the concept is just bicycle that you don't cycling pedal but stepping or striding to drive wheel Which leads me to think that is it better if we use linear or ellipse motion of leg to transmit to bicycle The…
Thaina
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Is it possible to prove that applied forces to a bicycle top tube are worse than a seatpost when using a repair stand clamp?

This stems from the idea that you should use a bike stand clamp on a seatpost, if you can, for carbon fiber (CF) bike frames. Hopefully, this would avoid the cracking of a CF bike frame. In order to prove that it's safer to clamp on a seatpost vs. a…
cocobutters
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Can epoxy bond two Aluminum alloy beams?

The bicycle component manufacturer Shimano makes crankarms named "Hollowtech". Hollowtech crankarms are meant to be both strong and light. As the diagram below (source: Shimano) shows, the outer shell is made from an aluminum alloy and the inside is…
Sam7919
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How to change the direction of a chain-sprocket system

I’m looking for a way to change the direction (90 °) of a motion transmitted by a basic chain-sprocket system. Is there such a thing as a chain-driven equivalent to straight bevel gears? I’m planning on buying a piece of land and building an…
Ludovik B.
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Is the bicycle the fastest possible human-powered vehicle?

It seems to me that bicycles have proven themselves to be the fastest human-powered vehicle in common usage. By “human-powered” I mean it has no fuel or power source other than the inputs given by a human, i.e. no engines, no sails, no clever use of…
Eoin
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