Motorcycle Slide To Stop Tests: Christopher J. Medwell, Joseph R. Mccarthy, Michael T. Shanahan
Motorcycle Slide To Stop Tests: Christopher J. Medwell, Joseph R. Mccarthy, Michael T. Shanahan
Motorcycle Slide To Stop Tests: Christopher J. Medwell, Joseph R. Mccarthy, Michael T. Shanahan
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•Replacement of the right side lower fairing assembly. Tests were conducted at a speed of 80 km/hr.
The test speed was monitored to within 1 km/hr by radar
•Replacement of the right side driver’s foot peg bracket. aimed at the pickup truck. The radar device was a
Muniquip MDR2 and was calibrated with a 50 km/hr and
•Replacement of the upper fairing support bracket. a 95 km/hr tuning fork just prior to the tests.
The motorcycle was photographed before and
•Installation of the handlebar, turn signals, and side after each test and the damage documented. The tests
reflector from the left side of the motorcycle onto the were video taped by cameras located both in the pickup
right side. truck and on the side of the roadway.
With the exception of the right outboard edge of After the motorcycle slid to a stop, the sliding
the upper fairing, the right side of the motorcycle was distance was measured. Measurements were taken
undamaged immediately prior to our testing. The fairing from the location of the first evidence of the motorcycle’s
had sustained slight cracking and scuffing during the touchdown on the road surface to the centre of the
original accident which we did not deem necessary to position of the motorcycle at rest. A total of four tests
repair prior to our tests. were conducted, three on the right side of the
motorcycle and one on the left.
The tests were designed to approximate, as
closely as possible, the motion of a motorcycle falling OBSERVATIONS
over from an upright position. The motorcycle was
positioned upright on a fabricated platform mounted on RESULTS OF TEST NO. 1 - During test no. 1,
the right side of a pickup truck. (See Figure 1.) The the pickup truck was driven parallel to the roadway, and
height of the platform was adjusted so that its underside the motorcycle was released at a location near the
was as close as possible to the roadway surface. This centre line. Gouge marks created by the right foot peg
test setup resulted in the motorcycle tire contact surface and front axle, along with green paint transfers from the
being approximately 90mm above the roadway. The fairing, were the first evidence of touchdown. Also at
motorcycle was held upright by an assistant riding in the touchdown, the front tire and wheel rim of the
bed of the pickup truck. The truck was accelerated to the motorcycle left a deep scrape and a black tire scuff in
test speed, then the motorcycle was released and the asphalt. A radial deformation of the cast aluminum
allowed to fall over sideways onto the road surface. rim of the front wheel was obvious after the test. The
motorcycle, with the exception of its front wheel, slid
smoothly on the asphalt surface. The front wheel, after
the initial touchdown, immediately bounced up and then
back down, leaving another black scuff mark at a second
location. The tire then came down again and bounced
lightly several more times, leaving black scuff marks to
the road surface during the contact time. The
intermittent black tire scuff marks were visible for the
majority of the length of the slide on the paved surface.
counterclockwise approximately ½ of a revolution about RESULTS OF TEST NO. 3 - For test no. 3, the
the front wheel during the final 15 to 20 m of the slide. It pickup truck was driven on a 4 or 5 degree angle to the
came to rest with its front wheel pointing in the direction left at the time of the release so that the motorcycle
from which it had come. would travel parallel to the road during its slide. This
method produced a slide straight down the roadway a
In addition to the deformation of the front wheel distance of 69.5 m. The motorcycle was initially stable
rim, the motorcycle sustained abrasions to the lower with the front wheel leading, but rotated 180 degrees
right side fairing assembly, the lower edge of the right counterclockwise toward the end of the slide and came
fork tube, the right handlebar, the brake lever, the brake to rest with the front wheel pointing back toward the start
lever pivot area, the right side of the upper fairing, the of the slide. Similar evidence on the road surface was
driver’s foot peg, the passenger’s foot peg, and the produced during this test. The initial front wheel contact
outboard casing of the muffler. The right mirror broke with the asphalt was minimal. The black tire scuff from
from its mount, and the right front turn signal came out the front tire was present throughout the length of the
of its mounting area. With the exception of the damage slide. Additional damage to the same surfaces of the
to the front wheel, all of these damages were consistent right side of the motorcycle was noted.
with the expected damage for this kind of slide.
RESULTS OF TEST NO. 4 - The last test was
RESULTS OF TEST NO. 2 - Test no. 2 was conducted by releasing the motorcycle onto its left side.
also conducted at 80 km/hr. The motorcycle’s initial Since the platform was mounted to the right side of the
sliding trajectory was similar to test no. 1. It came into pickup box, this involved releasing the motorcycle with
contact with the grass 43.2 m from the touchdown point. its rear wheel leading. The absence of a muffler on the
During the slide on the asphalt, the motorcycle rotated left side of the motorcycle exposed more of the plastic
slightly in a clockwise direction. As a result, the front tire fairing to the road surface and allowed the end of the
of the motorcycle came into contact with the grass first. rear axle to contact the asphalt.
This occurred after the motorcycle rotated approximately
90 degrees to an orientation approximately During the initial portion of the slide, the
perpendicular to the roadway, with the tires of the motorcycle rotated clockwise 180 degrees to a position
motorcycle leading the slide. As the front tire entered with the front tire leading. It was stable in this attitude
the grassy surface, turf was dug up and the motorcycle until near the end of the slide, when it began to rotate
began to rotate rapidly clockwise. As it entered the counterclockwise slightly, just before it came to rest.
grass, the motorcycle rotated rapidly while traveling
approximately parallel to the edge of the road (i.e., The pickup truck was again driven on an angle
having changed direction slightly from its original path so that the total slide distance was on the paved surface
towards the right). The motorcycle rotated as in test no. 3. The test speed was 80 km/hr, and the
approximately 540 degrees before coming to rest with its sliding distance was 86.3 m.
front wheel pointed towards the direction of the start of
the slide. The total slide distance was 63 m, 43 m on Short gouges were created on the road surface
asphalt and 20 m along the asphalt/grass shoulder at touchdown by the handlebar end and the rear axle.
interface. At rest, the handlebars and front wheel were The remainder of the slide distance exhibited short
located over the asphalt surface with the remainder of scratches and scuff marks similar to those observed in
the motorcycle on the grass. the other tests.
The evidence on the road surface from test no. The motorcycle exhibited abrasions to a larger
2 was similar to that from test no. 1 except the initial area of the lower fairing assembly than had been the
front wheel contact with the asphalt was less severe. A case on the right side tests. At the rear, the absence of
black scuff from the front tire was visible for the majority a muffler canister had allowed abrasions to the rear
of the slide distance on the asphalt. Various scrapes fairing area just below the seat and to the protruding end
and short duration scratches to the asphalt were noted of the rear axle.
along the entire distance of the slide. There was
sufficient evidence to note the beginning of the slide, the ANALYSIS
direction of the slide, the location of the interface
between the asphalt and the grass, and the distance the TEST NO. 1 - Based on an 80 km/hr release
motorcycle slid on the edge of the grass. speed, and the 56 m slide length, the average friction
factor for the slide was 0.45. Because of the grass torn
Additional damage to the same surfaces of the and dug up during the portion of the slide on grass, it
right side of the motorcycle was noted. There was new was obvious that the motorcycle had decelerated more
evidence of additional scuffing to the front tire and wheel rapidly on the grass than on the asphalt. Also, the
rim from this test; however, there was no deformation of digging in of the front wheel rim and tire at the beginning
the wheel rim. of the slide probably created a temporary additional
drag. Drag from the front tire of the motorcycle
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eventually resulted in the motorcycle’s rotation as the Based on the similar distances the motorcycle
sliding velocity decreased. slid on the asphalt in tests nos. 1 and 2, the motorcycle
should have been traveling at about the same speed in
TEST NO. 2 - Based on the 80 km/hr test speed both tests as it entered the grass. Because the grass
and the 63 m slide distance, the average friction factor portion of test no. 1 involved much more interaction with
for the total slide was 0.4, a factor slightly lower than in the turf than was the case in test no. 2, the motorcycle
test no. 1. Two reasons were immediately apparent for slid a significantly shorter distance on the grass in test
the difference: no. 1.
1.The digging in of the front tire at touchdown was much To test the hypothesis that the asphalt friction
less than during test no. 1. factor was similar for all four tests, we calculated the
resultant grass friction factors. Our calculations,
2.The interaction with the grass at the edge of the road assuming an asphalt friction factor equal to the average
was less, with less material being torn up and the of the results from tests nos. 3 and 4, suggest that the
motorcycle never being fully onto the grass. motorcycle was traveling at about 53 to 55 km/hr when it
entered the grass in test nos. 1 and 2. Thereafter, the
Other possible factors such as the grinding friction factor on the grass was approximately 0.78 in
down of projecting surfaces are less likely, in our test no. 1 and 0.55 in test no. 2. The magnitude of
opinion, to have had a significant effect. these values appeared to be consistent with the
observations made of the motorcycle during these two
TEST NO. 3 - The motorcycle slid a distance of tests.
69.5 m on asphalt pavement during test no. 3. Based
on the 80 km/hr release speed, the friction factor for this In analyzing the data from tests nos. 3 and 4, an
test was 0.36. error factor of plus or minus 1.5 km/hr for the initial
speed was included. This error factor accounts for the
TEST NO. 4 - The motorcycle slid a distance of possible error within the radar unit and for the angle at
86.3 m on asphalt pavement during test no. 4. Based which the motorcycle slid with respect to the path of the
on the 80 km/hr release speed, the friction factor for this pickup truck. Therefore, the range for the asphalt
test was 0.29. We suspect that the lower friction factor friction factor for this motorcycle in these tests was
was at least partially due to the absence of a left side between 0.28 and 0.38.
muffler, which increased the portion of the weight of the
motorcycle which was resting on plastic fairing We note that the lower end of the range was
components during this test. obtained from test no. 4, when the motorcycle was
sliding on its left side. During this test, more of the
Test Number Distance (m) Drag Factor weight of the motorcycle was being carried by the
Asphalt Grass Average fairing, since there was no muffler canister on the left
1 (right side) 41 15 0.45 side of the motorcycle. The reduction in friction factor
2 (right side) 43 20 0.4 expected from a fairing equipped motorcycle may
3 (right side) 69.5 - 0.36 depend on how much of the weight of the motorcycle is
4 (left side) 86.3 - 0.29 borne by the fairing components as opposed to the
metal protrusions such as foot pegs, handlebars, and
exhaust components.
The tests were designed to obtain values for the
friction factor on asphalt. However, due to the 4 or 5
The lower end of the range from these tests was
degree angle at which the motorcycle departed from the
consistent with the results reported by Raftery (6).
test platform, the last 15 m of sliding in test no. 1 and
Raftery’s method used cables to suspend the motorcycle
the last 20 m of sliding in test no. 2 took place on the
horizontally an unspecified distance above the roadway
grass. The 4 or 5 degree angle stayed constant
before it was released. Raftery reported a result of 0.26
throughout the four tests, suggesting that it was due to
after testing an unspecified make and model motorcycle
the lateral velocity attained during the fall to the
retrofitted with a fairing at a speed of 85 km/hr.
roadway. The angle could affect the test speed by
about 0.3 km/hr. The asphalt portions of all tests
A similar test method was utilized by Carter et al
appeared to be virtually identical in terms of motorcycle
(7) to test a number of motorcycles, including two sports
dynamics, except for the unusually severe front wheel
models with fairings. The motorcycles were suspended
interaction at the start of test no. 1. Therefore, tests
with their lowest point approximately 50mm above
nos. 1 and 2 should have produced results similar to
ground. For the 1987 Yamaha FZ700T, a sports model,
those of tests nos. 3 and 4 if not for the fact that the
tested once at 97 km/hr, the reported result was 0.42.
motorcycle left the asphalt surface.
When the same motorcycle was tested at 48 km/hr, the
results ranged from 0.40 to 0.48.
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FALL TIME - Analysis of the video tapes 7. Carter, Thomas J.,et al, “Measurement of Motorcycle
showed that the time for the motorcycle to fall from an Slide Coefficients,” 961017, Society of Automotive
upright position to roadway contact was about 2/3 of a Engineers, 1996
second. This fall time was relatively constant throughout
the testing. 8. Lambourn, Richard F., “The Calculation of
Motorcycle Speeds from Sliding Distances,” 910125,
Society of Automotive Engineers, 1991
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
REFERENCES