Tony Foale is considered an expert in the field of building and modifying motorcycle chassis' and this book is one of the reasons why. Motorcycle Handling and Chassis Design is a 500 page successor to the original Tony Foale book - Motorcycle Chassis Design that was published in 1984.
In Foale's words, "It is an attempt to provide the reader with the background knowledge of how and why motorcycles react in the way that they do. An understanding at this level will however, equip the reader to undertake his own design, modifications or setup with greater confidence."
The major topics that the book covers are: motorcycle frame design, various rear end and front end designs (including forkless and wishbone-style designs), aerodynamics, damping techniques, etc. Tony's experiments, which he has been refining over the years, have also been covered in the book in the 'future developments' section along with other detailed contents that also include 2 wheel drive systems and 2 wheel steering systems. The book will allow you to understand the motorcycle you're riding/designing and allow you to accurately predict how each change will affect the handling and dynamics of the motorcycle.
Tony Foale also operates a website with some very interesting articles on the subject. A bunch of software programs for chassis design are also available for download. The book is easily available for purchase from Amazon.
Publisher: Tony Foale, 2006
Contents:
- Function and History
- Some basic definitions
- Function
- History
- Front suspension
- Rear suspension
- Spring types
- Load compression
- Tyres
- Weight support
- Suspension action
- Tyre stiffness or spring rate
- Contact area
- Area when cornering
- Friction (grip)
- Braking & driving
- Cornering
- Mechanisms of grip
- Under- and over-steer
- Construction
- Materials
- Summary
- Geometric considerations
- Basic motorcycle geometry
- Trail
- Rake or castor angle (steering axis inclination)
- Wheelbase
- Wheel diameter
- Other considerations
- Angular motions
- Balance and steering
- Balance
- Steering
- Gyroscopic effects only
- Gyroscopic with tyre camber force only
- Gyroscopic with tyre camber and steer forces
- Tyre forces only - no gyroscopic effects
- Body lean only- no steering
- Conclusions
- Aerodynamics
- Drag
- Evolution of the racing fairing
- Internal air flow
- Lift
- Airflow evaluation
- Side wind stability (traditional view)
- Steady state directional stability
- Dynamic directional stability
- Summary
- Suspension principles
- Springs
- Damping
- Sprung and unsprung mass
- Basic suspension principles
- Other factors
- Lateral suspension
- Summary
- Front suspension
- Head stock mounted forks
- Alternatives to the head stock mounted fork
- Hub centre steered
- Double link
- McPherson strut based
- Virtual steering axis
- Rear suspension
- Effective spring rate
- Chain effects
- Wheel trajectory
- Structural
- Single or dual sided
- Summary
- Squat and dive
- Load transfer
- Squat and dive
- Shaft drive
- Chain drive
- Aerodynamic squat
- Braking reaction (rear)
- Dive (front)
- Dynamic effects
- Summary
- Structural considerations
- Fatigue
- Structural efficiency
- Triangulation
- Beam frames
- Triangulated frames
- Tubular backbone
- Structural comparison
- Fabricated backbone
- Monocoque
- Structural engine
- Conventional multi-tubular
- Twin-spar
- Other types
- Summary
- Engine mounting
- Braking
- The basics
- Effects of CoG height
- Generation of torque
- Hardware
- Discs
- Calipers
- Pads
- Linked brakes
- ABS
- Materials and properties
- Typical properties of some common materials
- Frame
- Wheels
- Fuel tank
- Brake discs
- Bodywork
- Stability and control
- Under-/over-steer
- High-siding
- Stability under braking
- Instabilities
- Damping
- Performance measurement
- Track side
- Laboratory
- Strength analysis
- Measurement and simulation
- Future development
- Practical frame building
- Welding
- Distortion
- Gussets
- Jigging
- Tube profiling
- Tube types
- Tube sizes
- Frame finishes
- Design layout
- Case study
- Measurement
- Main frame
- Engine mounting
- Results
- Material
- Swing arm
- Forks
- Caution
- Tuning
- Future developments
- The status quo
- Future possibilities
- Active suspension
- Rheological fluids
- Two wheel drive (2WD)
- Two wheel steering (2WS)
- Feet-forward motorcycles (FF)
- Appendices
- Experiments with rake and trail
- Rake
- Trail
- Conclusions
- Post script
- Glossary of terms
- Units conversion
- Gyroscopic effects
- Basic physics of motorcycles
- Basic trigonometry
- Units of angle
- Velocity
- Acceleration
- Mass
- Momentum
- Newton's laws
- Force and weight
- Moments, couples and torque
- Centripetal & centrifugal force
- Addition and resolution of velocities and forces
- Work, energy and power
- Nomenclature and sign conventions
- Normalization
- Analysis of mechanisms
- CoG and mass distribution of rider
- Typical data
I have looked through a friends book, and now I really want one of my own.
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