Vertical Forces at the wheels for a bicycle (rear wheel)


Though longitudinally stable when stationary, a bike may become longitudinally unstable under sufficient acceleration or deceleration. The normal (vertical) ground reaction forces at the wheels for a bike with a wheelbase L and a center of mass at height h and at a distance b in front of the rear wheel hub, and for simplicity, with both wheels locked, can be calculated by the L, h, b,the total mass and the coefficient of friction, which is an empirical property of the contacting materials.

Related formulas


NrVertical ground reaction force at the rear wheel (N)
mTotal mass of the bike and rider (kg)
gStandard gravity
LWheelbase ( horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels) (m)
bDistance in front of the rear wheel hub (m)
μCoefficient of friction (dimensionless)
hHeight of the center of the mass (m)