In development of an advanced bicycle simulator, the investigation of the interactions between bicycle and rider during cycling is paramount important because bicycle is a two-wheeled human-powered vehicle. In this work, the tilt stability, among various interactions, of bicycling is investigated experimentally. In the experiments, the tilt angles of the bicycle, rider's body and head are measured, as the riding path and the speed are varied. Subjects are asked to ride on rigid flat ground following four typical paths: the straight, C-curved, S-curved and circle paths.
The results from extensive experiments with different subjects can be summarized as:
1) The tilt angles of bicycle and rider are almost out of phase during pedaling along the straight path.
2) The bicycle tilt angle is nearly proportional to the square of bicycle speed for the straight and curved paths, and to the curvature for the curved paths.
3) The head tilt angle is the biggest and the body tilt angle is the smallest for the straight path, but the tendency is reversed for the C-curved path. During the curve maneuvering, the rider's head tends to tilt by less than 40% of the bicycle tilt angle.
