Suspension
Bikes may have only front, only rear, full suspension or no suspension that operate primarily in the central plane of symmetry; though with some consideration given to lateral compliance. The goals of a bike suspension are to reduce vibration experienced by the rider, maintain wheel contact with the ground, and maintain vehicle trim. The primary suspension parameters are stiffness, damping, sprung and unsprung mass, and tire characteristics. Besides irregularities in the terrain, brake, acceleration, and drive-train forces can also activate the suspension as described above. Examples include bob and pedal feedback on bicycles, the shaft effect on motorcycles, and squat and brake dive on both.
Read more about this topic: Bicycle And Motorcycle Dynamics
Famous quotes containing the word suspension:
“If the oarsmen of a fast-moving ship suddenly cease to row, the suspension of the driving force of the oars doesn’t prevent the vessel from continuing to move on its course. And with a speech it is much the same. After he has finished reciting the document, the speaker will still be able to maintain the same tone without a break, borrowing its momentum and impulse from the passage he has just read out.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C)
“Leonid Ivanovich Shigaev is dead.... The suspension dots, customary in Russian obituaries, must represent the footprints of words that have departed on tiptoe, in reverent single file, leaving their tracks on the marble....”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“There are two kinds of liberalism. A liberalism which is always, subterraneously authoritative and paternalistic, on the side of one’s good conscience. And then there is a liberalism which is more ethical than political; one would have to find another name for this. Something like a profound suspension of judgment.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)