Analysis of alternative front suspension systems for motorcycles

Abstract

Virtual prototyping is a common practice in the automotive industry but still a developing one for the motorcycle companies. Among other advantages, such techniques can greatly reduce the development time necessary to validate novel ideas. In that fashion, a motorcycle is modelled as a highly detailed multibody system in order to provide a test-rig for a number of alternative front suspension systems. These systems are compared in terms of kinematics and dynamics, to provide improved insight into the aspects that need to be considered when deciding upon the use of an alternative system instead of the conventional forks. Apart from the motorcycle model, a driver model has been developed to allow for the systems to be validated through subjection to a variety of driving manoeuvres during simulations. Some indicative results are shown to prove the performance potential of such systems when compared with the default solution of conventional forks and bring into attention the differences between each design philosophy.

Keywords:

• Multibody systems
• Vehicle dynamics
• Motorcycle
• Front suspensions

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the help and valuable comments of Prof. W. Schiehlen, University of Stuttgart, on many topics related to this project and thank Scuderia Speedy Gonzalez, the racing team of the official Bimota distributors in Greece, for the provision of telemetry data.