Originally posted by Ashe
One thing to keep in mind, is that 3-wheeled vehicles can actually be pretty stable; even equal to that of a four wheeler. I suspect alot of it
has to do with people seing them as being analogous to 3-wheeled ATVs (most of which are too short, to narrow, and have too high and forward a CG to
offer decent stability).
It's a simple relationship of cg height, track width between the two opposing wheels, and the distance of the cg from the opposing wheels that
determines whether a trike flips or skids.
The truth is that most of the wide-axle buggies have a wide enough track and a low enough cg's (located very close to the midpoint between the two
opposing wheels) to be as stable as a 4-wheeled counterpart. They might be a bit more prone to understeer than a four wheeler, but that's about it.
On the flip side, they're mechanically simpler and lighter than a four wheeled equivalent (esp. since it seems that alot of buggies carry a good
portion of their weight in wheels & tires).
This doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see work done on four wheeled buggies (or even reverse-trike buggies, for that matter), but I wouldn't put off
buggying waiting for a four wheeler. |
