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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!ihlpa!animal
From: animal@ihlpa.UUCP (D. Starr)
Newsgroups: net.cycle,net.auto.tech
Subject: Re: The story about the 85 mph speedometers
Message-ID: <1042@ihlpa.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Jan-86 15:39:33 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpa.1042
Posted: Fri Jan 17 15:39:33 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 19-Jan-86 04:12:37 EST
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Xref: watmath net.cycle:1464 net.auto.tech:622

> Let me think, isn't Joan Clayworth the person that brought us the
> backwards motorcycle?! (true story!) You see the NHTSD, in their
> unusual brand of wisdom, properly deduced that motorcycles were
> inherently unstable since the same (single) wheel that steered the
> bike also supplied most of it's braking. They then deduced that a
> better plan would be to steer with the rear (!!) wheel, like a boat.
> They finally gave up after observing that ALL of their test riders
> crashed after about 20 feet!
 
There is more to this story.  After spending over $50,000 of the taxpayers'
money on this thing, the NHTSA theorized that the reason nobody could ride
it was that they already knew how to ride the "wrong" type of bike (i. e., the
one that steered with the front wheel), and if they could only find a test
subject who'd never learned to ride a motorcycle (or bicycle!), that person
would be safer on the backwards bike.

> I hear that she is now proposing roll bars and seatbelts!!:-)
> Anybody for airbags!!???!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! 

As a matter of fact, I remember reading something about airbags for bikes,
back around '79 or '80.  A safety expert in England seriously proposed
an airbag to be built into the front of a motorcycle jacket.  The thing
was supposed to go off when you flew off the bike in a crash, and cushion
your impact with the ground.  Unfortunately, they couldn't find anyone
willing to test it.
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