[pengyou]

has anyone ever hooked servos up to the steering wheel of a tadpole and then connected a joy stick so that steering could be done with the joy stick? Sounds really cool...but am not sure how safe it would be.

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[geebee]

Fun, but would be deadly on roads, a touch of servo shudder, a wire vibrating loose, the control potentiometer wiper getting dirty, battery pack failure, road pot hole causing stripping of the output gears.... you get the picture.
Digital feed back servo same issues different causes.
Then you have possible interference issues if you fit a power assist.

And no doubt someone will mention planes use it, it only took decades and billions to do.
Car companies are still currently trying to perfect it.

[Abneycat]

It would be neat, but I don't see the benefit of it besides well, being neat. On a bike, what design could you cook up that you'd need remote steering for?

[pengyou]

Just being neat :)

[BlazingPedals]

Try it and report back.

[GreenGrasshoppr]

how much would servos weight?

[jeff-o]

You can get close to joystick control with a trike like the Windcheetah. It has a central control arm that rotates around a U-joint.

[Artkansas]

has anyone ever hooked servos up to the steering wheel of a tadpole and then connected a joy stick so that steering could be done with the joy stick? Sounds really cool...but am not sure how safe it would be.


It's a very tempting idea with computer-aided control. At last I could take my hands off the handlebars and pedal hands-free! :D

[Wheelchairman]

Sounds awfully unnessacery and heavy. Plus, you can't beat "feeling" the road beneath your tyres. The loss of a direct link from your hands to the road surface would make steering more of a guessing game then it ever should be.

[StephenH]

Seems to me that servos big enough to control a bicycle would suck up a fair bit of power, which means a sizable battery to lug along.

[vik]

Sounds like a great idea for a shaft drive vertical tandem trike....:eek::eek::p:p:D:D

[BlazingPedals]

No need for shaft drive - put the servos on the bb and the front axle. Front wheel drive with no chain!

[vik]

No need for shaft drive - put the servos on the bb and the front axle. Front wheel drive with no chain!

Sure - perhaps one of those 30hp gas powered servos and you'd really move!...:eek::p

[jccaclimber]

Why not just cable steer?