Separate control for steering and the hang on rider? I've been experimenting with my HOR since I converted it to direct steering. I was mixing the rider and the steering servos but wasn't too pleased with the results (I didn't get a chance to tune much). Last night I got the idea of using my heli remote and using the collective/rudder as throttle/rider and the other stick as steering. I guess I'll find out soon enough how well it works.

-rskip

Sounds like a good idea... But I don't recon my pee brain could cope with it... I strugle with the separate bike and rider controls on the Xbox...

Would be good to be able to have the little dude hang further off in the middle of the turn, but that's when you return your steering input back to almost zero... So I guess manual rider control is about the only way to do it ha..?

Hmm... What about some onboard mercury switches... So when the bike is leaned over, the rider hangs way off... And another for front to rear motion... As the bike accelerates the rider leans forward under the screen... And of course sits up under brakes...

That'd be cool to do... But I reckon it'd fly to bits in a crash...

Keep us posted... I wanna see how it goes...

Well gave it a try today. Very interesting driving it.

Here's my observations:
1 Straight mixing of the rider and direct steering does not work very well (in terms of realistic looks). Since you apply much more steering to initiate the turn and then let off - the rider returns to center in the corner.

2 The rider contributes very little in comparison to the steering in terms of controlling the lean.

3 The rider lets you increase the speed in corners by keeping the bike leaning instead of standing up.

4 Driving this setup was doable, but I couldn't get use to the throttle without a return spring and it is definitely a coordination challenge.

5 I did not really do any tuning. It will be interesting to try more weight in the rider and try to get him contributing more force to the lean.

6 I think this approach has advantages but seems hard to coordinate by hand - maybe an imu (instead of mercury switches) can do the work. The bike I tested on is not particularly fast, I'm not sure if this would be helpful on a 1/5 sale - regardless it would look cool.

-rskip

Originally Posted by rskip

I think this approach has advantages but seems hard to coordinate by hand - maybe an imu (instead of mercury switches) can do the work. -rskip

Yeah, the mercury in the switches will move when the bike leans but will also move in the opposite direction as the bike turns so it wouldn't work too well. An IMU would be a much better choice. Maybe have the IMU control the rider, but also allow the user to add to that lean if they choose?

I've always thought it would be cool to have a user controlled leaning rider on the back of one of those sidecars!

Dave

Hey guys... What is IMU..? I only suggested mercury switches "coz I dunno nuffin bout lectronic gizmo fings..."

I thought there would be a better alternative...

I also think there was another guy here who made a unique 1/5th bike with an independently controlled rider... A Mr Kobiashi I think... I will try to find a link...

IMU = Inertial measurement unit wikipedia

-rskip