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Rider models are employed to gain insight into bicycle rider steering behaviour and to improve characteristic properties of bicycles. In this paper, stability properties as well as basic dynamic characteristics of the passive (uncontrolled) bicycle-rider system and consequences on the rider control modelling are addressed. In particular, the unstable motion of the system at low velocities and bandwidth limitations caused by non-minimum phase dynamics are emphasized. To analyse the effectiveness of the steering torque and the lean torque as possible rider's inputs to control the dynamics of the bicycle, a controllability analysis of the bicycle-rider system has been performed. It turns out that lean torque input, in contrast to steering torque input, has marginal impact on the dynamics of the system. Finally, a bicycle rider control model considering human rider properties is presented, and its capabilities are demonstrated by performing a curve entering manoeuvre.

Learning to ride a bicycle requires practice and endurance fundamental to interpret the dynamics of a bicycle to control it. Modelling a virtual bicycle rider as a controller considering basic human characteristics is a similar demanding task. One approach for a virtual bicycle rider model is presented here, capable to stabilize the bicycle and follow a given course. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)