The mathematical model can be used as a tool to adjust the front fork and rear shock of a bike. After the rider weight is inputted, the model outputs shock pressures as well as initial rebound and compression settings. Then the rider can input the kind of trail they are riding on, and the model will output adjustments to be made to the rebound and compression knobs as necessary.
The model takes in data from the user and combines it with average data from the different trails a rider might encounter to output the most comfortable suspension settings for the rider. In simple terms, the bigger the bumps the trail will present, the lower the rebound speed as you wouldn’t want to be bucked off the bike after hitting a large jump or drop off. The model takes in all considerations for trail type, the weight of the rider as well as physical dimensions of the shocks to give the rider the most pleasant ride possible. The model is available for download below.
In order to get the leverage ratio of the bike, the team used a software called Linkage X3 to model the bike and output data. The software allows users to model almost any bike by inputting different geometry specifications. From the software you can output many different variables such as compression and leverage ratio. The leverage ratio is important to the mathematical model because it relates the movement of the rear wheel to the movement of the rear shock.
After getting the mathematical model working to the best it could, the team needed a way to test whether the mathematical model was viable or not. To do this, the team used linear potentiometers to measure the travel of the shocks over various terrains to make sure the model was outputting the best settings for the rider. The linear potentiometers, supplied by Motion Instruments, were mounted on the bike in the paths of both the front and back shocks as shown in the images below. With the provided iPhone app, the team was able to verify the shocks were responding well to the suggested settings.
Future work includes making the model more capable of suggesting adjustments for a variety of different mountain bikes as well as creating an app or website-based model that would be easier to use and more available to the public.