Nearly all my consulting work involves analyzing motorcycle crashes. When the motorcycle meets another vehicle, I often rely on simulation platforms like Virtual CRASH and HVE to analyze the impact, usually in hopes of determining speeds. However, I recently started investigating the benefits of using a different type of simulation for motorcycle recon.

The world’s most established motorcycle simulation platform

That’s how Mechanical Simulation describes their revered program, BikeSim. Instead of modeling impacts, BikeSim is a highly sophisticated motorcycle dynamics simulation package. The intro video below walks through the interface and showcases some of its capabilities. Skip to 2:38 if you just want to see the output.

I’m interested to see how BikeSim can help to better understand single vehicle collision situations, such as:

  • Interacting with potholes

  • Interacting with “edge traps”

  • Traversing rough roadways

  • The effects of specific rider inputs

  • The effects of dysfunctional components

  • Evaluating wobble / weave propensity

It’s clear the program is extremely powerful and can provide scientific answers to questions that are often difficult or impossible to answer otherwise. However, there are implementation challenges, primarily related to appropriately parameterizing the motorcycle, the cost of the software, and the cost of the tire model needed for analyzing things like edge traps…but check out how cool (this model is essentially a plug-in for platforms like BikeSim)!

I could talk about BikeSim all day, but I best not. Thanks for reading along, I hope you have a great weekend!

Lou Peck
​Lightpoint | Axiom​