03-11-2019, 03:00 PM
Most interesting. I'm sure the Megola has a pressed-steel frame - a type ideally suited to mass production once you have the expensive dies and ideal to double as a fuel and oil tank. However, if the Megola was intended for the mass market it was a dead-end; the engine and front wheel (as Dave points out) had a massive unsprung weight together with an enormous moment of inertia - the effect of which, as one cornered at speed would be most "interesting". To corner a motorcycle say, to the left, requires either a lean (effective at low speeds) or an initial countersteer to the right - this need to countersteer becoming more pronounced at higher speeds, especially on a heavy bike. As the countersteer to the right is applied, gyroscopic precession causes the bike (by interactions through the tyre, etc) to turn left. Now, to get the idea, imagine a front wheel make from solid steel 6 inches wide and 20 inches in diameter travelling at 150 m.p.h. The rotational forces are so high that the wheel, of course, just wants to keep on going forward, and getting that mass to turn using countersteer would need an army of gorillas pulling on the handlebar. Well, the Megola probably could not get beyond 50 m.p.h. and in casual use might have been almost benign in its behavior, but even so....