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Technical Paper

Design of Motorcycle Front Fork for Impact Loads

2017-11-05
2017-32-0123
With advancements in powertrain technologies & light weighting of vehicle structures, the average driving speeds of motorcycles are increasing. This makes it important to safeguard the vehicle structure from possible impact loads or crash events. The front suspension of a motorcycle typically consists of telescopic front fork which acts as a structural member as well. Thus modern vehicle front forks should be designed keeping in mind frontal impacts as well. Which means the structural stiffness of front fork needs to be optimally designed so that during impacts, the structure should deflect absorbing the bulk of the impact energy safeguarding the rest of the vehicle structure including chassis. At the same time the front fork should not break. The popular design improvement techniques like increasing section modulus, heat treatments to increase strength may or may not have positive effect on impact strength.
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