Single Track Vehicle
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A single-track vehicle is a
vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...
that leaves a single ground track as it moves forward. Single-track vehicles usually have little or no lateral stability when stationary but develop it when moving forward or controlled. In the case of wheeled vehicles, the front and rear wheel usually follow slightly different paths when turning or when out of alignment. Single-track vehicles have unique dynamics that, in the case of wheeled vehicles, are discussed at length in
bicycle and motorcycle dynamics Bicycle and motorcycle dynamics is the science of the motion of bicycles and motorcycles and their components, due to the forces acting on them. Dynamics falls under a branch of physics known as classical mechanics. Bike motions of interest inc ...
, that usually require leaning into a turn, and that usually include
countersteering Countersteering is used by single-track vehicle operators, such as cyclists and motorcyclists, to initiate a turn toward a given direction by momentarily steering counter to the desired direction ("steer left to turn right"). To negotiate a tu ...
. Single-track vehicles can roll on wheels, slide, float, or hydroplane.


Wheeled

*
bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...
,
tandem bicycle A tandem bicycle or twin is a bicycle (occasionally a tricycle) designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement (fore to aft, not side by side), not the number of riders. Patents related to ...
,
tall bike A tall bike is an unusually tall bicycle often constructed by hobbyists from spare parts. Typically, two conventional bicycle frames are connected by welding, brazing, or other means, one atop the other. The drive train is reconfigured to connect ...
, and
recumbent bicycle A recumbent bicycle is a bicycle that places the rider in a laid-back reclining position, and often called a Human-powered_land_vehicle, human-powered vehicle or HPV, especially if it has an aerodynamic fairing. Recumbents are available in a w ...
*
motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
, scooter, and
feet forward motorcycle A feet first (FF) motorcycle is a class of motorcycle design which positions the rider with their feet ahead, like a car, rather than below and astride, as with conventional bikes. As there are other types of motorcycle (e.g. choppers) that have ...
*
gyrocar A gyrocar is a two-wheeled automobile. The difference between a bicycle or motorcycle and a gyrocar is that in a bike, dynamic balance is provided by the rider, and in some cases by the geometry and mass distribution of the bike itself, and the g ...
and
gyro monorail A gyro monorail, gyroscopic monorail, or gyro-stabilized monorail is a single-rail land vehicle that uses the gyroscopic action of one or more spinning wheels to overcome the inherent instability of balancing atop a single rail. For a simila ...
*
kick scooter A kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) is a Human-powered land vehicle, human-powered street vehicle with a mwod:handlebar#:~:text=: a straight or bent bar,usually used in plural, handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by ...
*
unicycle A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is prac ...
,
self-balancing unicycle An electric unicycle (often initialized as EUC or acronymized yuke or Uni) is a self-balancing personal transporter with a unicycle, single wheel. The rider controls speed by leaning forwards or backwards, and steers by twisting or tilting the uni ...
,
Uno (dicycle) The Uno is a novel self-balancing electric motorcycle using two wheels side by side (the configuration used by dicycles). The Uno III adds a third wheel that allows it to transform into a tricycle. Operation The original Uno is controlled in fo ...
, and
monowheel A monowheel or uniwheel is a type of one-wheeled, single-track vehicle. Unlike the unicycle, a monowheel consists of a large, hollow wheel that loops above and around the driver. Monowheels are typically powered by an engine as with a motorc ...
*
inline skate Inline skates are boots with wheels arranged in a single line from front to back, allowing one to move in an ice skate-like fashion. Inline skates are technically a type of roller skate, but most people associate the term roller skates with q ...
and
roller ski Roller skiing is an off-snow equivalent to cross-country skiing. Roller skis have wheels on their ends and are used on a hard surface to emulate .Bryhn, Rolf and Knut Are Tvedt (eds.): ''Kunnskapsforlagets idrettsleksikon''. (Norwegian Encyclopedi ...
(when only one is in contact with the ground or when the second follows behind the first)


Sliding

*the
snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...
and
monoski A monoski is a single wide ski used for skiing on snow. The same boots, bindings, and poles are used as in alpine skiing. Unlike in snowboarding, both feet face forward, rather than sideways to the direction of travel. Similar equipment incl ...
*the skirider *the
ice skate Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...
(when only one is in contact with the ice or when the second follows behind the first)


Intermittent contact

*the
pogo stick A pogo stick is a vehicle for jumping off the ground in a standing position—through the aid of a spring, or new high performance technologies—often used as a toy, exercise equipment or extreme sports instrument. It led to an extreme sport n ...
*the
bipedal robot Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an animal moves by means of its two rear (or lower) limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' ' ...


Hydroplaning

*the slalom water ski *the
wakeboard Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...


Narrow-track vehicle

A vehicle is approximately single-track when the
axle track In Car, automobiles (and other wheeled vehicles which have two wheels on an axle), the axle track is the distance between the hub Flange, flanges on an axle. Wheel track, track width or simply track refers to the distance between the centerline of ...
is small enough with respect to the
center of mass In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the barycenter or balance point) is the unique point at any given time where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the d ...
height to require leaning into a turn. Countersteering may or may not be required. *the
skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. It is usually made of a specially designed 7–8-ply maple plywood deck and has polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboard ...
and all its varieties, such as the
snakeboard A Snakeboard, also known as a Streetboard, or Pivotboard is a type of skateboard invented in South Africa in 1989 by James Fisher, Simon King and Oliver Macleod Smith. The concept was to fuse the original skateboard with elements of snowboarding ...
*the
surfboard A surfboard is a narrow plank used in surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding an ocean wave. They were invented in ancient Hawaii, where they were known as ''papa hee ...
*the
caster board A caster board, vigorboard or waveboard is a two-wheeled, human-powered land vehicle. Other names are J-board and RipStik (sometimes written ripstick or rip stick), both of which are derived from commercial brands. A caster board has two narrow ...
(when the rear wheel closely follows the front wheel) *the
Uno dicycle The Uno is a novel self-balancing electric motorcycle using two wheels side by side (the configuration used by dicycles). The Uno III adds a third wheel that allows it to transform into a tricycle. Operation The original Uno is controlled in fo ...


See also

*
Dicycle A dicycle () (also known as a diwheel) is a vehicle with two parallel wheels, side by side, unlike single-track vehicles such as motorcycles and bicycles, which have two wheels inline. Originally used to refer to devices with large wheels and ped ...
* List of land vehicles types by number of wheels


References

{{Reflist Vehicles by type