Peter Fox said:News item here
<http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060107p2a00m0na028000c.html>
about a bike which senses lean and corrects.
Ummm.
"It's a bicycle that's easy on elderly people," a Sakai Municipal
Government official said. "We want to use it to revitalize Sakai's
manufacturing industry."
Do 'elderly people' have such a difficulty and how do you get it to go
round corners?
I don't know. The oldest person I have ever ridden with was only 83 and
annoyed that his club had forced him to move into the senior triathalon
that year because they were short of members over 55.
On the other hand we had a club member of about 72 who was charged with
failing to stop at a stop sign. She claimed she had done a track stand
and demonstarted it in court. Case dismissed. (A vile and nasty rumour
going around did suggest that she learned to do trackstands after the
stop sign incident but who would believe that?)
Somehow I doubt that age is the determining factor particularly as
cycling is a psychomotor skill and such skills tend not to be affected
by age alone.
There may be some conditions maybe hearing loss or other ear problems
that might affect balance that are more common in the elderly.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
