Gyro Balanced Dirt Bike

I have seen the recent proliferation of 4x4 ATV's with displeasure. I'm wondering why people are buying these things when there are perfectly good motorcycles around? Motorcycles, I like to think, are superior in almost any situation. Simpler, less stuff to break. Larger wheels enable them go over bigger obstacles. Narrower means they can get through smaller openings. So why are people buying all these ATV's? I think the answer is slow speed handling. Balancing a motorcycle at any speed below about five miles per hour can be a tricky business, especially if you are trying to manouver around obstacles or over uneven terrain. Skill can help, but even a skilled rider can get into messy situations that result in falling over. This is not good.


A four wheel ATV is very hard to upset at slow speeds. Of course people succeed at upsetting them at high speeds, but that's the nature of people, not the machine.

If we could mount a small but powerful gyroscope somewhere within the limited confines of a dirt bike, we might have the best of both worlds. It has been done for that over priced two-wheeled abomination, the Segway. The Gyrohawk has managed it for road bikes, so it should be possible to adapt one to a dirt bike.

Update December 2016 replaced missing pictures.