Diablo Super Biker?

[Fallout]

Has anyone used this app? It claims to record your routes and track speed and lean angle on a graph. The route and speed I get, but how can it possibly track lean angle?

As far as I know the only way would be to use the g-sensors, but surely the force is always going to be down relative to the phone? If you sit perfectly straight on the bike, with the phone perfectly vertical in your pocket and you go in a straight line the resultant force measurement will be directly down through the bike. When you take a corner at say 45 degrees seated upright, the resultant force is down through your body, through the bike to the floor. As far as the phone is concerned, the overall force is still directly down through the phone.

Basically unless you physically change your posture and hang off, the force will always be in the same direction. This would explain why everyone says the lean angle readings are rubbish, but it'd be interesting if someone knows if their claims are possible and if there is tech in smart phones to determine lean angle while actually cornering.

It'll use the tilt sensors, you'd have to mount your phone to the bike with a holder I'd assume.

[Fallout]

Yeah, but this is the sciencey bit! Tilt sensors work off force. When you're stationary you can rotate your phone and the tilt sensor will always point down at the ground due to the force of gravity, so it'll detect the rotation. On a moving bike it'll always point at the wheels, no matter how far you lean over, because that's the overall direction of force. That's why your bike doesn't fall over when you corner. If the phone is locked in place, that'll always be in the same direction relative to the phone, so how can it detect lean?

I suspect they use the same techniques as this:

http://www.x-plane.com/adventures/60..._its_done.html

Ma=mg.

The reason the guy says you can't tell the difference between gravity and acceleration is because gravity IS acceleration.

[Fallout]

Good link! That was an interesting morning read. I suspect they have attempted to use a stripped down version of that technique which would explain why it doesn't work well, but its good to read about how it's possible.

It's also gonna screw it up if the phones not mounted securely.

I seem to remember bob using a similar app and it showing almost no lean on one side and loads the other because it had gone sideways in her pocket.

[Fallout]

That'll learn her for having a mans name.

[Tomor]

I have it, used it a few times and its quite cool to look back on your rides on the map and see how fast you were going at any given point. If you want, I can upload a ride to Facebook so you can see what it's like?

[Fallout]

Go for it. Think it'll be useful for me to track my rides for the new job. I struggle to remember where the good roads I find are. Will be good to see what the uploads look like.