KerbalX

Description

A stock rover called Kerley-Davidson Mk2. Built with 117 of the finest parts, its root part is trussPiece1x.

Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.10.0.

While working on a Mars rover replica with wheels built out of Breaking Ground rotors and grip pads, I noticed that it could ski indefinitely in a circle with just the wheels on one side in contact with the ground. Of course, this immediately suggested the possibility of building a Kerbal motorcycle. The result is what you see here.

At launch, stage to start the engine, throttle up and press G to raise the landing legs. To stop, throttle down and extend the legs before you fall over. If you do fall, it’s usually possible to get back up by deploying the legs and briefly toggling the throttle. Or you can just get off and push. :D

The handling closely resembles a real motorcycle. Like on a real motorbike, you mostly steer by shifting your weight — in this case, via the roll controls, which are bound to a hinge that moves and tilts the command seat(!). Yaw (actually wheel steer) controls the steering column and is best applied sparingly, as it tends to cause strong adverse roll.

The bike is reasonably stable and driveable even without SAS, especially at low speed (around 10 m/s or so seems optimal). At higher speeds, if things feel too wobbly, turning SAS on can help — while it won’t affect the steering much (since it’s done mainly via the hinges, which SAS doesn’t actually control), there’s a small reaction wheel set to SAS only buried in the body that can help in damping out oscillations.

If you find yourself needing pitch control in midair (because of course you will), consider using the throttle. That rear wheel can carry quite a lot of angular momentum.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: rover
• Part Count: 117
• Pure Stock
• KSP: 1.10.0