"Adrian" wrote in :
I'm not that familiar with the Models used in London but Southampton
had some a few years back. The type used there had their driven axle on
the rear section,on one of the rare occasions that city got a smattering
of snow one of these showed the weakness in that arrangement by
colliding with a pub on a sharp corner. The middle set of wheels lost
grip and the rear section carried on pushing causing the bus to
jackknife in the middle.

What makes that "weakness" rather than a "driver error" - I'm really not
clear.

It's like looking at a jack-knifed articulated lorry and writing off the
whole breed, isn't it?
--

Andrew

wrote ...
Artic lorries don't have the driven wheels on the trailer ,the tractor
unit pulls it. most artic jacknifes occur under braking.
with the bendie buses the traction is at the back so on a slippery
surface the effect is like trying to push a length of string. its very
likely to bend.

At the risk of being boring, bendies have managed perfectly well in Europe
for 40 or 50 years; why is it that they don't have all these problems, if
they are are 'design weaknesses'?

Seems a little odd to me.
--

Andrew