10 ms·
Nah, that's not it. Try riding a bike in reverse (or pushing it). It's not at all stable, because the feedback is applied in the opposite direction. You'll fall
by pubby 2y ago
Nah, that's not it. Try riding a bike in reverse (or pushing it). It's not at all stable, because the feedback is applied in the opposite direction. You'll fall right away, even though the gyroscopic effect is identical.
- dools 2y agoThat's no different from inverting your mouse direction in Quake, you just have to get used to it.
- pubby 2y agoI'd recommend just googling how a bike works instead of pursuing this argument. There's lots of good articles, like this one: http://www.cyclelicio.us/2011/bicycle-dynamics/ http://www.cyclelicio.us/2011/bicycle-dynamics/ It looks like my theory on wheel angle may not be entirely true either. You can also find videos on youtube.
- dools 2y agoThe Veritasium video is the best one I've seen but he only describes how counter steering works at slow speeds which is more like how you balance a stationary bike. The faster you go, and the bigger the wheel, the more the counter steering is done by gyroscopic motion than moving the wheel back and forth beneath you.
- Lio 2y agoYou could disprove that by letting a bike, without rider, roll down a slope. If it rolls oriented forwards it will stay upright by itself because of the steering. If it rolls oriented backwards it falls over because the steering now pushes it off balance. If the gyroscopic force was the most important thing keeping it upright it wouldn't matter which orientation you let it roll.