Do you think you could ride a bike if the steering was reversed? you can't
05-02-15, 03:35 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 410
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Do you think you could ride a bike if the steering was reversed? you can't
Watch You think you can ride this bike, but you really can't @ Komando Video The video may take awhile to load but it's well worth the wait
Last edited by DBrown9383; 05-02-15 at 03:40 PM.
05-02-15, 08:38 PM
#3
Semper Fi
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 12,942
Mentioned: 89 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1172 Post(s)
Liked 358 Times
in
241 Posts
Ummmm, I have enough balance issues with PD
, that one would be asking for a bruised noggin for sure......
Thanks for the link, its bookmarked so I can show some friends this one, neat vid.
Bill
, that one would be asking for a bruised noggin for sure......Thanks for the link, its bookmarked so I can show some friends this one, neat vid.
Bill
__________________
Semper Fi, USMC, 1975-1977
I Can Do All Things Through Him, Who Gives Me Strength. Philippians 4:13
Semper Fi, USMC, 1975-1977
I Can Do All Things Through Him, Who Gives Me Strength. Philippians 4:13
05-02-15, 09:51 PM
#5
Senior Member
05-02-15, 10:14 PM
#6
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 410
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I'm not an engineer either but I got a kick out of the dig on engineers. I've seen the results of aircraft being flown out of maintenance with reversed ailerons. It never ends well
05-03-15, 04:10 PM
#7
feros ferio
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: www.ci.encinitas.ca.us
Posts: 21,796
Bikes: 1959 Capo Modell Campagnolo; 1960 Capo Sieger (2); 1962 Carlton Franco Suisse; 1970 Peugeot UO-8; 1982 Bianchi Campione d'Italia; 1988 Schwinn Project KOM-10;
Mentioned: 44 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1392 Post(s)
Liked 1,324 Times
in
836 Posts
That story has been circulating on a couple of email lists to which I subscribe. With my generally subpar coordination I would be to scared to attempt to ride that thing.
__________________
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." --Theodore Roosevelt
Capo: 1959 Modell Campagnolo, S/N 40324; 1960 Sieger (2), S/N 42624, 42597
Carlton: 1962 Franco Suisse, S/N K7911
Peugeot: 1970 UO-8, S/N 0010468
Bianchi: 1982 Campione d'Italia, S/N 1.M9914
Schwinn: 1988 Project KOM-10, S/N F804069
05-03-15, 07:48 PM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Eugene, Oregon
Posts: 7,048
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 509 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 9 Times
in
8 Posts
This isn't rocket science, in spite of the book plug at the end. Ignoring the wherefores, he could have taught himself to ride it in a few hours or less by simply lowering the seat and using it like a little kids strider. In fact, that's how we teach kids to ride. After he masters the counter-steering necessary to keep his center of mass between the wheels, then he should add pedals and ride.
Lucky me, I have a welder friend who delights in making these sort of toys and I was his chief guinea pig for many years until I moved 500 miles away. He keeps a stash of a few hundred bikes that he regularly cuts up and then welds into mobile amusement rides.
Lucky me, I have a welder friend who delights in making these sort of toys and I was his chief guinea pig for many years until I moved 500 miles away. He keeps a stash of a few hundred bikes that he regularly cuts up and then welds into mobile amusement rides.
05-03-15, 09:07 PM
#10
don't try this at home.
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: N. KY
Posts: 5,939
Mentioned: 10 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 973 Post(s)
Liked 511 Times
in
351 Posts
It was on a Metafilter thread. There's some interesting comments, but the end of the thread got sidetracked into a counter steering discussion.
From the thread:
From the thread:
I've seen these types of bikes at carnivals (USA, southern states, etc). I didn't try it but it was one of the few carnival games that paid out in cash. I think it was 10 to 1 odds, as in you pay 1 dollar to win 10 dollars if you can ride the bike 10 feet. without falling or touching feet. They even gave you 3 shots (probably to suck the crowd in).
No one could do it in the 20 mins that I stood by watching. Dude was making a killing. He could ride it, of course, but I wonder how long it took him working with it to master it.
~~~No one could do it in the 20 mins that I stood by watching. Dude was making a killing. He could ride it, of course, but I wonder how long it took him working with it to master it.
Far too many years ago, when I had the joy of working front-line tech support, I once had a gentleman call in to complain the that the buttons on his mouse had the opposite functions to those described in the manual for our software. I eventually worked out that he was using the mouse reversed, with the wire coming towards him, and had always done this. He didn't think it odd that the pointer movements on the screen were opposite to his mouse movements.
Needless to say, I had to try this. As Pogo_Fuzzybutt says, it turns out that muscle memory is incredibly resilient to executive override. But then I had a bright idea - all I had to do was imagine there was a stiff bar connecting the mouse to the pointer, with a pivot in the middle. Suddenly, it was easy and I could use the mouse reversed almost as easily as normal. Unlike our trick cyclist, I could switch between this and normal mode without difficulty.
~~~Needless to say, I had to try this. As Pogo_Fuzzybutt says, it turns out that muscle memory is incredibly resilient to executive override. But then I had a bright idea - all I had to do was imagine there was a stiff bar connecting the mouse to the pointer, with a pivot in the middle. Suddenly, it was easy and I could use the mouse reversed almost as easily as normal. Unlike our trick cyclist, I could switch between this and normal mode without difficulty.
A friend of mine built one of these back in the 90's for Cyclecyde I tried it and it was just impossible but one of the folks in the group could do it just fine.
The other one that looked impossible to ride was just a little difficult, it had a additional pivot point in the body under the seat so the front and rear wheel could be as much as as 2 ft out of line with each other, I had no problem with this one but the thing would go all over the place.
That's a 'swing bike'. Here's one in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktyRiTv9qsI
The other one that looked impossible to ride was just a little difficult, it had a additional pivot point in the body under the seat so the front and rear wheel could be as much as as 2 ft out of line with each other, I had no problem with this one but the thing would go all over the place.
Last edited by rm -rf; 05-03-15 at 09:17 PM.
