Old 08-30-05 | 11:08 PM
  #100  
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cooker
Prefers Cicero
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Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Toronto

Bikes: 1984 Trek 520; 2007 Bike Friday NWT; misc others

Originally Posted by doctorSpoc
has to be primarily the gyroscopic affect... it's harder to keep a bike upright the slower you go... and you wouldn't be able to keep upright on rollers if it were due to forward momenum.. since you are not going anywhere on rollers.
My experiment above (riding with the bike tilted) demonstrated to my satisfaction that gyroscopic effect is minimal. The main reason a cyclist is able to balance is by sensing slight shifts in gravitational pull and steering accordingly. if you are starting to tip left, you steer left. As you point out yourself in a later post, even on rollers you have that ability to move the bike from side to side, to keep it below your centre of gravity, much like a person balancing a broom on their finger keeps moving it from side to side. It's easier to balance at higher speeds because you need to make only minor steering adjustments to quickly correct any tilt, and because the geometry of the fork makes the bike want to turn the way it is tilted and thus correct any tilt, and NOT because of the gyroscope effect.
Robert
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