I was going to find some experiments where folks eliminated gyroscopic effects and such as the key to riding a bike. It's the ability to steer. You slightly fall to the right, the wheel turns (whether you lean it or turn it or what), and the bike is now steering right a touch. You lean the other way and the same thing happens, only to the left.

You have to be able to steer to ride a bike. Non-cyclists rode 1 or 2" wheeled bikes, bikes with super long or super short wheel bases, no trail or reverse trail, etc., but once they locked the bars, boom, they fell over.

I did the "heh" because I thought, oh, obviously the person hasn't tried rollers. Or broken a band and thought "well, why not?"

It's like toe clips. If the toe clips don't support your foot (the strap did, when you pulled up), then why can't you eliminate toe clips?

Seems like a reasonable questions. So of course I tried that. Didn't work. You'd pull up, the strap would pull the pedal vertical, and your foot would be resting on the back of the pedal. It would also get strangled by the strap. Hence the non-clip strap mounts to the front and back of the pedal - the clip keeps the pedal level.

cdr