Bike science....
 

Hi all,

I'm a big fan of the Science Friday show and thought I would share with you a video they posted about how a bike can balance itself.

Something to think about on your ride, eh? Enjoy!

http://www.sciencefriday.com/embed/video/10376.swf

I thought everyone already knew that? Nowadays clipless requires a small object, other than that its the same.

WTF? I think you responded to some other thread.

OP, thanks for sharing that. Well over 20 years ago Scientific American had a very similar study. I searched and searched but can't find it.

OK, the video wont play at work but the first image is a bike resting with its pedal on the ground "balancing". That's what I was referring to. With toeclips they will touch the ground and the bike can rest like that, with clipless you need a small object to put under the pedal to "park the bike".

So care to explain more of what's in the video? Rotating mass of wheels causing gyroscopic effect when rolling the bike so it balances itself when pushed?

The video briefly summarizes a paper that analyzed bicycle stability in which the paper shows that gyroscopic effect is NOT a necessary factor in a stable bicycles contrary to popular belief. Also, bicycles are not stable because trail, the distance between the steer axis and the front wheel contact patch.

The group designed a bike (well, looks nothing like a regular bike, but it has two wheels) that's stable without trail or gyroscopic effect.

More info on this paper

Reading material :

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Scie...7388571&sr=1-1

I'll second that!