It matters a lot when it comes to handeling.

The angulur momentum of the turning bicycle wheels makes them act like gyroscopes to help stabilize the bicycle. This gyroscopic action also helps to turn the bicycle.
Having pointed to the gyroscopic nature of the bicycle wheel, it should be pointed out that experiments indicate that the gyroscopic stability arising from the wheels is not a significant part of the stability of a bicycle. The moments of inertia and the speeds are not large enough. The experiments and review of Lowell and McKell indicate that the stability of the bicycle can be described in terms of centrifugal force. A rider who feels an unbalance to the left will turn the handlebars left, producing a segment of a circular path with resulting centrifugal force which pushes the top of the bicycle back toward vertical and a balanced condition.

A bicycle held straight up will tend to go straight. It is tempting to say that it stabilized by the gyroscopic action of the bicycle wheels, but the gyroscopic action is quite small.

If the rider leans left, a torque will be produced which causes a counterclockwise precession of the bicycle wheel, tending to turn the bicycle to the left.

So now you know.

Interesting bike {not balls or anything else}science

How much does rotating weight matter

www.diablocyclists.com/bicyclescience.htm

Ok. Can't write it all down. I've spend a good amount of time to learn all this, and spend a few $$ in literature.

Here is a GREAT LINK though. Where you can find a lot of good articles and really good links like Princeton.edu, and what they say about aerodynamics

This is true. Also, if you have two wheels the same weight, but one wheel is lighter at the rim compared to the other, the wheel that is lighter at the rim will accelerate easier.

This is why light tires are nice! And, why carbon fiber rims have become so popular.

Agree 100% w/ the value of lightness.

Disagree 98% with the "academic" label :D Indeed, bicycles themselves were in part a *product* of textbook, academic science! Today, cycling lends itself to a great deal of scientific analysis, at least by people who know what they're doing (ie, not me :) ). Most aspects of cycling can be approached quantitatively (mechanics, mass, speed, aerodynamics, enegy input of rider) and then can be (and are) addressed with creative scientific solutions (materials science, engineering, nutrition).

Yes, velocity is a vector quality, and therefore so is acceleration. Both tems imply a direction and a magnitude. This is for linear systems. The concept of "direction" as a vector component takes on a differnet form when it comes to rotational systems.

Acceleration when applied to rotational systems is called angular acceleration and is the rate of change of angular velocity. Angular velocity is expressed in terms of angle/unit time (usually radians/sec). Therefore a (theoretical) wheel moving at a constant speed is *not* accelerating, at least according to Newton's Second Law of for Rotation.

But enough of this, why arent we all out on our bikes!

So after all this,i want a light bike with aero wheelset.