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Most people don’t know how bikes work

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Most people don’t know how bikes work

Old 12-03-21, 02:46 PM
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Most people don’t know how bikes work

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Old 12-03-21, 03:01 PM
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I'm still trying to figure out how my bike works myself.

As far as I can tell, it's a miracle.
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Old 12-03-21, 03:04 PM
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... how bikes work
Man locked together two nuts on a threaded bolt.
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Old 12-03-21, 03:17 PM
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Because science.
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Old 12-03-21, 03:50 PM
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42
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Old 12-03-21, 03:54 PM
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This is why I never turn when I'm riding my bike.
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Old 12-03-21, 04:58 PM
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Reminds me of this:

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Old 12-03-21, 05:15 PM
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Here's some kindling:

https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...ride-bike.html
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Old 12-03-21, 05:28 PM
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Originally Posted by SurferRosa
Man locked together two nuts on a threaded bolt.
Ah!

I'm doing it wrong!
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Old 12-03-21, 05:50 PM
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I've taught LCI classes and one of the hardest things is teaching people how to do a counter steer or quick steer which involves exactly what they are proving.
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Old 12-03-21, 06:09 PM
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Originally Posted by gugie
I'm doing it wrong!
Sorry, I posted that based on the thread title, not the video (which might be "how bike steering works.")

I bet more than half the population of the world doesn't know how magically incredible it is to lock together two nuts on a bolt. That's how a bike works.
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Old 12-03-21, 07:12 PM
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Originally Posted by P!N20
Reminds me of this:
A great video, somewhat prescient.
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Old 12-04-21, 01:44 AM
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I really like both of these videos. I went to a bike fair in Luxembourg once and this guy had an opposite-steer bike like the one in the second video from P!N20 above. You may have seen these before, but it's basically a regular bike but when you turn the handlebars the wheel turns in the opposite direction through a clever gear linkage. It ends up proving the same thing, and also making you feel like you're drunk on a bike. It was more a study of how we learn and can unlearn cognitive bias and function. The most interesting part for me was at the end where he has to re-learn how to ride a normal bike.

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Old 12-04-21, 05:23 AM
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Once over the critical velocity, I can steer without touching the bars but at slower speeds, counter steering with the hands is absolutely essential.
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Old 12-04-21, 07:52 AM
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Neat. In a physics sense, riding a bike really is like magic.
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Old 12-04-21, 08:50 AM
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Ty Tom. Terrific video.
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Old 12-04-21, 09:56 AM
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They had me until the end with the "better bicycle" stuff.

Why does a machine that almost feels like magic and is proven to self-correct when pushed down hill with no rider need assisted steering? Does the time-tested design really benefit from that "improvement?" Does that bit take away from the point that there is an intuitiveness to the design as is that is part of its value?
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Old 12-05-21, 08:27 AM
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Retroactively explains (alas, but doesn't change) my last bike crash: My body going over and slightly beyond the bars (I was essentially a unicycle at that point) put the weight out front of the pivot point and self-steered until going over the edge and into the ditch. Funny in a not-so-funny way
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Old 12-05-21, 01:31 PM
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This is precisely why some of long-term bicyclists have trouble riding a tricycle. When I got on my friends pedicab, he warned me that some people (myself definitely included!) have the leaning and countersteering thing so tightly ingrained that they have a lot trouble making the pedicab turn, even though it is, in that case, a simple matter of turning the front wheel in the desired direction.
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Old 12-05-21, 02:33 PM
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This is probably why I fell off my bike during Cino...I was doing it wrong!

Come to think about it, I fell off my bike during Eroica Gaiole too. This problem goes way back.
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Old 12-05-21, 04:21 PM
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Originally Posted by gugie
Ah!

I'm doing it wrong!
What if you only have one nut?
I know, I know... I'm screwed.
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Old 12-05-21, 06:43 PM
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I’m sure there’s an explanation using force vector arrows and what not, but I’m amazed every time I ride and the bike doesn’t fall over within 20 feet of starting.
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Old 12-05-21, 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Spaghetti Legs
I’m sure there’s an explanation using force vector arrows and what not, but I’m amazed every time I ride and the bike doesn’t fall over within 20 feet of starting.
Oh, there is, along with some control theory based on a wet neural network. I've seen it through enough to just want to ignore it all and just say "it's magic." More fun that way.
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Old 12-06-21, 02:33 AM
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Originally Posted by noglider
Maybe I missed the point of the video but it never occurred to me that steering a bicycle is something one does consciously. Maybe the benefit of growing up in a society where one learns to ride a bike before getting a drivers license
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Old 12-06-21, 06:54 AM
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For those interested, Dave M has a couple of artilces.
Check page 2 as well as this one, second article, "Going Around Corners".
Dave Moulton's Blog - Dave Moulton's Bike Blog (squarespace.com)

Page 3 and 4 too. Several articles.

Gotta stop reading!
See page 6 "When science finds problems that don't exist"
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