How do bikes work?

[Merle Nelson]

 

[Brockrock]

Pretty cool

 

[Merle Nelson]

It brings up some things I've never noticed or thought of.

 

[Brockrock]

Yeah. I agree.

 

[BEC111]

It explains why you can balance while standing still. Just jiggle the handlebars a bit.

 

[PedalUma]

We meet for group rides on the top floor of a parking garage. While I am waiting for others to arrive I do a fun exercise. On a broad sloped surface I will descend as slowly as I possibly can while doing figure eights, back and forth. It really puts me in tune with the bike. It is exactly the sort of thing you could never do with a $2,000 Peloton, and is much more fun.

 

[Kayakguy]

If you stand still with your bike, and turn the handlebars to the right (pressing the handlebar to the right), the bike wants to lean left. You don't need to be moving at all. Vice versa is the same. This countersteering is something you learn early on in the motorcycle safety classes. The leaning is what steers the bike.