ramananNov 2016Recommends
Bicycles are surprisingly stable as long as they are able to maintain some momentum. minutephysics had a great video about this too: How Do Bikes Stay Up?: ▶ this video
in “The stability of the bicycle (2006)” · View on HN
How Do Bikes Stay Up?
How Do Bikes Stay Up? on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2016–2024.
minutephysics
Open on YouTubeexplainer · evergreen
A short minutephysics video explaining why bicycles stay upright. It looks at gyroscopic precession, head angle and centre of mass, and shows that bikes self-steer toward the direction they lean.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN people link it as a quick, clear answer to the question of bicycle stability, including in threads on bike mathematics.
- people recommended it
- 2
- separate months
- 2
- strong recommendations
- 0
- discussed on HN
- 2016–2024
“minutephysics had a great video about this too”
What HN commenters said
5 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
SomeoneJul 2016Recommends
The surprising thing is that it is way more than "a few feet" . Apologies for repeating myself, but watch ▶ this video (And that is not on smooth terrain) And nitpick: typical bicycles aren't symmetric left-right. The chain and gears make them heavier at the right. Most mass is close to the center line, though, so its moment is negligible, especially when ridden by a human.
in “Fresh work on the mathematics of bicycles in motion” · View on HN
rtkweFeb 2024Cites it
I'm not sure how closely that applies. We didn't, but mostly because people hadn't really studied it and hadn't worked through the mechanics. As soon as we really started looking AFAIK the solution came pretty quickly; it's a combination of 3 things that all make the bike steer towards where it leans: gyroscopic precession, head angle and CoM of the front steering section. All 3 of those things can be tuned to be larger or smaller and that affects the velocity required to achieve stability. ▶ this video
in “NASA's New Horizons Discovered a Large Surprise in the Kuiper Belt” · View on HN
Armisael16Jul 2019Cites it
Objectively not true. Here’s a video of a unmanned bike rolling over a curb without any trouble: ▶ this video Stuff on the road will only knock the bike over if it stops the motion of the bike first. The need for motive power was already acknowledged.
in “Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?” · View on HN
natmasterMay 2016Cites it
As far as bikes go, they're designed to stay upright by automatically turning the front wheel when it is tipped in any direction. ▶ this video
in “The Laws Underlying the Physics of Everyday Life Are Completely Understood” · View on HN
Topics & tags
Everyday physics & science demosFundamental physicsbicyclesgyroscopic effectself-stabilizationphysicssteering