Fresh work on the mathematics of bicycles in motion

Avid cyclist, but I have no idea what this is talking about:<p>&quot;...the phenomenon of &#x27;countersteering&#x27;, whereby the rider can steer to the left only by first briefly torquing the handlebars to the right, allowing the bike to fall into a leftward lean.&quot;<p>Am I just doing this subconsciously?

&gt; <i>...an ambitious effort that would investigate everything from the strength of wheels...</i><p>My master touched this. Used AI to find spoke patterns. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;master.matsemann.com" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;master.matsemann.com</a><p>&gt; <i>There were untested geometries out there that could transform bike design.</i><p>Better hardware and simulations makes it easier to test thousands of these, possibly with the help of AI. I wonder if any drastically new designs will be found in the feature, or if time will show the current design is the best.

If nothing else I find it quite fascinating how some bikes are easier to ride without holding the handle bars than others. I can balance much better on my 1998 Specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike (comfortable for minutes without hands) than I can on my 1998 Cannondale R900 racing bike (max 5 seconds without hand).<p>But for my colleague - he finds it much easier to balance his racing bike.<p>As the article suggest - the hope is that this will provide better guidelines for building bikes that are more stable.<p>The balance on my mountain bike definitely saved me from two near crashes of a knock to my rear wheel by a u-turning car and being hit on the handle bars by a wing mirror.

what was the conclusion ? it&#x27;s not gyroscopic effects because they still balance with counter-rotating wheels, it&#x27;s not trail because they can still balance with negative trail. Is it some of each of these effects, if so how much ? What else is involved ?

OK - this is probably my ignorance talking, but why is it surprising that bike are balanced? The pedals are basically shoulder width and staggered, which is a very natural position for people to balance in as bipedal creatures? in addition, while the bike is moving, won&#x27;t the inertia tend to keep things moving in the same direction?<p>This is all coupled by the fact that the rider is actively piloting and adjusting the bike to keep it under control at all times. The bike seems like it would balance to me because the control mechanisms are designed to keep things balanced easily.

It might help if they program humanoid robots to ride bikes. The problem seems to be hard to analyze because there&#x27;s a person on the bike, and the way the person moves with the bike is hard to track.

Regarding countersteering &amp; bicycles (and motorcycles), I better understood the phenomenon by picturing a bar shoved horizontally through a basketball.<p>You can steer by either turning the basketball (horizontal plane) or leaning the basketball (vertical plane). In the case of a motorcycle at speed, the bike&#x27;s effective turning radius is affected more by the lean than by how much the handle-bars are turned. The handle-bars are more about controlling the amount lean.

We changed this title to something less baity than the original (et tu, Nature?). If someone suggests a better (more accurate and neutral) title, we can change it again.

How complex can it be? If you have a bare minimum background in basic physics and control theory, and a bicycle in your hands, the qualitative reasons for balance and stability will jump at you in under 10 minutes...