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The Mysterious Bicycle
#54701 05/22/20 10:51 PM
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ryck Offline OP
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From Fast Company, a piece on why the bicycle remains a scientific mystery.


ryck

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Re: The Mysterious Bicycle
ryck #54708 05/23/20 03:50 PM
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Perhaps it's so laughably simplistic and obviously worthless as a theory that the article didn't even find it worth mentioning, but I wonder if any of the investigators has ever taken the handlebars off of a bike to see how far it rolls before falling over without them as compared to with them?

Isn't a bike subject to the same laws of physics as a tightrope walker?


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Re: The Mysterious Bicycle
ryck #54710 05/23/20 04:03 PM
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Maybe, like a tightrope walker, humans have an innate gyroscopic stabilizing sense and that enters into the stability of bike riding.


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Re: The Mysterious Bicycle
Ira L #54714 05/23/20 09:12 PM
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Originally Posted By: Ira L
Maybe, like a tightrope walker, humans have an innate gyroscopic stabilizing sense and that enters into the stability of bike riding.
Yes, but as I read the article they were testing bicycle stability with and without riders.


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Re: The Mysterious Bicycle
Ira L #54716 05/24/20 03:34 AM
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Originally Posted By: Ira L
Maybe, like a tightrope walker, humans have an innate gyroscopic stabilizing sense and that enters into the stability of bike riding.


Pretty much. Our vestibular system has a series of looped canals in our inner ears that provide us with the sense of three dimensional movement, including acceleration.

It is, however, tightly linked with our vision system and can be deceived when our eyes don't have a clear view ahead. The Kobe Bryant accident is believed to be due to this spatial disorientation (which I have also experienced).


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