Science on a Bike!

[exapkib]

I caught this segment on Science Friday yesterday, and thought it might interest some here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0

Destin Sandlin does a fantastic job of exploring interesting moments in science on his youtube channel.

Just like learning to ride a bike . . .

[JAllen]

Thanks for posting. That's pretty fascinating. I know it would be really difficult (impossible) to ride, but there is this part of me saying "oh please, I could do that no problem..."

I'm sure I would end up on my side.

[JAllen]

Roll Tide!!! :)

:banana:

[Lucasp]

Very interesting video. It looks like it would be so easy to ride, but that's clearly not the case.

[572cv]

Nicely done and articulated. The feedback loop for creating new pathways in your brain is pretty important, and it was heartening to see that, with time, it could be learned. When my son was little, he could not pronounce his "r" sound properly. A computer program had been developed which gave a visual curve representation of spoken sounds, which allowed him to 'see' the sound. After a month or so, this clicked for him, and provided a permanent basis. It was impressive.

If you row a shell or a guide boat, there is a little of this backward mapping going on, but it is nowhere near as complicated. Cool stuff.

[Dead Man]

There was a youtube video about a year(?) ago of a dude on some boardwalk betting strangers $20, I think even 2:1 odds, they couldn't ride his backwards-steering bike 20'.... he would demonstrate it, making it look easy, then rake in the bucks as people would try and fail over and and over and over...

[MadRocketSci]

introducing a 180 phase loss to the plant in a stable system (ie multiply by -1) will destabilize that overall system. The brain needs time to learn to put a compensating -1 into the control algorithm (ie how to steer the bike) to restabilize. interesting it takes around 8 months for an adult....

[8aaron8]

Thanks for sharing, I listened to this yesterday too!

[tiretrax]

Thank you for sharing that. That's awesome.

[MattTuck]

Now, here are a few questions.

1. If you were already up to speed, would our current ability to ride with no hands translate to that bike?

2. If you held the bars VERY softly and tried to steer the bike only from the saddle, would that work?

3. I wonder if you practiced each day with a regular bike, and that reverso bike, if your brain would get better at switching. I was really amazed he had such a hard time going back to the old bike... but that may have been because he was riding the reverso bike exclusively.

4. Also, wonder if doing it blind folded or one handed would have any effect.

[JAllen]

Now, here are a few questions.

1. If you were already up to speed, would our current ability to ride with no hands translate to that bike?

2. If you held the bars VERY softly and tried to steer the bike only from the saddle, would that work?

3. I wonder if you practiced each day with a regular bike, and that reverso bike, if your brain would get better at switching. I was really amazed he had such a hard time going back to the old bike... but that may have been because he was riding the reverso bike exclusively.

4. Also, wonder if doing it blind folded or one handed would have any effect.
MattTuck, asking the tough questions. Really though, those are some good questions. I'd curious about a different geometry on the bike? Instead of a beach cruiser, something with a proper road geometry.

[Mark McM]

Now, here are a few questions.

1. If you were already up to speed, would our current ability to ride with no hands translate to that bike?

2. If you held the bars VERY softly and tried to steer the bike only from the saddle, would that work?

3. I wonder if you practiced each day with a regular bike, and that reverso bike, if your brain would get better at switching. I was really amazed he had such a hard time going back to the old bike... but that may have been because he was riding the reverso bike exclusively.

4. Also, wonder if doing it blind folded or one handed would have any effect.

The dynamics of no handed riding is affected by the weight/inertia of the steering mechanism, which includes the handlebars. But if the handlebars are light and/or well balanced enough, I don't see why it couldn't be ridden no-handed just as well as an identical bike without the reversed steering. But to do so, you'd have to get through the low speed transition before you were going fast enough to ride no handed. From the video, most riders lose their balance almost immediately, while still going at a slow speed.

Another thing this experiment demonstrates is just what (or who) keeps a bike upright. When you ask many people "What keeps a bike upright on those narrow tires?", you'll often get responses like "It's the gyroscopic affect of the wheels" or "It's the front fork steering geometry/trial". But even though this bike has the same gyroscopic inertial and the same steering geometry as any other bike, it is still very difficult to stay upright. I think we have to conclude that, at least with this bike, the most important thing keeping the bike upright and balanced is the rider's input on the handlebars/front wheel.