Most People Don't Know How Bikes Work

I think the most impressive part of this is the human brain's ability to do something it doesn't even know it's doing.

It’s easy to build a rocket. It’s not like it’s bicycle-science

I remember learning to ride a bike with no hands at age 13. Letting go of the handle bars completely made me fall once and I cut myself up pretty good. I was laying in the middle of the street for about 4 minutes soaking in all the pain. But I got it down and learned to be aware of the steering along with my leverages. Only really works when you’re going in one direction at a high speed, but you can do wide turns with no hands

The fact that there is still research and some mysteries for such a common every-day object is insane

"Understanding how bicycles work is still an active area of research". This really is pretty extraordinary.

You know a design is perfect when a hundred or so years after it's invented, researchers are still studying how it works so well

This is taught explicitly when you go through motorcycle courses, it’s even more important to know this when operating at multiple times the speed and hundreds of pounds more weight to that you can safely operate the vehicle

I learned to ride a motorcycle with a man that taught me counter-steering where you push away from your body with your hand on the side that you want to initiate a turn. It was so counterintuitive to hear, but once I learned how the bike reacted underneath me, I realized that I was doing it instinctively. You push away and as you "fall" into the turn, you then turn in to complete it. Learning how to ride a bike (in theory) all over again by having someone describe the actual movements rather than the instincts was jarring to me. I still think about it every now and then (riding motorcycles for over 20 years) and it still trips my brain when I move the set to the right to steer left. Thanks for the video, great stuff.

"Turn right to go left... Hm..." —Lightning McQueen, moments before disaster

I'm a radiotherapy engineer. At my job interview for my current position, I was asked to explain in layman's terms how a bicycle works. I explained how the pedals make motion through the gears, and then rapidly dissembled with "as to how a bike stays upright in motion? I have no idea, I'm not a bicycle physicist" AND I STILL GOT THE JOB

I built a reverse steering bike, and while it took about 2 years to be able to ride it well, it was very much like having to learn to ride a bike all over again (except now as an adult with all the analysis skills I have gained). I learned many things about how to ride a bike, but the most fun thing I learned was the element of steering you illustrate in this video. Many people know how to ride a bike, few know what they do to make it work. Thanks for the video.

I am doing research in dynamic balance in human walking and this effect plays a major role in people walking without falling. I saw this video a couple of months ago but today I realized that his video has direct application to how bipedal creatures keep themselves stable. Thanks.

We were taught counter steering in our motorcycle rider safety course years ago. Several in the class just could NOT comprehend it. One guy almost got tossed from the class for being argumentative about it. The instructor told him that anyone who has ridden a bicycle, counter steers without knowing they are. He finally accepted that he was wrong and passed the course.

You need to get Tom Scott to try this; he's the expert!

the thing I love about riding a bike is that once you know how you never forget how, and riding one is just completely intuitive

I find this very interesting. I ride my bike to work every day. I find this to be true at only low speeds. At higher speeds you lean into the bend before to turn the handle bars, so there is no leaning the opposite direction first. This can also be done at low speeds, but naturally you do go the opposite way first if not thinking about it. Pretty cool.

To me its incredible how humans just learn to do these things subconsciously. Noone tells you that when youre a kid, you just try over and over again until suddenly you do it right without even knowing what youre doing differently. Imagine how many things you do right without even understanding why oder what exactly it is youre doing. Absolutely incredible

To me, science often shows how incredible our intuition is. There is so much that we do "naturally" without understanding the mechanics. Sometimes we get it wrong, but I like the example of shooting a basketball. The physics involved are incredible, but people can train to put a ball in a hoop at a weird angle from incredible distance, under duress, and with remarkable consistency without a deep understanding of the mechanics.

As a kid i somehow pieced together how to balance a bike without my hands on the bars and feet off the pedals. I felt like a king watching friends fail to sit on a stationary bike.

This is one of my favourite videos he's done, I'm glad he put up the short that led me back here