Posted on 05/29/2015 2:57:17 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Many people believe you never forget how to ride a bike, but Destin Sandlin of the YouTube series Smarter Every Day might have just proved that theory wrong. When a fellow engineer presents him with a bicycle built so that the wheel turns the opposite direction of the handlebars, Destin realizes that this seemingly simple challenge is almost impossible.
As Destin and behavioral scientists explain, this happens because our brains are so preconditioned to certain movements and muscle memory that going against these natural instincts is incredibly difficult. In fact, it is much easier for a child than an adult to learn how to ride this backward bicycle because their brains are so much more impressionable. As Destin explains, this is the same reason why learning a language is easier as a child. Just another reason to want to be young again.
Video: This Backwards Bicycle Will Mess With Your Brain
This was a very interesting video. A very good speaker and pretty smart, too. Thanks,
That’s an amazing video.
To turn right, you push on the right handlebar, however briefly, which causes the bicycle and rider to lean to the right, and the turn is executed.
Pushing on the left side of the handlebar to turn right causes the rider to shift their center of gravity to the left, negating the effect of the lean, and causing failure to execute the turn.
btt
He needs to ride the bike without hands.
Moving the stem that much forward he screwed up the steering trail and dramatically increased angle of the head tube effectively making the bike very hard to ride. It isn’t just the backwards steering it is over steering. A normal bike like that is going to have a head tube angle of about 72 degrees, moving the steering tub up increased that angle to 85 or 90 degrees. You couldn’t ride the bike even without backwards steering
Not sure I understand that. This is basically rack and pinion steering with two pinions and the 'rack' action reversed. Clearly from the video he did learn how to ride it as did his son. I think the major problem is the awareness the rider has which conflicts with established brain and muscle patterns. Much like people who wear upside down glasses where their brains 'correct' it after a couple days' use.
I will gladly suffer the chagrin of ridiculing this idiocy if I've misunderstood; otherwise, the fact that somebody goes public with such warped reasoning, believing it follows, is very disturbing.
“Not sure I understand that.”
On a car it would not makeany difference becuase you have 4 wheels on a two wheeled vehicle it makes a huge difference.
Trail or Offset is how far the center of the hub axle is in front of the center of the steering tube.
If there is too much the bike requires excessive lean to make the turn and the handling is sluggish. That is why motor cycles that have been converted to Choppers generally have a smaller front wheel , it compensates for the excessive trail derived from the long fork.
If, as in this case, there is two little trail the bike cannot be leaned into a turn because the bike over steers
Most bicycles have about 50 to 60 mm of trail (2 to 3 inches) The head tube on that bike is just under an inch. When you add the additional space for the gears then the the bike has almost no trail. What that means is that when you turn the wheel it goes sideways without leaning the bike and you either stop or go over the handlebars.
When replacing a fork on a bike it is important to get a fork with the trail designed for the frame. Unless he had the shop cold set the original steering tube.
Here is an explanation with illustrations
http://calfeedesign.com/tech-papers/geometry-of-bike-handling/
Okay.....but please don’t tell me you own a $5000 graphite composite that weighs 2 ounces or something. :0)
Carbon fiber is for morons unless you are paid to race.
I own three handmade semi-custom frame bicycles
A 51 CM Sam Hillborne touring bicycle with NOS SunTour XC Pro components from about 1990($5500 including wheels racks and panniers)I l really love this bike
http://tinyurl.com/n9jmrag
A 51 CM Soma San Marcos with Campagnolo 10 speed Flatbar components ($4400)
http://tinyurl.com/pqop9gy
A 52 CM Battaglin Team-SLX (Columbus SLX Tubing) This frame is old maybe from about 188-1989 or so) with Campagnolo 10 Speed Mirage/Veloce mix components. I have no idea how much I have invested in this bike. I am planning to sell it as I am, in my old age two heavy for the wheels and the lack of low gears means I can’t get it up hills due to the bad knee and ankle. Best guess is $4000+
All of them are steel frames that are lugged and brazed
To each his own I guess. I have some guns that fall in that price range....
This reverse steering bike is much like the experiments using upside-down eyeglasses. Given time, your mind will rewire the synapses and you can use the bike, or operate in a world where your vision is upside down. (After all, or natural vision actually receives images on the retina upside down.)
I think more significant “proof” came when, after 8 months on the freak bike, he got on a real bike and could not ride it.
YOU OBVIOUSLY DIDN’T WATCH THE ENTIRE VIDEO ... OR YOU’RE TOO NEW TO FR AND YOU NEED YOU COGNITIVE SENSES EXPANDED
The video is about learning and the complexity of such things like ... habit.
I hate to break it to you, but these things have been around for decades - I used to see them at county fairs; you would pay a dollar to ride it and would win $10 if you could get to the end of the little lane the guy had set up.
For the record, I didn’t win.
i went to a thingie where they featured a jeep that had reversed steering. we were supposed to take it on a figure eight course. i made it, but it did require some thinking!
Sorry for rant on Friday.
Wife’s birthday today. She wants to go on a 20 mile bike ride.
Hope I don’t fall on my ass thinking about this.
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