minutephysics - 2015-07-15
Thanks to http://www.harrys.com for sponsoring this video – use offer code MinutePhysics for $5 off your first purchase A HUGE thanks to Michael Aranda for aerial and slow motion photography and Wren Weichman (@wrenthereaper) for helping with the 3D bike animation. Bike references mainly from: http://bicycle.tudelft.nl/schwab/Bicycle/ Music by Nathaniel Schroeder http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder And thanks to the following Patreon supporters: Today I Found Out Jeff Straathof Avi Yashchin Mark Jeremy Cummings Wes Brown John Green Rafael Ferreira Luciano Florian Philipp Rens van der Heijden Risa Galant Ricky Shields Kristina Foss PetWolverine Trent Sutherland Ian Foote Eszter Szikora Tasso Kostalas (MavericSun) Amandeep Hayer Abraão Caldas Eric Ma Conner Fissell Bob Bolch Daniel Ametsreiter Joël Quenneville Richard Pearson David Dailey Steven Mulder Karim Ryan Kyle William Ricketts Collin Mandris Jonathan Foster Siddharth Sadanand Robby Olivam Alan Browning Jonathan Piersa Jake Stolhandske Julia Person James Craver Sarah Chavis Yonatan Bisk Richard Campbell Richie Swift Chris Barrett Jan Amza Christopher Coleman David Tebbe Kelvin Dueck Daniel “YoureDown” Breger Hendrik Payer Greck Cannon Chris Peters Landy Manderson Lewis Goddard Seamus Campbell Greg Holger R. Austin Keller Alejandro Medrano Gil Prof Stick Cora Toner Chris Thompson Alan Lam Andrew Collings Mike McHargue Nicholas Buckendorf Blair Bradimore Michael Biot nir lifshitz Nicholas Carroll Edwin Zea Diana Dial Mitch Etzkin Lightbow Dante Santos Mathias Westad Larssen Tom Headley Michael K Geoff Wallace Fredrik Samuelsson Melissa Harkins Jason Talley Keith Marrocco Maarten Bremer Eric Laberge Lacey Larson Neil Ramroop Matthew Norton Efe Efevich Mark Donal Botkin Sylvan Ruud Daniel Friesen Philipi Adolfo Willemann Jeffrey McCullough Oddgeir Ann Brendon Davis Filip Christopher Jimenez Michel Payette Juha Niittynen Jeff Ross Viktor Liljeblad Robert E DeLapp Sean Linsley Christopher O’Neal Marcus Philip Freeman Matthew Heermann Marsha Woerner Daniel Yip Matt K William Pearson Kevin Lynch Nick Ward Kevin john eriksson Allan Farrell Tobias Olesen Chris Chapin Michael Keefe Jon Mann Bert Joji Wata Adam Naber Rob Ibsen Jacob Gumpert Peter Collier Andi Davis Raymond Cason Evan Gale Paul Tori McClanahan Dominik Danilo Metzger Christian Altenhofen Roy Morgan Olivia Darroch Amber Ciarvella ryan horlacher Keith Chang Janel Christensen Will Scherer Mike Fulcher Larom Lancaster John Harman Matt Christos Papandreou Fernando Pazin Jason Medrano Andrew Barnett Katharina Schuchmann John Gietzen Michael Tardibuono Matthew Hebert Pierre-Louis Bourgeois Genevieve Lawrence Brian D’Agostini Chris Dominik Menzi Ryan A. Schauer Daniel Johnson Nico Houbraken Michael Carr Ragnhild Elizabeth Meisterling Lysann Schlegel Magnus Krokstad Owain Blackwood Russ Arrell Maarten Daalder Brenden Bullock Mark Samberg Tina Johnston Mike Cochrane Tom Murphy Peter L Jeff Erica Pratt David Artur Szczypta David Drueding Nicklas Ulvnäs Nigel W James Nelson Mary Foster-Smith Clayton Neff Michael Merino Jason and Gayle Corfman Mihaly Barasz Steven Klurfeld Richard Bairwell Tamas Bartal Erven Justin Prahl Michael Maitlen Hans van Staveren Kasey Karlin Nazario Marie Conrad Jacques LABBÉ Geralyn Byers jason black Candice Blodgett Daniel Gibbs Henry Berthelsen Andy Kittner Steve Hall Rob Snyder John Kelly Jessica Rosenstein Bill Tomiyasu Vasco Simões Simon Hammersley iain Holger Alexis Carpenter Jay Goodman Joseph Perry Mark Govea Eduardo Rampelotto Gatto Created by Henry Reich
Now I forgot how to ride a bike...
i have been riding for 15 years and i forgot how to turn bicycle
I saw another explaination of bicycle. But it was different method. I can't realized that. Please help me.
This is a serious deception, never do you think to turn right and then steer left. Choose your direction, lean that direction then steer that direction, steer never initiates a turn, a turn is initiated by LEAN, then steer the direction of the lean (turn). It is easy to make people believe they are steering opposite when that never even happens by claiming "you just can't see it". The proof is the video of the guy steering in figure 8's without touching the handlebars, he ONLY LEANS, no steering opposite.
@breezelow unknown you are deluded
@DumbledoreMcCracken I don't think that is an argument, just a false name-calling, so I can't make a counterpoint.
When i go straight in a bike i feel calm
but when i take a turn i start to panic
I think u mean kalm and panik
SAME
yeah my bike like a girrafe neck doing zig zag but it just grows and make a sharp-smooth turn
i got a bmx...does this work as well as a normal bike
@A3R~Mewtwoッ yep physics applies the same on all bikes
i used to be able to ride a bike now after watching this i keep crashing
Focus on the weight of pressure you put on your pedals and bars and turn with your hips not your handle bars.
Cool video. I learned the concept when I got my motorcycle. In the classroom it didn't make sense, but out practicing it all came together. That's how you start to steer a motorcycle, specially a heavy one or when going fast; all the leaning in the world will not get the bike to turn.
biking feels so natural, i dont even remember doing any of this
Xzqwerty2324zX I know it’s 3 years late but I agree so much. Biking is like a fifth limb.
@Darth Griffin i know this is 1 year late, but biking is like in our blood. in fact, if you watch videos of a 'backwards bicycle', youll see its hard to ride one. go check it out.
Darayat Neato, I will look that up, thanks!
@Darayat muscle memory
You don’t even need to use the handlebars.
I ride hands free for miles at a time even with turns. Lol
The really odd phenomenon is adults learning to ride a motorcycle. Despite knowing how to ride a bicycle, and how that bicycle turns, at least subconsciously, you need to teach an adult how to turn a motorcycle. For some reason many adults will fight with the notion of counter steering a motorcycle, which is compounded once they learn to lean into turns, and are actually required to steer into the turn to keep the turn on the correct radius.
One of the aspects of riding a motorcycle I particularly enjoy is finding that balance point in a long sweeping curve between shifting my body mass and keeping my steering input neutral.
@Ace12GA This. It's always wild to see adults, especially those who have ridden bicycles for years, have to try to reconcile the fact that all their low speed experience and intuitions on a light weight thin tired vehicle has taught them nothing about what you need to do to make a heavier two wheeled vehicle initiate and tighten up a turn. Then inevitably they try to "just lean it through the turn," run wide, grab a handful of front brake and have an awful time.
@dontknowdontcare Have you ever had to dodge road debris on the highway? Without using countersteering you're putting yourself at the whim of whether or not you're riding a line that'll hit it. Obviously tons of people cruise around that way with no skills to get them out of a jam, hence the high single vehicle accident rate among motorcyclists, particularly unlicensed ones, but I hardly think you're doing yourself a service by not knowing some shit that'll possibly save your life.
@dontknowdontcare You don't turn the handlebar as violently as shown in the video at high speeds. But you MUST countersteer at high speeds in order to get the bike leaned over so you can actually turn.
@dontknowdontcare If you have to dodge something at high speed, pushing the handle bars is the only way. Strong push on one handle side to turn sharp, then strong push on the other side to re-straighten. Best practiced on a road with no traffic of course.
+dontknowdontcare
wrong. look up twist of the wrist
More odd is learning basic balancing as an adult. I learned to ride a motorcycle without ever riding a bike. Moreover only touched it in the driver school until I got a license. It was fun...
48 seconds in and almost certain that I'm going to crash next time I ride my bike to work.
I pretty much just lean slightly in the direction I want to go, and that works really well
You learn this in motorcycle safety and certification class. What this video fails to mention is the speed factor. At very low speeds this concept is not as dramatic. You feel like you are just turning the handlebars to turn. And you are. The concept still applies, you just don't sense it. At high speeds, like on a motorcycle, the concept is very noticeable. You are taught to "press" the handlebars in the direction you want to turn to start the bike leaning. Your body will then lean with the bike, you will go around the curve, and then straighten up as you come out of it. The more you ride, the less you think about it, and it just becomes a natural "instinct". But if you think about it when you do it, it is fascinating. Can't really appreciate the full concept until you are going 80 mph on the highway into a curve on a motorcycle. It is exhilerating to say the least!!!
Great work, MinutePhysics! Love your videos. Don't listen to the others who say you did a terrible job. I get that they're talking about leaning first instead of turning first like you did, but you still taught me about bicycle physics.
I didn't used to be very interested in physics, but these videos made me love it. Thank you!
Great video, I'll keep it in mind when I start riding bikes again :-)
So much science in such a simple action! Brilliant!
I finally found a video to explain my friends countersteering, i tried to tell them that physics will always be right but they couldn't get rid of the fact that turning right actually means turning left
Wait I've always just turn it the direction i was going and lean to stabilize it. I'm even trying to rack my brain remembering instances that i did sometime like what was mention in the video for any reason other than some simple fun. I'm confused, this is intuitive. We even walk the same way, simply shifting our weight the direction we want to go.
@TeamLaughOutLoud So I have I.
@TeamLaughOutLoud Yeah if you lean actively it is intuitive. However the video describes how if you don't force the bike to lean in a direction steering right makes you actually turn left.
@TeamLaughOutLoud I recommend trying it, with reasonable speed push one hand forwards, the wheel will go one way and you will lean the other, you can instigate very quick turns like this. Even if you "just lean" you will probably be doing mild counter steering without even knowing it, your brain just picked it up.
@TeamLaughOutLoud you have to turn in the opposite direction if you didnt make any effort to lean your body
@TeamLaughOutLoud Actually the initial counter-intuitive handlebar turn is done pretty much involuntarily when trying to keep balance when leaning. You don't actively turn the thing in the opposite direction, it just... happens.
I was never conscious of how to turn on on a bike. After so many years, one never stops learning. Thanks.
this is right only if you use the handlebars like some kind of bicycle noob
its simple if you want to go right turn left. u want to go left turn right
+Yue Wu Same
Yue Wu by simply getting your bike into position a bit on left lane you can maneuver sharply to the right. this way is much smoother driving than staying in right lane and the steer hard while leaning to the right then fall on your knees or goes too wide when maneuver.
You're right! I actually took the handle bars off my bike. I removed the seat too. I ride with the seat post 8 inches up my ass and that way I don't notice that I can't steer..... fucking dumbass.
yea id like seeing you going through a turn fast without your hands on the handlebars
This was a really interesting video :) It's nice to know what I'm not thinking about because now I can think about it! Good video
I tried this outside my house, and I was going really fast then when I turned the handlebars instead of leaning I almost made a front flip with the bike and now I can't walk, now where do I sue Henry?
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that anyone who rides bikes competently doesn't steer first, and allow the bike to try to throw you off. That's the fastest way for your face to get personal with the ground.
I find this quite intuitive - I'm probably too much used in how physics work
This is a really cool! If only cycling in Wii works like that <3
The inversed steering trick is something I experimented with on long dull trips. It is only really a thing when you don't touch the handlebar and give it a tap. Otherwise you just lean first.
The handlebars are more for precision adjustments
I personally find the physics of bikes fascinating... so I, for one, adore these recent videos! Thanks so much! :)
thank you!!...really agree with logic...this will really help for some one, who's just into learning bikes..!!
When I was a kid, my brother and I went on a vacation where we rode 3-wheeler ATVs for a week. (This was back when 3-wheelers were common.) When we got home, we had a big argument about how to ride a bike: I said they worked the way the video says; he (like most of the people commenting here) said they worked just like an ATV, you turn the handlebar in the direction you want to turn. "Here, I'll prove it", he said. He got on his bike, headed for a sharp turn in the road, and drove straight off the road and smashed into a tree.
Bikes don't work the way you think they work.
Wright Brothers' explanation on this -
"I have asked dozens of bicycle riders how they turn to the left. I have never found a single person who stated all the facts correctly when first asked. They almost invariably said that to turn to the left, they turned the handlebar to the left and as a result made a turn to the left. But on further questioning them, some would agree that they first turned the handlebar a little to the right, and then as the machine inclined to the left, they turned the handlebar to the left and as a result made the circle, inclining inward."
I remember reading about this in a book called The Design of Everyday Things!
I've done that my entire childhood, and never noticed it, I thought I was just leaning right or left to turn....
I never knew I am supposed to turn the opposite way, I just leaned in the way I wanted to go and coordinated it with turning in the same direction.
I hope I'm not the only one who wants to grab a bike and try this (and the "let a bike keep itself up" thing from 2 weeks ago).
Since i saw this video, i went out biking several times over the last three days.
Not a single time did i "counter-steer" before turning, i only lean and turn into the circle.
In the real world, you can't counter-steer before turning, usually because there is traffic around you, or next to you. Also it gives the wrong impressions to cars and then you die which = having a #badday.
Even the in the tour de france which is ongoing right now, they just lean and turn.
Counter steering at speed makes it even worse, because the momentum forward and a steering wheel angled, then flipped/turned to the opposite angle = having a bad day, you might end up braking hard, or loosing your balance and going over the handlebars.
But sure, when playing around on a parking-lot, or doing acrobatics on a bike you do this when you want to keep the most upright position possible. Average bikers dont.
also they balance perfectly because of magic!
^^
i wished they explained counter steering bit more and how everything you do happens without thinking about it and comes out naturally.
You do love your bikes. Respect =)
It's really cool how you work at perimeter. How did you end up there?
I understood everything you said, it makes complete sense, I've ridden a bicycle since young, and yet it's still wild to think about. :)
That made lots of sense. Thank you!
Como quisiera que hicieran una versión de estos videos en español :'v
This definitely applies when I'm on my motorcycle and going fairly fast. I don't notice it as much when I'm going slower (both on my bicycle and on my motorcycle).
Whoa. I do this subconsciously!!! I'm curious how was I able to figure out that's the way to go without learning all this.
Kay, this is blowing my mind. If I keep thinking about this, I might lose the ability to ride a bike....
I always turn when riding a bike by leaning the way I want to go and guiding/controlling how much the front wheel turns in reaction. The only times I turn the handlebars in any other direction aside from where I want to go is when my speed is near-zero and I need to do so to keep balanced; which is almost never since if I'm going that slow I might as well get off the bike.
OMG! all these years i have been riding the wrong way.thanks for the video
Good luck learning to ride a bike based solely on the theory. :D
Love it! Very good video!
This actually does a really good job at explaining why its so darn hard to learn how to ride a bike.
It also explains that phenomenon when you are about to fall off the edge of something while riding, but you can't just steer away from it and end up falling in anyway, you try to turn away, your weight shifts, and you then only are able to turn off that edge.
Thank you for this clear demonstration. I taught several kids to ride, in a very short period of time, by showing them this not so intuitive process. It also works when you are running. To turn suddenly right, you have to put your left foot out to the side and push off it. Same with the front wheel of a bike. People say they just lean to the right, but that is not possible, if you start out perfectly balanced. Try it. Balance with one foot right in front of the other, so you can't push off to one side. Then try to lean, suddenly, to one side. You just bend in the middle.
Its strange how one can intuitively do these things and then feel puzzled about it afterwards. I have never thought about this
xisumavoid - 2015-07-17
Next time i got for a cycle im gonna play close attention to my turning as Ive never noticed this before, its mostly subconscious i guess but thinking about it i probably do steer slightly to the other direction first.
ThePix - 2015-09-29
+Savannah Ora nice spam
love Caleigh Jeanine - 2019-09-01
@Sai Prashanth LOL, ikr. He's my 2nd fav Hermitcraft player (behind Grian)
Fremy - 2020-10-24
Wait, Xisuma spotted 5 years later
Arata Kenshi - 2020-11-17
@Fremy same. i wonder if he had trouble turning a bike just like us..
Splash Boy - 2021-08-05
@Arata Kenshi i found the rare pre fame xisuma comment