> Try following a straight marker on the road on your bike. It's very hard. When you start going too much to the right, you will find it impossible to actually nudge the bike back to the left, unless you accept that you have to go further to the right first.
Not true - you just have to shift your weight to the left.
I ride bike trials and have gotten good at keeping a straight line.
On a good day I can ride along the top of a handrail.
To keep a bike going straight at low speeds, you shift your weight, and by that I mean you swing your elbows or you knees, not your whole body.
You also can vary the sensitivity of the steering input by controlling how much of your weight is over the front wheel.
You can also use the front brake if you are deviating from your line. It allows you to push against the resistance generated to realign your center of mass.
> Not true - you just have to shift your weight to the left.
Not true - because of conservation of momentum (in the perpendicular direction) if you shift you weight to the left the bicycle will lean to the right and the center of mass will remain unchanged.
On the contrary, it doesn't surprise me at all. Many people on HN are young and successful which often means they overestimate how confident they should be in subjects outside their area of expertise. It's not just simple mechanics either, it's everything.
You look it up. Every article you'll find will point out that on a light vehicle like an bicycle you don't need to countersteer with the handlebars and can achieve the same effect by weight shifting. (Indeed the fact that it's possible to ride a bicycle without holding the handlebars at all should be all the proof that's necessary that one can navigate through weight shifting alone).
> You look it up. Every article you'll find will point out that on a light vehicle like an bicycle you don't need to countersteer with the handlebars and can achieve the same effect by weight shifting. (Indeed the fact that it's possible to ride a bicycle without holding the handlebars at all should be all the proof that's necessary that one can navigate through weight shifting alone).
What exactly is your claim? That you can turn left without touching the handlbars, or that you can turn left without first having the bicycle steer right?
> What exactly is your claim? That you can turn left without touching the handlbars, or that you can turn left without first having the bicycle steer right?
That you can turn left without having to "go right". If you tilt to the left by shifting your weight (and that's something I actually found almost impossible to do consciously - when I first learned to ride a recumbent I had to learn to weight shift before turning the handlebars all over again, for the same reason as people countersteer - when I tried to just turn with the handlebars I fell off, so I'm familiar with the effect we're talking about - but if you just lean to the left your body figures it out, or at least mine did) you'll turn to the left and follow the line just fine.
> That you can turn left without having to "go right".
Then you're wrong, and mixing handlebars into this is just you trying to obfuscate.
You claim that "Every article you'll find will point out that on a light vehicle like an bicycle you don't need to countersteer with the handlebars". I'm guessing you're regurgitating [0]. At least you looked it up like I suggested, respect. But it says that you don't need to countersteer with the handlebars because you can countersteer without the handlebars. You're still countersteering, as can be seen by the initial bump in the middle graph [1].
Anyway, like someone else said this is starting to look like YouTube comments.
Don't flatter yourself. I had read that article or another like it years ago.
> it says that you don't need to countersteer with the handlebars because you can countersteer without the handlebars.
You're right. I misunderstood, and I've learnt something - that explains why it was hard to lean over consciously. We'd've got here a lot sooner if you'd put half as much effort into engagement as you do into condescension.
Not true - you just have to shift your weight to the left.