Why is it easy to balance on a moving bike but not when it stands still?
In: Physics
Because the bike pretty much balances itself in a way.
Think of it like spinning a top. When it’s spinning super fast it can stand up for a long period of time, the spinning motion creates angular momentum, it’s spinning and doesn’t want to necessarily change *how* it’s spinning.
Now imagine a bike, the two tires are almost ‘tops’ that are just positioned sideways. As you move forward the wheels generate angular momentum, they want to keep spinning in the direction they are going. On top of that there is the gyroscopic effect, they don’t want to really tilt or move, if you try to spin a top slightly angled, it will right itself. You can tilt the top and it stays balanced, the bike also wants to stay balanced.
When you’re not moving, these forces don’t really come into play, at that point you’re basically just trying to balance like you’re sitting on a tightrope. You can, but it’s a little difficult and you have to move your body a bunch.
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