Why when you are riding a bicycle do you need to first turn/lean right to make make a left turn, and vice versa?

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Why when you are riding a bicycle do you need to first turn/lean right to make make a left turn, and vice versa?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Bicycles act like gyroscopes.

Picture a spinning top, they don’t fall over as long as they’re spinning, that’s what a gyroscope is, the two wheels on a bicycle or motorbike act as gyroscopes once they’re spinning fast enough which is why a bicycle naturally wants to remain upright.

Another feature of gyroscopes is that any force you try and act on them actually happens 90 degrees later, so for example if you try and steer left on a bicycle, that force instead tips the bike right, and when a bicycle is on an angle it will turn inwards.

So what you do is you steer the wrong way to tip the bike over, and then use the lean to turn

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