Why is it easier to balance on a moving bike?

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📓 The short answer

A bike is easier to balance while riding because the momentum enables the bike to be steered into the direction of the lean, which rebalances the bike. The steering design of bikes and, to a minor degree, the gyroscopic precession effect also help a bike remain stable while moving.

📚 The long answer

Bike balance, as it turns out, is a very complicated subject.

There are multiple effects that contribute to bikes being more stable while moving and less stable while still. I'll first cover the simplest and most intuitive reason why it's easier to balance on a moving bike and then touch on a few of the other more complicated reasons to round out this answer.

Reason #1: While moving, the rider can steer to correct a fall.

The main reason a moving bike is easier to balance is because steering allows the rider to correct a fall.

A bike has two points of contact, the front wheel and the back wheel touching the ground, which makes it an inherently unstable object. To remain balanced on a bike, the rider's weight has to be positioned over the two points of contact.

Diagram showing an aerial view of a bike. The diagram labels the front wheel (contact point 1), handlebars, a red circle indicating the rider's weight, and the back wheel (contact point 2). The whole diagram is labeled "Stable bike." — This is a diagram of a bike from an aerial view. Please bear with me for the next few diagrams. It's tricky to draw a bike! 😅

If the bike starts to tip to one side, the rider's weight is no longer positioned over the two points of contact, and the force of gravity starts to pull them and the bike down. At this point, the rider needs to do something to rebalance the bike.

Aerial view of a bike falling to to the left. The rider's weight is no longer over the two contact points.

What must the rider do? Steer! If the bike starts to fall to the left, the rider must turn the front wheel to the left as well. This movement will reposition the front wheel contact point under the rider's weight, which is currently leaning left.

Aerial view of the rider turning into the lean in order to stay balanced. The diagram points out that the front wheel gets turned to reposition the first point of contact.

By turning into the lean, the front wheel realigns under the rider's center of weight, spanning across the two points of contact. Consequently, the back tire adjusts to the right. Steering into the fall, therefore, realigns the two contact points to be under the weight of the rider and allows them to stay balanced.

Aerial view of the bike remaining balanced because of the previous steering adjustment. The rider's weight is repositioned over the two contact points. The back wheel follows the direction of the front wheel.

The ability to steer is absolutely critical to remaining balanced on a bike. Why is this so much harder when a bike is still? There's no momentum. If you try to steer a bike while it is completely stopped, the front tire will not move under the center of your weight as the bike has no momentum. The faster the bike moves, the less steering is required, making it easier to maintain balance.

Experienced riders at this point might be saying, "But I'm special! I can balance my bike while waiting at a stoplight like a pro!" Congrats! But you're not balancing while completely still.

GIF showing a cyclist performing a "trackstand," or making minor adjustments while the bike is mostly just standing in order to remain balanced. — Source: "How To Track Stand Like a Pro" by Global Cycling Network

Even when you're doing what's known in the cycling community as a "track stand", you're subtly adding momentum to the bike as you shift your weight on the pedals. These small adjustments allow you to create momentum by moving the bike forwards (and/or backwards if you're on a fixie).

So, the most compelling reason why it's easier to balance on a moving bike comes down to the rider being able to steer into the direction of the fall and correct themselves. But it can't be the whole truth.

If you give a riderless bike a good push, it will remain upright for about 20 seconds. A static riderless bike, by comparison, will fall over after about 2 seconds. So there's a significant amount of self-stability in bike design that helps it stay upright while moving. Here are some other factors contributing to why it's easier to balance a moving bike:

Reason #2: Steering design includes mechanical trail.

Bicycle steering mechanisms usually feature a specific degree of trail, designed to facilitate easier balancing. The trail is the distance between the point where the front wheel touches the ground and the point where the steering axis intersects the ground.

Diagram showing a bike wheel's trail. A blue dotted line shows how the steering mechanism meets the ground ahead of where the bike tire touches the ground, creating mechanical trail.

As the bike tilts, this trail naturally causes the front wheel to turn in the direction of the lean, helping the bike get realigned under the rider's center of gravity. This self-correcting feature is integral to a bike's stability, especially when it's in motion.

Reason #3: Gyroscopic precession

Gyroscopic precession is often credited with being a key factor in why bikes are easier to balance while moving, but this is not entirely true. Gyroscopic precession is a physical phenomenon that occurs when a force is applied to a spinning object, like a bicycle wheel.

In simple terms, when a bicycle wheel spins, it reacts to forces by "precessing," or turning, in a perpendicular direction to where the force is applied. When you lean to the left on a moving bike, gyroscopic precession causes the front wheel to turn slightly left, aiding in balance.

This video includes an excellent demonstration of this phenomenon:

Screenshot of "Why bicycles do not fall: Arend Schwab at TEDxDelft" video

However, the gyroscopic effect of bike wheels alone is not sufficient to keep a bike balanced, as the wheels are not large enough or spinning fast enough. An experiment in the 1970s demonstrated this by adding an extra set of wheels spinning in the opposite direction to cancel out the gyroscopic effect. The bike remained easy to ride.

In sum, the gyroscopic precession effect and steering design helps keep the bike stable, but the primary reason bikes are easier to balance while moving is because you can steer into a fall and rebalance.

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All my best,

Caitlin

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Sources for this week's newsletter

📖 Book of the week

Book cover of "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years"

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller

This book isn't all that much about cycling, despite what the cover and title suggests, but ... it'll get your wheels turning.

After Miller published his first book with impressive success, he fell into a funk, neglecting responsibility, sleeping all day, and anxiously avoiding responding to his publisher. When two filmmakers approach him to make a movie about his life, he has a chance to edit his actual life into a better story. It's a book about the stories we tell ourselves in life.