Comment by lnwlebjel

6 months ago

Lots of comments stating as fact without explanation that angular momentum has no impact on rideability, so here is more information. I had no idea that this had been worked out (more or less conclusively):

"While gyroscopic and caster effects may contribute to balancing the bicycle, they are not the root cause. J. D. G. Kooijman and his collaborators confirmed that the root cause is a front-loaded steering geometry. A front-loaded steering geometry means that the steering shape of the front wheel and frame on a bicycle is constructed such that the front of the bike falls faster than the back. If the bike starts to tilt to the left after hitting a bump and succumbing to gravity, the front wheel falls to the left faster than the rest of the bike. As a result, the bike turns left. The amazing part is that turning the front wheel to the left causes the momentum of the bike to snap to the right because of centrifugal force (just like you are thrown to the right side of your car when making a quick left turn). The right lurch of the bike compensates for the initial fall to the left and the bike ends up straight again. "

This is from https://www.wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2013/04/18/what-keeps-a-bic..., which has a link to the relatively recent paper (2011) providing the most evidence: