Monday, June 27, 2011

Trying to Ride a Counter Steer Bike

I was hanging out at the bike shop the other day, and a motorcycle parts rep stopped by to drop some gear off. In addition to bringing along his goods, he also had a bicycle in tow... a very interesting bicycle.

He had welded an additional head tube on in front of the one normally on the bike, moved the handlebars up to the forward one, and connected the bars to the fork via two gears. By doing so, he effectively reversed the steering of this bicycle.

When we saw it, of course we all decided to give it a try... and we failed, one after another. While the concept looks so simple, it is incredibly difficult to overcome the decades of time we've spent on bicycles to turn the opposite direction when you want to steer.

What, you don't believe me when I tell you it's crazy hard?

Check out these pics and video for proof:

The counter steer mechanism
It's not as easy as it looks

The helmet and goggles didn't help after all
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4 comments:

  1. eastwoodJune 27, 2011 at 3:35 PM

    Wow, you've really got to turn the handles to get anything going with that... but the important question: WHY??

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  2. MatthewJune 27, 2011 at 10:01 PM

    interesting but the question as eastwood has said "why?"

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  3. Greg HeilJune 28, 2011 at 8:08 AM

    As for the turning, the guy hasn't been able to get it to a straight 1 to 1 gear ratio, so it is much more sensitive than a real bike.

    But as for why, I think a more pertinent question is: "Why not?" ;-D

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  4. StephenJune 28, 2011 at 8:28 AM

    That's just pure entertainment right there!

    ReplyDelete