Bicycle Physics?

Question

How come when you at a stand still on a bike you fall off, yet if your moving your fine? I put this in engineering because I want the hard core answer involving free body diagram stuff and forces what not. I think I now what the answer is, but I need elaborations. Thanks!

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_and_motorcycle_dynamics Im sure that will answer your question better than I can.

Answer 2

Because momentum forces gravitational pull in the direction of the force and isolated to pull you either left or right. This is why any motion with a enough gravity force in the direction you move is strong enough to maintain balance. Other wise the only way to balance and not move would have you holding a long heavy pole forcing the gravity downward towards the wheels and thus keeping you balanced by not moving.

Answer 3

It's a combination of your forward momentum and the gyroscopic effect of the spinning wheels that stabilizes you while riding. You don't have either of these if you're standing still.

Answer 4

Try this link:

http://www.coe.uncc.edu/~rkeanini/humpowengrg/HPVE_Steering.htm

for some serious graphs and such. Good luck! (Wikipedia should give you the simpler stuff).