We don't know how bikes work. From

[@inde-cipher]

As a scientist, I can confirm that when you bike in space it push you backward.

[@drsax3622]

Yup. It do push you backward

[@AAHnighttroll]

Please tell you're joking, I'm gullible and ill believe this

[@JasonLihani]

The inertia of the wheel would definitely make you do flips. I get the bit, I'm just sayin.

[@bastien-]

Huffy's first law of motion: a sick mountain bike at rest will stay at rest unless shredded upon at a dirt track behind a K-Mart

[@alemirdikson]

Pure scientific poetry. I salute you.

[@Xenophilius]

tl;dr scientists have a pretty good, if imperfect, idea of how bikes self-steer, and we know a lot more than we used to. researchers at cornell showed one of the biggest factors to bicycles' self-balancing is that the handlebars' center of mass is lower than the main frame's center of mass, causing it to fall faster when tilting and turn the handlebars. while it's true bikes aren't mathematically solved or anything, there's still a lot of research, and a lot's known. the craziest thing is that bicycles largely balance THEMSELVES, and self-correct if turned. humans are not needed. commonly cited are three reasons: 1. gyroscopic procession causes a vertical spinning wheel to turn in the direction you try to tilt it 2. the steering axis is tilted, so the front wheel touches the ground behind the steering axis and turns it back in the direction it's leaning (the caster effect) 3. the handlebars' center of mass is in front of the steering axis, so if the bike leans, the handlebars weigh it and turn it in that direction but there's a fourth reason i don't see many people mentioning, and a study from Cornell ("A bicycle can be self-stable without gyroscopic or caster effects") proved it with an elaborate bike that broke all the above rules and still self-steered (as in, NO human was involved): 4. the steering assembly has a much lower center of mass than the back frame assembly, which means that if the bike's falling, the steering assembly falls FASTER in that direction. this turns the handlebars and steers it back on track. a human on the bike only makes that center of mass difference more dramatic. i thought that was cool. there's a video by Veritasium about this that's really good, but i also skimmed through the study itself because it was interesting. scientists understand a lot more about this than people think--i think it's mainly just a lack of science communication that leads to an exaggeration like "the humble bicycles is a complete mystery to physicists" to proliferate. it's not that strange for humans' physical understanding of our tools to lag behind our mastery of our tools. how long were we cooking food before we figured out what fire is?

[@jazzy4830]

I was about to make a big comment like this, thanks for doing it first.👍 I always hate when someone says ‘science can’t explain X’, when it absolutely can, it just likely lacks time, money and focus to test hypotheses.

[@patrickthomson347]

thank you king

[@Arum638]

People still think bumble bees shouldn't be able to fly. Damn that Jerry Seinfeld!

[@therepublic4759]

Seems pretty obvious to me

[@eddmorra289]

That is the opposite of tl;dr

[@clearlieme]

Something something wheel go round, wheel no fall, wheel go round fast, wheel definitely no fall

[@steampunkerella]

it's like how flies bee

[@mckinneym.2743]

I thought we knew that bees flew by expelling a gas? Edit: apparently, I was completely incorrect (or at least that isn't the main function) it seems to be through the twisting of their wings while flapping

[@6Shooter28]

time flies like a bee, but fruit bees like a banana

[@Sprtschk]

how can bee bee?

[@Murarius43]

This entire comment thread is stoned af

[@YouLikeKrabbyPattiesDontYou]

got to be your 69th like. _nice._

[@jonathannoble7845]

Griff has a point. If we don't know how bikes work, how can we say with certainty that anything is or isn't possible?

[@sbsftw4232]

True certainty is a myth.

[@jonathannoble7845]

@@sbsftw4232 you sure about that?

[@YouLikeKrabbyPattiesDontYou]

@@jonathannoble7845 this is a VERY good comment.

[@jonathannoble7845]

@@YouLikeKrabbyPattiesDontYou That is possible.

[@Direwolf1771]

It’s not a binary. How certain we are about the possibility of something is a gradient. It’s all about how much it approaches 1 or 0, 1 being full certainty.

[@theashtray607]

I love how griffin calls the thirty-mile large hadron collider ‘a million miles long’

[@nathancarter8239]

I did the math, and if the Large Hadron Collider was a million miles in circumference, it would be large enough to cover the surface of the Earth almost 129 times over. I, for one, believe in the power of science and that we should 100% build it.

[@greyeyedartist2251]

i love how you can tell this is a bit they've been pulling on Griffin for his entire life

[@themissile3120]

for those who are genuinely curious: look up demonstrations of gyroscopic forces on a bike wheel (it's cooler than it sounds), watch stunt bikers (cool as is), and watch a video on steering vs leaning. we know exactly how these work to an incredibly precise degree. speed wobble is the only thing we haven't entirely figured out... maybe don't watch those videos.

[@timmyDR]

I think it's magnets, magnets do it

[@8BitsOfFun1323]

"Fucking magnets, how do they work?"

[@user-kl2ik6hu6b]

I was just thinking. It has to be magnets. I am an alumni of one so. I think you are correct.

[@devcrom3]

​@@user-kl2ik6hu6b Aluminum isn't magnetic though.

[@cleodello]

Wait until he hears about planes.

[@csiroko]

“There’s something about *bikes* tho” needs to be a sound

[@Pipscauthon]

Unicycle has entered the chat

[@MuffinMachine]

Pretty sure it's also true that dogs can't look up.

[@DalesDubs]

(me looking down at my chihuahua staring straight up at me) How are you doing that

[@elduderino007]

I think dogs should vote.

[@aspengolden9577]

Everybody like "gyroscopic progression" in the comments did not go google this to try and figure out where justin was even coming from, and instead discover that he is not, in fact, wrong. while we know of a number of factors that play a role, we genuinely do not have a full understanding of how bikes work

[@Cassner]

Card on the spokes makes you go faster, scientists cant explain that either

[@thevoidlord1796]

Justin telling Travis that scientists don't know how bikes work and then Traven just saying that as a fact is absolutely older-sibling energy lmao

[@warrendax135]

I have listened to the adventure zone for years and This is the first time I saw their faces... Not what I expected.

[@kathrynalbers1309]

Me when the fire nation had tanks but didn’t know how hot air balloons worked

[@CyberSpaceMonkey]

The McElroys make me want to be a McElroy. They have a good time.

[@CharterForGaming]

Only us Dutch people know, it's our national secret together with our growth elixir formula

[@tadcooper9733]

We absolutely do know how they work.

[@trevann8213]

I can tell you exactly how a bike works. Roughly near the seat is the center of gravity and when you add a human to that the weight is better distributed to the the pedals and front tire, because of the weight on the front tire the person now has a lot more control over the bikes balance and the pedals are so close to the center of gravity 1 so it's easier to create momentum 2 so the position of your feet are Roughly equally distributed allowing for tricks to be possible and if it's off just be a couple centimeters it makes many tricks much harder or near impossible for many. Tldr they are designed to give balance control to a person, weight distribution is a big factor of this. Same principle of why we can walk, but the way you do it is slightly different

[@kelse063]

yeah that’s how it all happens sure but scientists don’t know how it all really works.

[@dennislucid]

just tell em the earth is flat... thats all they wanna hear

[@davidmason9142]

No one tell Griffin, we also dont know why ice is slippery

[@geoffcampbell4739]

BIKES 🚲

[@rickyn3023]

Also Magnets. You ever wondered bout that? How they work?

[@Resulka]

I mean... No one's exactly sure how airplanes stay in the air... it's all just... theoretical...

[@Dimitris_Balf]

A theory that works wonders

[@gideongivesharrowboners]

bikes work through sheer force of will and a hefty amount of Believing in Yourself

[@snes90]

Training wheels are when you believe in someone else who believes in you. Losing the training wheels is when you begin to believe in yourself and the version of you that can 👏ride👏that👏bike.

[@gideongivesharrowboners]

@@snes90 that's actually really fucking inspiring holy shit

[@OppositeofHATE7]

Explains why I lost my ability to ride a bike and can no longer stay upright as a 32 year old adult

[@tylerreeces]

it's centrifugal force

[@kaukospots]

I thought at first Justin meant mechanically, and thus as a joke, because we wouldn't be able to build bikes at all otherwise. Gyroscopically, yeah, that makes way more sense for not understanding lol

[@ImpressionsLoving]

This video means such satisfaction for 4yo me - i was so scared of getting on a bike because i didn't know how it stayed upright and just because it worked for everyone else didn't mean that i would manage if i didn't know how.

[@laelles1313]

Hes thinking of bees

[@annawimpey5307]

Its called balance. What your thought need.

[@michaelborkowski7418]

I am pretty sure veritasium did a show on this. We do know how bikes work. The front wheel moves to keep balance like a gyroscope.

[@flyinprogrammer]

Don't tell Griff but we don't know how lithium batteries work either 🎉

[@butcrack6786]

The harder you push a bike, the better the balance. The problem is calculating how tf it corrects itself over and over in an irregular fashion. It's impossible to predict frequency, reps, any of it.

[@BassLiberators]

Real ones know that they started this discussion during the donkey kong stream, not "off air" lol

[@Jeevesie1988]

Aaaa thank you, I was certain this had already come up fairly recently. 😅

[@dongeddong8375]

where do eels come from? apparently they finally figured it out

[@Dimitris_Balf]

Eels, come from eels

[@dogshake]

Humans really just put some sticks between two wheels, hopped on and never questioned it.

[@fieldsofmercury1291]

Mans is stating data 🤌

[@HingleMcCringleberryPSU]

What he means is HE doesn't know how bikes work. It's like siphons, we actually know so much about how they work that we understand that some aspects of it are extremely complex

[@ChanceTheBrony]

Humans are inherently not a stable structure. When standing upright, we constantly make adjustments so that we don’t fall. It’s just that we do this so often it becomes subconscious. Bikes just add some extra instability to this thing we already do, and like before, we learn how to stay upright despite it. That’s also why bikes have kickstands. As soon as we get off the bike, our muscles are no longer balancing it.

[@Xenophilius]

bikes don't need riders to stay upright if they have forward momentum. they will self-steer in the direction they're leaning to stay upright longer than they have any right to. if you lock the handlebars, a moving bicycle will fall over just like if it was standing still.

[@DreamsOfFire]

🚲🚲🚲🚲

[@jamesrichie7844]

Normalize referring to bikes as steeds

[@ShayBowskill]

This bit made me unreasonably angry when I heard it on the pod. I could've sworn Justin is smarter than that. I could draw you a frickin force diagram, it's not that complicated.

[@Nebby_Fae]

I mean… it’s centripetal force

[@Nebby_Fae]

The funny answer is Bike Wizards

[@DrprofessorFrancis]

I love Justin but sometimes his goofs make me pause and go outside to stare blankly at a tree for a while

[@ClassickXD]

Gyroscopic procession.

[@OppositeofHATE7]

Bless you

[@ClassickXD]

@@OppositeofHATE7 do you not know what that is?

[@siristhedragon]

Why would you waste time discovering how exactly something works if its already so easy to get working? You want to put your effort into figuring out new shit.

[@GreedRunsall]

I dont understand the issue, inertia keeps the bike up right. If i just stand up a bike and let my hand go its going to fall, if i give that bike a push it will stay upright for as long as the motion its in motion and the wheels are aligned. Whats the physics that are missing?

[@OppositeofHATE7]

Faith

[@GreedRunsall]

@@OppositeofHATE7 the only faith I know is Faith +1

[@Xenophilius]

the weirdness is that the bike self-corrects and stays upright even on bumpy ground or if it's pushed. as long as it has velocity, it will usually find a way to stay upright. THAT'S what's screwing people up

[@michaelpoteet4171]

And here I thought after years of teaching free Bike lessons at my non profit co-op bike shop that it was all about center of balance and equally distributing weight so one side doesn't lean over. But I guess the 3 stooges committee knows better.

[@mckinneym.2743]

They mean from a physics perspective

[@genderman]

Fun Fact: it's not called the God particle cause it's super powerful. The guy who named it in a paper wanted to name it the Goddamn particle because it was going to be so goddamned hard to find, but his editor wouldn't let him