Yes, I could try this, but you could tell me and then I won’t risk hurting myself. What exactly does that rubber band do?
Thanks!
Well… if you are talking about the band the runs from the rear rollers to the front rollers, that is pretty important. That spins the front rollers, which in turn spins your front wheel. The spinning front wheel gives you a significant gyroscopic effect that in turn gives you stability. With only one wheel of the bike spinning, it might be very difficult to maintain balance.
yup, that band.
I guess I’ll get a new one 
Try it and post the video. Great for Friday ST entertainment.
In all seriousness, that front wheel spinning is half of your gyroscope. I think its pretty important.
I dude riding on rollers when the big rubber band breaks would probably make an epic fail video.
Well… if you are talking about the band the runs from the rear rollers to the front rollers, that is pretty important. That spins the front rollers, which in turn spins your front wheel. The spinning front wheel gives you a significant gyroscopic effect that in turn gives you stability. With only one wheel of the bike spinning, it might be very difficult to maintain balance.
Pretty sure that the front wheel spinning doesn’t give you stability. A guy built a bike with an extra counter-rotating front wheel (which negated the gyroscopic effect) and the bike rode fine.
Mmmmmmm
Gyros
.
Ride your rollers with a stationary front wheel, and post the video.
On the serious side, I suffered through a lot of physics in my younger days. Counter-rotating gyros would not counteract each other in this context. A gyro tries to push against movement along its axis. The direction of the rotation does not matter.
Yes, I could try this, but you could tell me and then I won’t risk hurting myself. What exactly does that rubber band do?
Thanks!
please, the next time you ride… … G E T V I D E O!!!
The gyroscopic thing is a myth. I don’t recall where I saw it but a bike going in a straight line is basically a process of constantly “falling” very slightly left and right and steering subtly in that direction. Without the front roller rotating, the tire won’t be able to meander left/right and the rider will probably go down spectacularly.
Ride your rollers with a stationary front wheel, and post the video.
On the serious side, I suffered through a lot of physics in my younger days. Counter-rotating gyros would not counteract each other in this context. A gyro tries to push against movement along its axis. The direction of the rotation does not matter.
https://www.news.cornell.edu/...s-balance-themselves
You either learned too much or too little physics, depending on whether you think you are correct or the Cornell professor of mechanics got it correct. From that article:
While gyro and trail effects may contribute to self-stability, they are not the only causes, report Andy Ruina, professor of mechanics at Cornell, and colleagues in the Netherlands and at the University of Wisconsin. To prove it, they built a bicycle without any gyro or trail effects that can still balance itself. Their results are published in the April 15 issue of the journal Science.
Using a mathematical analysis that shows how various values for the masses and lengths produce stability or instability, the researchers determined that neither gyro nor trail effects are needed for self-stability.
They built a bicycle with two small wheels, each matched with a counter-rotating disk to eliminate the gyro effects,
The Bicycle Wheel as a Gyroscope
Its actually a bit of both.
Hmmmm, I’d be happy to be proven wrong, but having spun plenty of wheels up in my hands I’m inclined to believe that the gyroscopic effect is contributing a lot of stability to the bike. I suspect air-flow plays a big part too.
If you *need *the front wheel to balance, explain this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-dCwlNAXAQ
or this:
please, the next time you ride… … G E T V I D E O!!!
I rather like being injury-free. Now I know I need the band, so I’ll buy one and there will be no epic video.
You need the band.
They are readily available online.
My band snapped and broke ounce while riding. Did not go down, but made one of those spectacular recoveries as the bike went out from under-neath me, and somehow landed on my feet!
please, the next time you ride… … G E T V I D E O!!!
I rather like being injury-free. Now I know I need the band, so I’ll buy one and there will be no epic video.
She’s getting the band back together
*Sorry *… It HAD to be done
That Cornell study is analyzing the effect of self-steering that keeps a riderless bike going straight. It is entirely different from the gyroscopic effect that keeps a bike upright.
You need the band.
They are readily available online.
My band snapped and broke ounce while riding. Did not go down, but made one of those spectacular recoveries as the bike went out from under-neath me, and somehow landed on my feet!
You must have really good reflexes. Pretty sure I would’ve been on my butt.
In all seriousness, that front wheel spinning is half of your gyroscope. I think its pretty important.
Not exactly.
The front wheel spinning is not “half of your gyroscope.” The spinning of the front wheel is not needed for any “gyroscopic” action, it is needed to be able to balance the bike.
So it is not “pretty important,” it is essential that the front wheel be spinning to be able to ride on the road, or on a set of rollers (without a fork clamp, of course).
Plain and simple, you won’t be able to balance without it, i.e., get a replacement belt.