There is something delightful about riding a bicycle. Once mastered, the simple action of pedaling to move forward and turning the handlebars to steer makes bike riding an effortless activity.
I couldn’t articulate it when I first learned to ride without training wheels, but it was my first major taste of freedom. It also helped that I was soon one of the fastest in my neighborhood.
Yeah I agree. First one I read and still my favourite is the mechanical watch breakdown article. The explanations aren't too heavy and the demonstrations/interactions are so clean. Bartosz's site just has really nice design all over.
There are multiple reasons why I think basic riding and how to fix/maintain a bike should be taught in schools.
The dead simple machines make it easy to actually see and understand what’s going on. It’s a good starting point for people to actually be able to fix their stuff later on.
Then you also have a lot of really easy examples of how simple mechanic and physics topics that everyone should be familiar with.
You can even start going into it for a lot of muscles since we use a lot of them for balance.
Then probably the most important, riding bikes is fun and an activity that children will at least likely want to do. If you can get the parents to do it with them even better.
I wrecked my bike almost a decade ago. Not the first time, but the most violent wreck I've ever experienced.
Got thrown into traffic, broke some ribs, messed up my shoulder, and cracked my helmet almost in two.
After healing tried riding my bike again. Absolutely did not expect PTSD, but could not otherwise explain how wholly unconfident I felt while trying to ride a bike, even til this day.
Hills are fun. Through nothing more than your own manual effort you’re able to swiftly scale mountains and are rewarded with stunning vistas (and a fun decent).
Good gearing takes care of most hills, and new electric bikes handle tougher hills than that, or get you where you're going without getting sweaty, but a regular bike will usually suffice.
No gearing makes riding up hills "effortless" and sure if you're being pushed up by a motor that's fine, but that's not really a bike, it's a motorbike.
"Science unable to explain how a bike in motion stays upright"
/s But once watched a video with a similar title that demonstrated not a single effect (caster, gyroscopic, etc.) is solely responsible for bikes staying upright and you can design bikes without each effect and they still work in principle.
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