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Originally Posted by ChiDuck
reducing angular momentum (or gyro effect if you want to call it that) will make it easier to turn
lighter wheels = easier turning
heavier wheels = more stable in a straight line
say it with me people: conservation of angular momentum
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Rotating wheels do in fact have angular momentum, and a force applied to them is redirected through 90 degrees...
BUT that effect is negligible. Miniscule. Unimportant. It ain't part of how a bike handles. It doesn't mean squat. It's a red herring. To think that it is the root of how a bike turns or stays stable is uninformed folly. It is ignorance of the very real type, where you are ignoring the other physical interactions.
trail = stability and resistance to direction change, proportional to speed.
front wheel yaw (turning the bars) provides a side thrust that does two things: a) changes the direction of travel in the same way turning the wheels of a car does and b) causes body roll of the vehicle in the same way that turning the wheels of a car does. The body roll is proportional to the forward speed and the degree of the turn.
coning = absent other forces, the single track vehicle travels in a circle around the point on the plane of travel where the axis of the axles would intersect. The farther it's leaned over, the closer that point is, and therefore, the tighter the circle.
All of these easily understandable interactions are still in play regardless of the angular momentum of the wheels. Heavy wheels, light wheels, theoretical wheels with no mass, it doesn't matter... the three things above still apply.
There's a bunch of other stuff about motorcycle dynamics I'm sure you gyro heads don't know - Did you know that the front wheel of a motorcycle is constantly "weaving" even when you are traveling in a straight line? It does. It tracks to the right and to the left of the wheel in an oscillation, all the time. Its the caster of the front wheel, the trail, that pushes the wheel just a little bit past being back in line, so it weaves from side to side. Explain that with your gyroscopic forces and angular momentum.
When a motorcycle is traveling around a corner, the front wheel tracks outside of the rear wheel... the rear wheel turns in a tighter arc. In fact, the front wheel is pointed to the inside of the turn ever so slightly, the wheels are NOT in line when traveling around a corner. Explain that with your angular momentum and your gyroscopes.
Just because you saw a kid rotate slowly on a stool while trying to twist a bicycle wheel in 9th grade science doesn't mean that angular momentum is the mysterious unseen force that makes motorcycles work. There's a pile of evidence right in front of you that angular momentum doesn't mean squat when you're talking about motorcycle stability or turning.
Quit making yourself look silly.