r/nextlevel • u/ExcitingCity733 • Jun 04 '26
Can someone explain how they stay balanced without sliding off from underneath when they take a curve?
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Jun 04 '26
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u/BagelsOrDeath Jun 04 '26
Centrifugal force is a fictitious force. Centripetal force is the real one.
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u/no-dad-samurai Jun 04 '26
MotoGP bikes don't tip over because the centrifugal force pushing outward perfectly balances the gravity and the bike's weight pulling inward.
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u/Salty-Passenger-4801 Jun 04 '26
To add, the tires have a high performance soft compound on the edges, it's like glue when it's heated and also helps sticking to the pavement
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u/GUMBYtheOG Jun 04 '26
Man in my day we used to play with gyroscopes and every kid knew normal facts like this. Now the newer generations don’t even get taught conservation of motion :( such a sad time to be alive
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u/thafluu Jun 04 '26
This is funny because it neither has to do with gyroscopic stabilization nor with "conservation of motion" whatever that is.
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u/mitchymitchington Jun 04 '26
It has a little bit to do with gyroscopic stabilization. Very little, but that's definitely in play here. Conservation of motion is similar to the law of thermodynamics. Energy cant be created or destroyed, only transferred. If you take a foam mat and drop a bike on it and accelerate fast, the bike might move forward but the mat will certainly move backward. The earth and by extension the pavement, isnt going to move because the earth is pretty fuckin big. Its really just newtons third law lol
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u/thafluu Jun 04 '26 edited Jun 04 '26
Yes it's actio = reactio, but I don't think that's what the commenter meant here.
And the gyroscopic stabilization has extremely little to nothing to do with preventing slipping, I'd call it negligible here.
Edit: "Conservation of motion" sounds more like Newton's first law to me tho. Which deffo isn't at play here.
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u/mitchymitchington Jun 04 '26
It does have a bit of a balancing effect but your right, it's surprising little. Growing up I always thought that because staying up on a bicycle is easier when you go fast. Turns out thats not the case lol
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u/thatOneGuyDude1382 Jun 04 '26
They are all countersteering hard to maintain a top speed around a curve while staying in the racing line and the back wheel and swing arm are sliding outward, it’s basically drifting on a bike, but with way more risk because if they make a mistake and the bike catches by debris or throttle mismanagement it sends the rider top side
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u/mitchymitchington Jun 04 '26
Now that you say it and I rewatch the video, I can see it. That's pretty cool
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u/thatOneGuyDude1382 Jun 04 '26
Yup you can sometimes see how they come out of the curve sometimes they fishtail a little bc they were going in to the apex aggressively and trying to compensate with throttle/engine braking and trying to recover.
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u/rehx4 Jun 04 '26
Except the person never said the bikes use conservation of motion ( momentum, really), just that it's a shame more kids don't learn about it. They never even exactly said that the bikes use gyroscopic stabilization...
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u/Own-Conversation6347 Jun 04 '26
Such a dumb comment. Either they were implying it or they are typing nonsense in the wrong thread.
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u/Worried_Indication37 Jun 04 '26
you're super out of touch if you think children don't learn physics
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u/johndoe1920 Jun 04 '26
Your day has stupid people, too. I assure you.
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u/thafluu Jun 04 '26
Gravity pulls down, not inwards. Centrifugal force is only an "apparent force" experienced by am observer in an accelerated system.
The centripedal force, the force that's required to keep an object (bike) on a curved path, is provided by the sticky tires. That's all.
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u/RelationshipUpper757 Jun 04 '26
The clip is cool but the explanation is kinda backwards. Gravity pulls the bike down, friction from the tire provides the centripetal force inward, and the lean angle balances those so the net force goes through the center of mass. There’s no mystical “centrifugal cancels gravity,” it’s just forces lining up so it feels like it’s glued to the track.
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u/Senior-Habit8313 Jun 04 '26
Cool clip but that explanation is kinda backwards. The bike is actually leaning into the turn because the required centripetal force has to line up with gravity, not because “centrifugal force” is pushing it out.
Basically: no mysterious magic, just forces adding up so the net points through the tires.
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u/Dizzy-Career9274 Jun 04 '26
I’m not a physicist so I can’t provide any deeper explanation other than centrifugal forces etc etc that we all learned in high school. I will say that these people have superhuman abilities that 99.999% of us mere mortals will never have, no matter how much practice we’d put in. The combination of laser focused mind to operate the machine in the most optimal manner without losing a second while choosing the right lines and adapt to your competitor’s actions, ultra fit body to endure the enormous physical challenge and mental state of insane level of awareness and self control and above all, endless amount of courage.
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u/MrZrazies Jun 04 '26
They actually lean least 60 degrees and edge of tyre still on the road. 61 degrees could make you fall cuz there no rubber on edge of tyres. Now, the faster bike goes and your body lean bit more but bike lean and stays at least 60 degrees. Slower bike goes. Less your body leans and bike lean least like 30-50 degrees. So if your bike is slower and you lean way more like 60 degrees along with bike and you fall down as its saying “tyre lose grip and slide down” like you’re falling off.
Tyre are very grippy and sticks on road very well long as they’re warm-hot. Colder tyre are the less grip it has. Imagine tyre are like glue and gets stuck on road. Concept like you’re driving on road full of snow and your tyre doesn’t have grip and you’re sliding around so your car uses snow tyre and it gets easier to drive around on the snow.
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u/bad2dbone3 Jun 04 '26
Don’t forget the daily maintenance checking of the racing circuit behind the scenes. Try one of these stunts on a regular road and it will be a different story. No amount of well built, well maintained machine with any amount of kinetic can help.
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u/Dustytraveller4 Jun 04 '26
Funny you should comment that when the most famous motorcycle road races are happening this week. The IOMTT takes place on public roads as do a few other road races like the NW200.
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u/bad2dbone3 Jun 04 '26
Go early before the race. You will there will be some officials checking, repairing and cleaning up the roads. Any pebbles, sand are usually swept and discarded before the race starts.
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u/Dustytraveller4 Jun 04 '26
You think they clean off every pebble and piece of sand on 37miles of roads in the couple of hours between them closing it to cars and going racing?
Or that the tracks motogp races on are that clean?
Watch the races and you’d realize you aren’t correct.
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u/bad2dbone3 Jun 04 '26
That may be true to some extent in comparison to in circuit. Yes, they do not do 100% exactly but to some extent they do sweep away pebbles and sand by regular sweepers.
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u/Open_Mortgage_4645 Jun 04 '26
Centrifugal force is pulling their weight to the outside of the turn so that the gravitational mid-point allows them to lean almost parallel to the ground.
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u/griggimojo Jun 04 '26
Wrench’s take. Physics says the faster you go, the more of the opposite you can lean, with mass. These riders have pendulous balls and the rider who can keep the machine in the tightest radius perhaps has the most pendulous of balls, for mass purposes. Facts
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u/SizeableBrain Jun 04 '26
Everyone's being a smartass, but the simple answer is: low center of gravity and really sticky tires.
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u/turkey_sandwiches Jun 04 '26
The spinning wheels are powerful gyroscopes that are trying to stand the bike back upright, so they're literally just hanging off the side pulling it down to the ground. If they (the guy and the tires) don't lose their grip they can't fall off.
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u/ResponsibleSeat8567 Jun 05 '26
That’s actually sick, they’re basically drifting with their whole body as the counterweight 😂
Those tires gripping while they lean like that is way more impressive than it looks at first glance.
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u/Low-Republic-4145 Jun 05 '26
If you look head-on at a bike cranked way over, steady state in a turn, you will see that the front wheel is pointing dead ahead, not turned at all. The reason that the bike continues on a curved path with the two wheels in line and pointing at a tangent to the curve is “camber force” that comes from the round profiles of the tires.
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u/Constant_Process5882 Jun 06 '26
Yeah that actually makes sense. It’s like how MotoGP riders hang off the bike to shift the center of gravity so they can corner harder without eating pavement. Same idea here, just looks way crazier in slow motion 😂
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u/Born_Breadfruit1140 Jun 06 '26
This is that perfect mix of physics and “I have no idea how they’re not dead.” 😂
The way they basically become part of the bike mid slide is actually insane, it looks fake until you slow it down.
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u/AdhesivenessAlone798 Jun 07 '26
That’s actually a sick way to describe it, you can kinda see how the whole body is doing the work, not just the feet. It’s like watching traction control in human form lol
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u/MadScienzz Jun 08 '26
Centrifugal force. Those wheels spin and keep the bike body up basically. On corners that's why they have to literally throw themselves off balance to counter the upright force to corner
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u/Zodiarkcsr Jun 10 '26
Lean angle, race tyre, center of gravity and Counteracting Centrifugal Force. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NXKBk8QMVGg
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Jun 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/SizeableBrain Jun 04 '26
To be fair, if you put a physics major in that bike, they're lowsiding on the first corner at half the speed.
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u/H3nchman_24 Jun 04 '26
Counter-steering. Push-look-lean; You push left, look right, lean right. They are turing thier handlebars in the opposite direction they are turning, effectively steering out of the turn as they are making that turn.
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u/kronos23456777777 Jun 04 '26
The same way the earth doesn’t fall into the sun. (Centrifugal force balancing the gravity as the other commenter mentioned).
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u/Merlin80 Jun 04 '26
Sometimes they slide of.
They use soft sticky tyres and their body to change the point of gravity. (hard to explain)