tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post1009436268067232648..comments2024-03-18T08:41:35.438-04:00Comments on Lovely Bicycle!: Left, Right, Left? On Cornering and Traffic-HandednessVelouriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00359329171411037482noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-81292554228691183582014-03-04T18:27:03.496-05:002014-03-04T18:27:03.496-05:00I was reminded of this post today when I took adva...I was reminded of this post today when I took advantage of some welcome sunshine here in London to take a gentle spin along the Thames Path. There were a set of stairs from road level down to the canal side and, alongside them, five or six short, paved switchbacks for cyclists and others with wheels. Sure enough I found that making slow, tight turns to the left was easy but right ones felt very unsteady. Guess I'm a natural left-sider too. Good job I live in the UK. Bob is all righthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05695600950192318499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-91704364554095433762013-11-02T17:04:00.656-04:002013-11-02T17:04:00.656-04:00I've noticed that on the coverage of the Tour ...I've noticed that on the coverage of the Tour de France the peloton does seem to prefer to ride on the left, despite being composed almost entirely of righties. I wonder how Valeria was at driving on the left, did it seem easy or hard? For myself despite much time overseas driving on the right just never seems natural, I still have to consciously consider what I'm doing.<br /><br />I remember seeing a documentary once about aircraft carriers. The original US carriers had the conning tower on the left as per the car steering wheel, and landing planes kept either crashing into the sea or (much worse!) the tower. This problem was fixed by moving the tower to the right-hand side, where it has been ever since. Odd.Steve UKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-24733957272328789462013-10-18T21:49:36.013-04:002013-10-18T21:49:36.013-04:00I was definitely preferred one side back in my tel...I was definitely preferred one side back in my telemark skiing days but I can't remember which side ... <br />New England Bicyclisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16609454624593868118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-33456439834182932572013-10-16T00:38:12.845-04:002013-10-16T00:38:12.845-04:00Just to add to the discussion: Being throughly amb...Just to add to the discussion: Being throughly ambidextrous - one parent of each hand, I can see the cultural imperative of attempting to have a right handed world. I can write with either hand. I things that have no cultural clue I'm 50% - 50%. In things like opening doors, tools, writing in school I'm right handed. Bikes, either way works - it's the same.<br /><br />If it helps anyones theory - Yoga has show me that much as I thought I was symmetrical, there are many, many place of difference. Ms. V. - measure the exact length of your legs - I bet one in longer by a couple millimeters.<br />EricWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07289502761949060827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-6581295919563399142013-10-16T00:22:40.461-04:002013-10-16T00:22:40.461-04:00Plus 1!Plus 1!EricWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07289502761949060827noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-82215133748332083642013-10-13T09:38:35.541-04:002013-10-13T09:38:35.541-04:00I believe this is the reason the groom stands on t...I believe this is the reason the groom stands on the right at a wedding as well and also why spiral staircases in castles mostly all go the same way aroundNorthern Bikehttp://www.northernbike.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-86965967958939225682013-10-12T15:23:36.900-04:002013-10-12T15:23:36.900-04:00I'm not a horsey person but I assume one mount...I'm not a horsey person but I assume one mounts a horse from the horse's left side because if you're right handed, your sword will be hanging on your left side, and you don't want to have to swing that over the horse as well. <br />The first bicycle with one-sided chain drive was developed by Lawson in Britain in 1878/9, so either it's based on the military horse precedent, or it's just better to mount the bicycle from the curb/left side, away from traffic, if you drive on the left.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-62250667476394226002013-10-11T14:47:21.315-04:002013-10-11T14:47:21.315-04:00Most people have a slight twist in the pelvis whic...Most people have a slight twist in the pelvis which puts the right hip slightly forward. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with being right or left handed. The natural posture is in a state of constantly turning left. Running tracks are made to run anti-clockwise. Everything's set up that way. They're always trying to turn you off the straight and narrow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-8844936516675324972013-10-11T13:18:25.867-04:002013-10-11T13:18:25.867-04:00Recently returned from Ireland. A 2 week vacation ...Recently returned from Ireland. A 2 week vacation in the southern parts. Have you moved there permanently?<br />DummyDivaAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15873728708321423251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-47160981992621480242013-10-11T11:18:17.554-04:002013-10-11T11:18:17.554-04:00I have the same issue when playing ice hockey. Tig...I have the same issue when playing ice hockey. Tight left turns, wide right turns. I'm right handed and often use the stick to eanon when making a right turn just to increase my rate of turn. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to carry a hockey stick while riding in order to tighten up the turns.Bill Crowderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15435097514736631213noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-22137414679764329542013-10-11T10:54:32.335-04:002013-10-11T10:54:32.335-04:00I hope all is OK ! Missing the new prose!
Tried...I hope all is OK ! Missing the new prose! <br />Tried the MS bike ride on a fully loaded randonneur. Got a good lesson on lugging too much stuff up hills in a (loosely) timed event on wet roads. Losing a bunch of weight pre-ride would definitely have helped as well !<br /><br />I hope you're back on line here soon!<br /><br />Victor K. / Brooklyn Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-72469730482906004492013-10-10T17:49:01.263-04:002013-10-10T17:49:01.263-04:00My guess is you are right handed.My guess is you are right handed.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08067977926233342984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-46571257178472260602013-10-10T11:48:58.510-04:002013-10-10T11:48:58.510-04:00Reminds me of a Gary Larson cartoon from “The Far ...Reminds me of a Gary Larson cartoon from “The Far Side” where a bunch of native American Indians are circling a wagon train. They’re all circling it the same way except one, who’s circling it the other way, and the Chief’s shouting to him, “Counter-clockwise, White Eagle, always counter-clockwise!”<br /><br />Curiously, almost all auto road (as opposed to oval) racing circuits are run clockwise, with a predominance of right turns. That’s why the majority of two-seater racecars, such as those that race at Le Mans, are right-hand drive (Audi is one of the few exceptions), irrespective of their country of origin. It’s partly for weight distribution (the driver’s weight being on the inside of the majority of turns, the driver being the heaviest single component in the racecar; that’s also why they’re always positioned as low as possible in the chassis), but also for visibility.kylecyclernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-68853186355838451822013-10-08T12:37:02.567-04:002013-10-08T12:37:02.567-04:00I cycle and drive on both sides of the Atlantic an...I cycle and drive on both sides of the Atlantic and both sides of the English Channel, I have recently for the first time experienced driving a left hand drive camper van in Ireland and am surprised to find certain advantages, along with the obvious disadvantages, to driving on what amounts to the wrong side of the vehicle. there is I would agree something to being on the inside of a tight left turn.Don McMahanhttp://www.softirishrain.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-33754847142758285062013-10-08T07:14:26.089-04:002013-10-08T07:14:26.089-04:00Cycling Tips had a similar article a while ago. I...Cycling Tips had a similar article a while ago. It was interesting although not terribly scientific.<br /><br />http://cyclingtips.com.au/2012/08/the-dominant-left<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312344589433769197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-48517874698567633802013-10-07T04:37:15.280-04:002013-10-07T04:37:15.280-04:00I've never felt any preference for a particula...I've never felt any preference for a particular turn direction on a bike, or car, or motorcycle. Most sailplane pilots tend to favor one direction over the other when it comes to circling in thermals though. Now that so many of us carry flight recorders (and upload them to a site in Germany for the world wide Online Contest in cross country soaring) it's really easy to look at and see the percentage of left or right circling for thousands of pilots. Turns out that I'm in the minority by having my thermalling turns split almost exactly 50-50 right and left (on the occasions I fly in areas where there's a lot of thermal flying). I always thought this was because all my training and early flying and the vast majority of the rest of my airtime was on short ridges and turns on ridges are always made turning away from the mountain. Thus you fly along the ridge with the mountain on your right wing climbing in the lift, turn left at the end of the ridge fly along the ridge with the mountain on your left wing turn right etc.: repeat until you're at cloudbase or the altitude where the lift tapers off. You pretty much have to split left and right evenly. When I was thermal flying, which involves circling in the rising air, I figured that my previous experience just resulted in me continuing to not favor any one direction over the other. Reading your post I'm starting to wonder whether it might be some intrinsic lack of bias built in to my brain! I'm very right handed but I've still never found that I favor either direction over the other on a bike.nowherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12125582590094636085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-17372678076162535192013-10-06T20:38:05.430-04:002013-10-06T20:38:05.430-04:00I've been thinking about this since you put it...I've been thinking about this since you put it up the other day and wondering if I had anything worthwhile to add, I don't, but I wonder if this is another one of those things that either comes from our relationship with horses or can be understood a bit better by thinking horsey thoughts...<br /><br />I either read or was told that the chain is on the right side of bikes because people automatically mounted them from the left side because that's the side from which everyone agreed to climb up onto horses and who wants to soil they're tweeds with lube ya' know. I agree that if one wanted to standardize the operation of horses for military, transportation and recreation purposes than this is one of the areas you would want to get everyone to agree( for resale too, who wants to buy a horse you gotta back into a parking lot so as not to kick the next guy(who's liable to be carrying a pistol or mace or whatever) in the face when you alight) so maybe it's just arbitrary and we just trained all the horses to tolerate that way the best. <br /><br />OR, and this is where it might get interesting(or not)...<br />What if horses just naturally prefer being climbed up on that side and WE adapted and the driveside of a bike is where it is because the HORSES are calling that particular shot... I wonder if like 8% of horses get all cranky getting mounted from they're non-preferred side and thus never fully acclimate to slavery to humans and become BAD horses and suffer the consequences of that for their whole lives, becoming rodeo saddle-broncs, those tattooed ponies you see hanging out behind the trailers drinking beer at carnivals or just going feral and becoming all carnivorous or whatever like so many left-handed people. See where I'm going with this? <br /><br />So, I'm like pretty left-handed,(in SPITE of Mrs. Mendietta tying my left hand to the desk(with a SHOELACE!) to force me to write right(it might not be a right/left thing in that case, she might have just been trying to see if there was a way to get me to do any writing at all since I was also pretty bone-idle even then, truth be told, but still, pretty un-PC in an unfortunately difficult to litigate for money sort of way)), I also survived just about as many horse crashes as a kid as I did bike wrecks and can definitely say that I have no clear recollection of whether I fell off more turning one way or the other on 2 wheels or 4 legs, so, there you have it, hope that helps clear all this up...<br /><br />SpindizzyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-62420325821386749792013-10-06T16:14:52.774-04:002013-10-06T16:14:52.774-04:00I always corner better on left handed turns even o...I always corner better on left handed turns even on the mountain bike in tight turns in the woods going at very slow speeds. I think most of us are just predisposed to preferences. This is the same in the car. I almost always choose a parking space on my left than on my right. Mostly because in the US, we sit on the left-hand side of the car. Maybe this is where we get most of our practice? I dunno. Just writing to say that I'm one of several who have experienced this phenomenon. Interestingly, my tandem captain prefers right turns, so we like to think we compensate for each other..... Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01568326254406363966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-66572436625959307662013-10-06T12:32:57.719-04:002013-10-06T12:32:57.719-04:00Great topic. In my little neighborhood cul de sac ...Great topic. In my little neighborhood cul de sac route that I use for my regular workout rides, there's a dead end where I have do a U-turn. This is where I eventually realized I strongly strongly *strongly* prefer turning left. Kind of a relief to learn preferences in this department aren't unusual. FWIW I'm right-handed. I also do a little ice-skating and there, too, I feel much more in control going left. Christopher Fotosnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-91486316814670647502013-10-06T10:35:20.796-04:002013-10-06T10:35:20.796-04:00Well bicycles are all designed for travelling on t...Well bicycles are all designed for travelling on the left. It's why the chain is on the right. so it doesn't become damaged on the kerb and is away from you when mounting dismounting the bike. - Though i doubt that's actually the reason!<br />It may be something to do with the road camber, roads are generally built with the outside higher than the inside on bends (like a velodrome). I expect most places in the world do this, but it may be the specifications for cambers is different in different countries. The type of tarmac can also vary, different mixes are used depending on climate, if the level of grip is different then clearly it will allow you to corner more sharply.Dennis - UKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-47306487872663992482013-10-05T20:07:16.053-04:002013-10-05T20:07:16.053-04:00It Seems that all closed circuit racing events are...It Seems that all closed circuit racing events are left turning. Auto and motorcycle track racing, running, bicycle track racing,horse racing, speed skating, and probably many more that I've forgotten, all seem to turn or go in a left handed direction. Is it because the majority of us are right handed? Has there ever been a study of this? We must know now!<br />EmileAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-79751360809521375762013-10-05T13:58:07.979-04:002013-10-05T13:58:07.979-04:00Perhaps it is because when you turn left your righ...Perhaps it is because when you turn left your right (dominant?) leg is pushing down on the outside pedal? As a kettlebell sport lifter, I am well aware that my gluteal muscles are not equally strong on each leg - though I seem to train them equally and can do single leg standing activities equally well. (I too was a left-handed child trained to be right handed. As a result I am fairly ambidextrous.)<br />JanetAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-90408623900243251542013-10-05T07:36:09.367-04:002013-10-05T07:36:09.367-04:00Another vote for eye dominance.Another vote for eye dominance.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18127635083892565152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-60740834281466797722013-10-05T01:00:11.277-04:002013-10-05T01:00:11.277-04:00I share the understanding of the commenter about t...I share the understanding of the commenter about the history of left side-Roman, right side-Napoleonic road usage. During the early days of the motorcar even in the USA they had the steering wheel on the right side. Look at first decade of the 20th century photos.<br />In Canada many provinces did not switch to driving on the right side of the road until the 1930s. And Newfoundland did not switch until it join confederation after WWII.<br />Road safety conscious Sweden did not make the switch from left to right until 1967. To their chagrin, they have not been able to match their previous safety standards since. Maybe the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, etc. have it correct after all.Vancouver Island cyclisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15150635169233877051noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6467858377106451384.post-55174468196872292672013-10-04T16:13:28.959-04:002013-10-04T16:13:28.959-04:00How about stopping on skis and skates? I turn bet...How about stopping on skis and skates? I turn better left at low speed but when I hockey stop I much prefer to twist to the right (my feet rotate clockwise). mattrnoreply@blogger.com