If I take my helmet off and hang it by the straps from the right grip on my bike and then ride with no hands the bike wants to turn to the left. Why?

I would have thought that the extra weight/minimal difference in air resistance on the bar would act down/back to the right hand side of the bar, thus turning the bike to the right, but it doesn’t.

I’ve tried this on both mountain bikes and the road bike with the same result, so it’s not dodgy headset bearings etc. and they all go in a straight line with no hands and nothing on the bars. I’m struggling to understand why.

Sir is quite clearly dressing to the left today…

You’re leaning the bike a little to the left to balance the weight of the helmet?

Look up counter steering for your answer.

It is sentient…it knows you have taken your helmet off ergo it is trying to throw you in a ditch…

Counter steering FTW – with even minimal weight on the right hand handlebar, there is a slight downward pressure. This pressure will, through the intracacies of rake and trail, turn your bars gently to the right – if you turn your bars to the right whilst riding in a straight line, the bike will lean over to the left.

I’m a motor racing fan and think I have a reasonable layman’s grasp of the physics of a racing car – bikes have interlinked layers of complexity that are more or less witchcraft IMHO. 🙂

Thanks for the explanation Pondo! I’m going to read up on counter steering and ultimately put it down to sorcery.

7 posts in and nobody has pointed out the folly of riding without a helmet!

What is this place coming too?

Of course if you were carrying out your experiment properly, you would try hanging the helmet on the left bar too, before posting your results.

Errrr conveyor belt

This needs a proper double blind trial, starting with the rider wearing a blindfold…

Road camber sending you towards a non helmeted ditch based interface experience?