How does shifting weight left or right cause turning?
So say you were on a skateboard and you leaned left - why does shifting your weight like that cause you to turn in that particular direction?
This question has been bothering me, can anyone enlighten me?
Posted Jan 28, 2010, 5:45 AM UTC
04
When you lean on a skateboard it causes the trucks to rotate so that the two wheels on the side you lean on become closer together and the wheels on the opposite side become farther apart. If you draw a line through the center of the front and back trucks so that it pass each one at a 90 degree angle, you will see that the line makes an arc towards the side that you lean.
Yeah, this is specific to skateboard trucks. If you just nailed some casters to a board and tried this, you'd fall off. The earliest skateboards were roller skate trucks nailed to a plank, and one of the biggest problems was that you couldn't change direction without picking up the board.