This silly thing happened while I was replacing a hydraulic cylinder on my tractor. It reminded me of some fun concepts things and made me want to revisit the backwards bike. I filmed this on my phone and was a bit worried about it not being "good enough" for a video.... but I ultimately decided that you might like to think about this as well. Thank you to everyone who supports on Patreon! You make me feel ok about uploading little things like this that I fee are intellectually honest and less produced. I'm excited to send out this year's stickers! The Cicada sticker is more fun than it should be. Click here if you'd like some stickers! www.patreon.com/smartereveryday
I think the tractor was easier because you don't need to relearn balancing, put the bike on training wheels and let people try it that way ;) or make a tri wheeled bike.
I have no way of testing this, but I THINK this is rather different. The bicycle is more reliant on balance. I do not BELIEVE this would be all that difficult to get used to.
@@smartereveryday Destin, what would happen in an emergency on the backwards bike? Would your brain pick the correct neural pathway? I think learning to drive a zero turn mower is related to this. Great video as always, you make us think. God bless!
@@ArmsForThought been there, done that, crushed a barrel. Was at a "tractor fun day" and the organizers had reprogrammed the steer by wire system to Destinize it. Fun times! 🚜➡️⬅️
I think it's easier to ride the tractor not only because you have experience with the bike, but also when you ride a bike you use steering to keep balance and you do counter-steering when making a turn, all of those things do not apply to a tractor where you only use steering to make a turn, no balance or couter-steering required.
Not to mention the fact that anyone who has been backing up a vehicle, also has to think opposite on the steering, and when adding a trailer, wagon or wagon train, you have to steer in even more unusual ways
@@maciej5825 nope. There's more room for error on the tractor. You aren't trying to turn and balance at the same time. One move doesn't take you to the concrete like the bike. The tractor is basically like driving in reverse. That's it. Has nothing to do with the bike or that principle.
I am a retired pediatric dentist. One of the more challenging skills dentists master is using indirect vision to operate in the maxillary arch. It becomes second nature to use a mirror to direct the instrument. It would be interesting to know how that skill would translate into riding your backwards bicycle.
@RexMuffin You turn the wheel in the direction you want to go regardless of direction with normal steering. Think of it like 2 parabolic curves on either side of the vehicle, if you turn the wheel left you are traveling along the left curve forward or back, if you turn right than you travel along the right curve. The tractor in this video flips that, which is how a trailer works in reverse because of the pivot point. (Edit) To clarify, "reversing" is going backwards, if you turn around to face the direction of motion it's no longer really reversing but going forward. This would be more like turning in your seat but not putting it in reverse.
I've spent my entire life with people saying adults cant learn as fast as children. Now that I'm a teacher I don't believe this to be true at all. I was never able to learn as fast as I can now until I knew how people learned. To prove this point I learned german to A2 in 6 months. I think its a fascinating area to show how if you "lock in" and know how to learn you can achieve amazing results. Young children "lock in" because they are sponges absorbing the world around them. Adults have distractions, they get bored and will stop if they arent seeing results. Knowing about this and pushing through leads to learning.
- many adults don't "want" to learn new things... They often put roadblocks in their own way - when I have a need to learn something I can learn it really quickly.. -I work in teaching adult professionals some very technical skills in medical imaging - as it is not their primary "job" many will only learn as much as they need to know (practically) in order to be mediocre at the job... - (German - and other languages I get only so far - and sort of go "that's good enough for now" (Laziness kicks in - ) - Next time i go to Germany I will pick it up again....)
I agree with you. Adults can definitely learn a lot faster than children. My ideas of why are: they have a lot more concepts already in their head that can back up what they are learning so they dont have to learn a completely new concept from scratch whereas children dont have any experience so they need to learn much more. On the other hand we are more sympathetic to children not knowing ideas so we are willing to help them more and the child is willing to learn. But I recently observed a child from a foreign country over the course of a year learn english and he has done quite well. My reasoning for it is that he is forced to learn it and would go around saying the word constantly (for example "be careful") and ask people what the word was because he is curious. His mother who doesnt speak english has a different experience where not many people are willing to do the basic things with her such as small sentences saying where the toilet is or can you help me pick this up. Etc. So we think children learn faster but we just put them in the right environment to learn and they will learn. Adults don't go to school anymore so they dont learn in the best environment. They arent forced by the teacher to learn so they have to be self driven. This is a lot more difficult when you are older and have more responsibilities
Many adults are terrified of making mistakes, and that makes learning almost impossible. When I was a flight instructor, I would tell my students that they have to be willing to try new things even though they are going to make mistakes.
@@bbgun061 One of my hobbies is RC fpv quadcopter flying. Standard advice to new people joining the hobby is to start out learning on a simulator. It removes the fear of failure. In real flying, a crash has some risk of loss of time, damage to drone or property, or injury. Simulator creates low risk learning opportunities. The next part is normalizing courageous but realistic limit pushing in real flights, with phrases such as “fly, crash, build, repeat.” In full scale aviation, crash is not an option, so risks must be further reduced, but can’t be fully eliminated. Courage is a necessary component to learning.
I had an engineer colleague in the RAF who built a backwards bike, but had to peddle backwards as well. He rode it to work from the accommodation every day for years. He went on to be an engineering instructor. Clever guy.
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned forklifts yet! It differs by brand but the standup forklifts that I instruct on have the steering “backwards” while you are traveling. It usually takes trainees coming from sit down forklifts about 1-2 days to have it fully click and be 100% intuitive to them.
Backing up a trailer is backwards steering. Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go.
As a teacher, I am stealing your quote and sticking it on my wall next to Adam Savage. "The quality of the dedication you have to the learning of THE THING that affects your ability to do it"
This is also why backing up a trailer has a learning curve, you turn the wheel right for the trailer to go left and vice versa, I still struggle with that.
@@antagonizerrthat’s definitely a game changer. Also when aiming for a tight spot, a smart coworker of mine gave me the cue “follow the trailer”. It’s helped me so much.
I drove a semi-truck for 37 years. I laughed at myself quite often when I was trying to back the truck without a trailer and kept steering the wrong direction. 😂
@@bryanteaston7264thats too real, i recently took my trailer driving licince and i got quite a bit of training beforehand. When i drove home with my car and i tried backing up into my spot and i turned the wheel the wrong way i felt so stupid haha
The rc plane and drone pilot brain wiring is absolutely a way to train the brain to be more adaptable to things like the reverse bike. When you fly an rc plane away from you, right stick movement makes right turning action and vice versa for left stick but, she the plane is flying at you, everything is reversed and it takes some getting used to. Eventually, with repetition, you don’t even think about it and it becomes second nature.
I think most people would pick that up pretty quickly, its the same as backing a car so most would have the knack, the backwards bike works against your balance.
already hung up on the "you learn faster when you're dedicated thing" because i always felt that was an universal truth that everyone perceived but nobody spoke it out. if you really want it from your own heart you're gonna be 20 times as good at something.
I feel like this idea is related to the concept of "deliberate practice" that Malcolm Gladwell (? and others) talk about. Doing something specifically with the intention of developing your skills and getting better at it.
You got me wondering. I learned to ride a unicycle about 55 years ago and haven’t been on one in just over 50 years. Can I still ride one? First thing I discovered was that spokes apparently rot in some way over the decades. Yeah, the one that popped and jabbed me in the leg hurt lol. After fixing a few spokes and tubing the dry rotted tire, the answer is “yes”! I could ride it forwards and backwards. Yeah me lol.
That laugh at the beginning was so wholesome, just a guy realising he’d made a mistake and finding joy in it. We actually intentionally did this to a forklift for a gal who was really good at turning left in tight aisles, but terrible at turning right in the same environment. Surprisingly worked on getting her better, even though we’d assumed it initially was a spatial thing-she was left handed so our assumption was that her left hand side perception was better than her right.
I would think that dentists could do the backwards bike thing well. When they stick that little mirror in your mouth they have to work backwards. I wonder if that would translate to the bike?
Probably not, but you could probably sit them on a normal bike facing backwars with a mirror and they could do it. Balancing is quite a different skill
Heavy equipment operators all across the world have been working like this. The major manufacturers all have different controls for similar equipment. Case, John Deere, JB, Cat, etc. When you operate these things for a living you get incredibly proficient and precise with it, but when you use one from a different manufacturer, it forces you to focus and relearn in a matter of days. What’s fascinating is when you go back to the original equipment, it’s not recalling how you did it before, it’s unlearning and trying to forget what you just learned.
@@Knifesake Wait, what if instead of inverting each axis, you swap the axes? as in, the motion that normally controls the pitch actually controls the roll, the motion that normally controls the roll actually controls the yaw, and the motion that normally controls the yaw actually controls the pitch? Additionally, I think this would be safer (and much cheaper and easier) to try using a HOTOS in MSFS or xplane instead of an actual aircraft
Your giggle made my Sunday morning. This is definitely the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! My thoughts went immediately to forklifts, backing up with 1 and 2 axle trailers, and drones (thanks for adding that reference). My wife thinks it's some sort of dark magic when I back up with a boat trailer and put it exactly where I want it to go.
Not to discount the difficulty of the tractor, but I would find this way easier than doing it with a bicycle. Not only do you not need to worry about your balance, but your brain likely already has pathways accounting for turning the opposite direction; think reversing or, even better, reversing with a trailer. I would think the tractor would be a good starting point before upgrading to the bike.
Hand placement has a lot to do with this. If you have your hand on the bottom at 6 oclock ,youre turning in the direction you want to go. Same applies when backing up a trailer. it would def be a lot easier to adapt to this than the bicycle.
The tractor is easier. Using the lower portion of the steering wheel allows you to steer in the direction you want to go. I was taught this when towing a boat. When backing up a two wheel trailer, use the bottom of the steering wheel which will cause the trailer to go in the direction you want
I’ve snowmobiled my entire life and anyone who has ever sledded in the mountains will understand this concept. When you’re in deep snow you actually turn the opposite direction you want to go. If you want to go right you turn left and it’s actually a really hard concept to wrap your head around
My first thought was about his neighbors. Them not knowing it was special bike. "He really is having trouble learning how to ride a bike as a grown man, poor Destin...."
Speaking of instant learning, i once pranked a friend with my electronic keyboard/piano. It had a mode that switched the notes played so that the lowest sounding note was on the right and the highest on the left, the opposite of a normal piano. I told him it was discounted due to a defect. Well he started playing, stopped, thought for a moment, turned to smile at me and then proceeded to play the piano as if it was normal. This is a huge feat as the intervals produced by the black and white keys are not symmetrical.
This unlocks so many things to test. 1st is to make a manifold that can switch the lines on demand. 2nd is to try (with multiple people) not think about turning the wheel, but thinking about where you want the tractor to go, and see how long it takes for it to become natural. 3. The big test, backing a trailer with the steering reversed, both by turning around and looking across the deck, and by using tow mirrors, concentrating on placing the trailer tires where you want them to go. I bet this method would be the fastest to adapt to reversed steering.
Just did this exact repair on my John Deere, and when putting the steering cylinder back in, I told my wife I could reverse the hoses and have a smarter every day tractor.
I think one way to learn faster on the tractor is to "steer from the bottom." Normally you turn the TOP of the wheel to the left and you go left, but when it's reversed, think about turning the BOTTOM of the wheel to the left. Anyway, love your videos. We can really tell you put love into something that was meant for people instead of pumping out content like a machine for a machine
How awesome, and funny video! I learned a lot. Thnak you Destin, you are an inspiration even to me, who is just an average guy that is not super "smart". It is so fun to learn the things you show, and get an understanding of how stuff works. It is a skill that is very nice to have in life. To be curious and ask questions like how and why stuff works 🙂
Have someone, who hasn’t learned the backwards bicycle, drive the tractor and see how much the balance affects it. After they learn the tractor, put them on the bicycle. Really put the scientific method to work!
LMAO that howl of pure joy he let out when he turned the wheel at the beginning is one of the purest and best things ive seen on here, you can really hear his enthusiasm, i love it
I am sure some one has pointed this out before. The reverse bicycle is just counter steering. This is a basic skill for motorcycle riders. Over 10 or 15 miles per hour you do not turn the handle bars in the direction you want to go, you push the handle bars in the opposite direction. If you want to go left you push the left bar forward the bike leans and you go left. Same with right turns. Just got home from a long ride on my Goldwing. The same holds true for bicycles when you are riding at speed.
Destin, I can’t explain how much we appreciate you in this house. Making videos for educational purposes and about subjects you are passionate about (despite them not performing extremely well) is admirable. We love getting Smarter Every Day!
When I was a kid I came up with the idea of crossing my arms on the handlebars, as a trick to show off. I learned it quite quickly, but it was amazing to see how all my friends would say 'that's easy, I can do that' then instantly faceplant. By the way my solution is a much better engineered 'backwards brain bike' solution. The best part is no part, right? With my technique anyone can try it for free.
I drove semi's for 25 years before retiring, a decade later a friend needed a trailer backed up, and it took me about 5 seconds to flip on my reverse steering to back switch in my brain.
a few years ago i was camping and someone there had made one of those bikes, i caught a few glimpses of kids trying to ride the bike and i immeditly knew what it was, i searched for a couple hours for the man the built the bike, because i needed to talk to this man. i finally found him and talked to him about the bike and got to give it a try. i didnt have enough time to learn it. but it was great meeting the guy the made it and talk to him.
when backing up a trailer with a single pivot point, my brain uses the steering wheel, the bottom of it, you want the trailer to go rt, move the bottom of the steering wheel right. same could be easily applied to the bike, and was applied to your tractor, even though you may not have realized it. great vid!
Hello from a Moody person(friends of MAF). Pilots work with trim wheels a lot, which tend to base relative movement on the near side of the wheel(or lower side). This might make it easier for them to handle this tractor more readily.
So to me the bike seems like it's a lot harder because it's more complex. There's a failure mode where you fall off the bike and you lose feedback once you're there. The tractor is a lot easier because there's no failure mode where you lose feedback, you can easily just instantly correct your mistake and use it to instantly learn. I think it's funny that you mention the part where your brain needs to figure out which mode you're in, because there are some video games where I have the same reaction when it's in third person. Some explanation on the scenario: In about all first person games, you move the stick right the camera turns right. But in a lot of older third person games, the camera stick is movement based while still pointing at the character, so this means when you move the stick right, the camera _moves_ right and _turns_ left to continue facing the character. So you have these two different modes where you either move the camera or turn the camera based on its position relative to the player. Some shooters have both of these modes in specific contexts, but for the purposes of aiming, it's always turn based, so there have been many times where I've gone to control the camera to face something and go the completely wrong direction at first while I figure out what the correct mode is.
Destin, I would be surprised if you didn’t watch Andrew Camarata here on UA-cam. He does equipment maintenance and has built his own castle and stuff. Real brilliant guy. If you haven’t watched him maybe you will add it to your watchlist.
Got home from church and found a new video - great day for many reasons. Just a thought, maybe find a dentist and see how quickly they can ride the backward bicycle. We are accustomed to working in a mirror all day. I’ll never forget the frustration in learning how to work “backwards” nor the satisfaction on the day it clicked and became second nature. Keep up the good work.
I always found it curious that video games give an option to change your controls; up on the controller moves vision down and vice versa. “Invert Y axis” I think it’s called. Why is this a thing?
@@bovinejonie3745, I'm playing Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (a Playstation 2 game from the 90s) on my Playstation 5. It doesn't have the option to change the X axis, and it's incredibly confusing at first since it's backwards from most games nowadays. While I wish I could change it, I know it's probably good for my brain at least... 😅
I think it's because there's two ways of thinking about the camera movement in the game. You can either think of where you want the camera to move, or you can think of where you want the "view" to go. These two ways of thinking result in two different results for what should happen when you push the stick on the controller. There's also the fact that flying games often have inverted inputs that I believe come from old joystick controls that are based on the real flight stick of aircrafts.
When I was a young teen, we boys at church made a backward steering bike in the repair shop. None of us could ride it except for one ex-amish teen who had never ridden a bike. He picked up on it in an hour or so and was the only one to successfully ride our creation.
My middle school science teacher showed us your videos as a reward for being good students. Im now 21, in college, and have been watching your videos ever since. Love your stuff man, thanks for all the years of awesome videos
We need part 2 where you sit backwards on the tractor and drive through the field in reverse with your hands behind you. There are certain material handling forklifts that reverse the steering purposely as the drive direction is swapped, yet somehow it's intuitive as easy.
Sailors are used to this "backward" idea. When you sail a small-ish boat with a tiller, the boat turns in the opposite direction that you push the tiller. Our Dad taught us how to sail when we were fairly young and it was pretty easy to pick this up. The tractor reminds me a bit of this. It just seems different and significantly easier than the backward bike. Regardless, it's very cool and looks strange to see a tractor turn the "wrong way".
Learning to drive a backwards tractor should be much easier than learning to ride a backwards bike - you don't worry about falling over on a backwards tractor.
I call this the “how much do you want it” factor. I think anybody is capable of anything, it’s just a matter of how much you really want it. And you can learn some pretty profound things about what you really want and what you really don’t want.
There is a big difference between the tractor and the bike. Since the tractor has a wheel instead of handle bars, you can actually adapt quicker by simply putting your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel. Move your hand in the direction you want to go and it works! This is also the trick to use when backing a trailer. Cool video too. I spent many hours on a Ford 3000 back in the 70's and early 80's on our farm. Great tractors!
I think you’re correct on the drone pilots’ advantage … EXCEPT “inverted” for most UAS pilots simply means being able to reverse the use of control inputs to steer the drone when it is inbound (vs. outbound).
I had this with an overhead projector at church back in the day. Moving the transparency sheet up and to the left moves the projected image down and to the right. My brain adjusted to learn it.
I used to drive a truck that was modified to carry aircraft with floats equipped, and it had reverse (and rear) steering. It was the cab, engine, and front axle of an old ford pickup, with frame rails that extended about 12 feet out in front of the cab with small nonsteering wheels at the front. It had custom hydraulics to pick up floats by the crossbeam, and you hung out over the rear wheels as you drove. We used it to put floatplanes in the lake and move them around on land. There are several of these at Lake Hood in Alaska, and all of them are homebuilt and different.
This is a cool throwback. The reverse bicycle was the first video that got me into your whole channel and I had always wanted to support you more because your videos has helped me discover the world in the way I understand things best! Always look forward to all your new finds!
Did you know the backwards bicycle concept is used in addiction recovery groups as a metaphor for the recovery journey? It’s more than just a UA-cam video. It also illustrates the neurology behind overcoming addiction.
This silly thing happened while I was replacing a hydraulic cylinder on my tractor. It reminded me of some fun concepts things and made me want to revisit the backwards bike. I filmed this on my phone and was a bit worried about it not being "good enough" for a video.... but I ultimately decided that you might like to think about this as well. Thank you to everyone who supports on Patreon! You make me feel ok about uploading little things like this that I fee are intellectually honest and less produced. I'm excited to send out this year's stickers! The Cicada sticker is more fun than it should be. Click here if you'd like some stickers! www.patreon.com/smartereveryday
I think the tractor was easier because you don't need to relearn balancing, put the bike on training wheels and let people try it that way ;) or make a tri wheeled bike.
I have no way of testing this, but I THINK this is rather different. The bicycle is more reliant on balance. I do not BELIEVE this would be all that difficult to get used to.
you broke your brain lol
Not enough money from views?? Greed
@@smartereveryday Destin, what would happen in an emergency on the backwards bike? Would your brain pick the correct neural pathway? I think learning to drive a zero turn mower is related to this. Great video as always, you make us think. God bless!
that's great. You should try backing up a trailer with the backwards tractor
@@ArmsForThought been there, done that, crushed a barrel. Was at a "tractor fun day" and the organizers had reprogrammed the steer by wire system to Destinize it. Fun times! 🚜➡️⬅️
Love your short content.
@@JeffRAllenCH "to destinize it" love it lol
That was also my first thought. I think it would be realy interesting to have a person test it, who has never backed up a trailer in there life.
"backing up tractor/doubles/triples enters the CHAT..."
I think it's easier to ride the tractor not only because you have experience with the bike, but also when you ride a bike you use steering to keep balance and you do counter-steering when making a turn, all of those things do not apply to a tractor where you only use steering to make a turn, no balance or couter-steering required.
I agree, this is a huge point - I think most people would be able to pick this up fairly quickly!
Not to mention the fact that anyone who has been backing up a vehicle, also has to think opposite on the steering, and when adding a trailer, wagon or wagon train, you have to steer in even more unusual ways
@@ArcyTheFox exactly, we used to drive in reverse
@@maciej5825 nope. There's more room for error on the tractor. You aren't trying to turn and balance at the same time. One move doesn't take you to the concrete like the bike.
The tractor is basically like driving in reverse. That's it. Has nothing to do with the bike or that principle.
True. However, I wonder if he could "feel" the backward steering becoming easier based on his earlier experience with the bike.
I’m sure it was an intentional repair to prevent theft.
What a great idea... I just just put a little valve block there and flip a lever every time I park it to reverse the steering!
It’s way easier to ride this than the bike. I could easily do it.
Until it's parked in your barn wall, or worse in the pool pit
Well except the video itself perhaps given Destin's experience with the bike one
@@bigjay875
or maybe over a cow
I am a retired pediatric dentist. One of the more challenging skills dentists master is using indirect vision to operate in the maxillary arch. It becomes second nature to use a mirror to direct the instrument. It would be interesting to know how that skill would translate into riding your backwards bicycle.
Welders do that in very tight spots and a lot of the welds are X-ray 100 percent
“Dustin laughing hysterically”. The captions are golden
*Destin 🙂
Looks like a fun way to find the bottom of a ditch.
There's a reason I was in a relatively open field!
@ just joshing you. I cut ditches for a living, and thumbnail made me instantly pucker. Merry Christmas!
Without the balance component of the bicycle it's the same as driving in reverse (i.e. backing up).
Exactly.
In my opinion its not, a car in forwards or reverse operates the same, I'd say its like reversing a trailer.
How does it operate in the same way? When you look behind when reversing, you have to turn right to go left.
It's like reversing something with a rear steering axle? I don't get the comparison.
@RexMuffin You turn the wheel in the direction you want to go regardless of direction with normal steering. Think of it like 2 parabolic curves on either side of the vehicle, if you turn the wheel left you are traveling along the left curve forward or back, if you turn right than you travel along the right curve. The tractor in this video flips that, which is how a trailer works in reverse because of the pivot point.
(Edit) To clarify, "reversing" is going backwards, if you turn around to face the direction of motion it's no longer really reversing but going forward. This would be more like turning in your seat but not putting it in reverse.
I've spent my entire life with people saying adults cant learn as fast as children. Now that I'm a teacher I don't believe this to be true at all. I was never able to learn as fast as I can now until I knew how people learned. To prove this point I learned german to A2 in 6 months. I think its a fascinating area to show how if you "lock in" and know how to learn you can achieve amazing results. Young children "lock in" because they are sponges absorbing the world around them. Adults have distractions, they get bored and will stop if they arent seeing results. Knowing about this and pushing through leads to learning.
- many adults don't "want" to learn new things...
They often put roadblocks in their own way - when I have a need to learn something I can learn it really quickly..
-I work in teaching adult professionals some very technical skills in medical imaging - as it is not their primary "job" many will only learn as much as they need to know (practically) in order to be mediocre at the job... -
(German - and other languages I get only so far - and sort of go "that's good enough for now" (Laziness kicks in - ) - Next time i go to Germany I will pick it up again....)
I agree with you. Adults can definitely learn a lot faster than children. My ideas of why are: they have a lot more concepts already in their head that can back up what they are learning so they dont have to learn a completely new concept from scratch whereas children dont have any experience so they need to learn much more.
On the other hand we are more sympathetic to children not knowing ideas so we are willing to help them more and the child is willing to learn.
But I recently observed a child from a foreign country over the course of a year learn english and he has done quite well. My reasoning for it is that he is forced to learn it and would go around saying the word constantly (for example "be careful") and ask people what the word was because he is curious. His mother who doesnt speak english has a different experience where not many people are willing to do the basic things with her such as small sentences saying where the toilet is or can you help me pick this up. Etc. So we think children learn faster but we just put them in the right environment to learn and they will learn. Adults don't go to school anymore so they dont learn in the best environment. They arent forced by the teacher to learn so they have to be self driven. This is a lot more difficult when you are older and have more responsibilities
Many adults are terrified of making mistakes, and that makes learning almost impossible. When I was a flight instructor, I would tell my students that they have to be willing to try new things even though they are going to make mistakes.
@@bbgun061 One of my hobbies is RC fpv quadcopter flying. Standard advice to new people joining the hobby is to start out learning on a simulator. It removes the fear of failure. In real flying, a crash has some risk of loss of time, damage to drone or property, or injury. Simulator creates low risk learning opportunities. The next part is normalizing courageous but realistic limit pushing in real flights, with phrases such as “fly, crash, build, repeat.” In full scale aviation, crash is not an option, so risks must be further reduced, but can’t be fully eliminated. Courage is a necessary component to learning.
I had an engineer colleague in the RAF who built a backwards bike, but had to peddle backwards as well. He rode it to work from the accommodation every day for years. He went on to be an engineering instructor. Clever guy.
I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned forklifts yet!
It differs by brand but the standup forklifts that I instruct on have the steering “backwards” while you are traveling. It usually takes trainees coming from sit down forklifts about 1-2 days to have it fully click and be 100% intuitive to them.
I want to see backing up a trailer with the reverse tractor.
it be like driving forward, I think
Backing up a trailer is backwards steering. Put your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go.
@@FuzzyWCTX Was going to suggest the same thing. I put my hand on the bottom of the wheel anytime I'm backing up
@@JackWeems never had much of a problem backing up trailers, but i ought to give that a shot
As a teacher, I am stealing your quote and sticking it on my wall next to Adam Savage. "The quality of the dedication you have to the learning of THE THING that affects your ability to do it"
That is horrible quote, there are ways to say it more succinctly and in a much less confusing manner. The message is good, the package is bad.
please release Adam Savage from your wall, he is a treasure.
This is truly one of the best UA-cam channels of all time. Thanks so much for all the knowledge over the years. Really has had an impact on me.
This is also why backing up a trailer has a learning curve, you turn the wheel right for the trailer to go left and vice versa, I still struggle with that.
Steer from the bottom of the wheel.
@@antagonizerrthat’s definitely a game changer. Also when aiming for a tight spot, a smart coworker of mine gave me the cue “follow the trailer”. It’s helped me so much.
I drove a semi-truck for 37 years. I laughed at myself quite often when I was trying to back the truck without a trailer and kept steering the wrong direction. 😂
@@bryanteaston7264thats too real, i recently took my trailer driving licince and i got quite a bit of training beforehand. When i drove home with my car and i tried backing up into my spot and i turned the wheel the wrong way i felt so stupid haha
The rc plane and drone pilot brain wiring is absolutely a way to train the brain to be more adaptable to things like the reverse bike. When you fly an rc plane away from you, right stick movement makes right turning action and vice versa for left stick but, she the plane is flying at you, everything is reversed and it takes some getting used to. Eventually, with repetition, you don’t even think about it and it becomes second nature.
I think most people would pick that up pretty quickly, its the same as backing a car so most would have the knack, the backwards bike works against your balance.
You'd be surprised how bad many people are at backing up, especially backing up a trailer.
I think your point about balance is key. You can think about steering, but the balance has to be trained to become instinctive.
@@username34159265 I was going to mention a trailer. Also there is the challenge of an articulated tractor with implement.
already hung up on the "you learn faster when you're dedicated thing" because i always felt that was an universal truth that everyone perceived but nobody spoke it out. if you really want it from your own heart you're gonna be 20 times as good at something.
I feel like this idea is related to the concept of "deliberate practice" that Malcolm Gladwell (? and others) talk about. Doing something specifically with the intention of developing your skills and getting better at it.
1:16 having the same camera placement a decade later, diabolically brilliant!
You got me wondering. I learned to ride a unicycle about 55 years ago and haven’t been on one in just over 50 years. Can I still ride one? First thing I discovered was that spokes apparently rot in some way over the decades. Yeah, the one that popped and jabbed me in the leg hurt lol. After fixing a few spokes and tubing the dry rotted tire, the answer is “yes”! I could ride it forwards and backwards. Yeah me lol.
That laugh at the beginning was so wholesome, just a guy realising he’d made a mistake and finding joy in it.
We actually intentionally did this to a forklift for a gal who was really good at turning left in tight aisles, but terrible at turning right in the same environment. Surprisingly worked on getting her better, even though we’d assumed it initially was a spatial thing-she was left handed so our assumption was that her left hand side perception was better than her right.
Just a suggestion to try to learn to ride a bicycle that goes forward if we pedal backwards and with this opposite steering thing
I would think that dentists could do the backwards bike thing well. When they stick that little mirror in your mouth they have to work backwards. I wonder if that would translate to the bike?
Probably not, but you could probably sit them on a normal bike facing backwars with a mirror and they could do it. Balancing is quite a different skill
Thank you for showing us who didn't have good dads what we deserved to have. You are a blessing, Destin.
Your brain adapts faster because there's no balance involved to mess with it.
Right, bike requires milliseconds adjustments, tractor on a field it could take you 3sec to react without any conceqences
You can cross your arms on a normal bicycle to make riding it almost as hard as the backwards brain bicycle
Heavy equipment operators all across the world have been working like this. The major manufacturers all have different controls for similar equipment. Case, John Deere, JB, Cat, etc. When you operate these things for a living you get incredibly proficient and precise with it, but when you use one from a different manufacturer, it forces you to focus and relearn in a matter of days. What’s fascinating is when you go back to the original equipment, it’s not recalling how you did it before, it’s unlearning and trying to forget what you just learned.
Bicycle -> Tractor -> Bugatti Veyron. Backwards brain at 250Mph :D
@@ace2029 My concern is greater than my curiosity
@@ace2029 backwards brain plane or helicopter, inverted pitch, roll and yaw 😆
@@Knifesake Wait, what if instead of inverting each axis, you swap the axes? as in, the motion that normally controls the pitch actually controls the roll, the motion that normally controls the roll actually controls the yaw, and the motion that normally controls the yaw actually controls the pitch? Additionally, I think this would be safer (and much cheaper and easier) to try using a HOTOS in MSFS or xplane instead of an actual aircraft
These kinds of videos are my favourites of yours Destin - little moments of curiosity and levity. Exactly the same vibe as the magnetic worms.
Your giggle made my Sunday morning. This is definitely the day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!
My thoughts went immediately to forklifts, backing up with 1 and 2 axle trailers, and drones (thanks for adding that reference). My wife thinks it's some sort of dark magic when I back up with a boat trailer and put it exactly where I want it to go.
@@JWSteiner beware, that is the laugh of a madman!
Hilarious.
It is Gaudate Sunday after all.
Merry Christmas!
Not to discount the difficulty of the tractor, but I would find this way easier than doing it with a bicycle. Not only do you not need to worry about your balance, but your brain likely already has pathways accounting for turning the opposite direction; think reversing or, even better, reversing with a trailer. I would think the tractor would be a good starting point before upgrading to the bike.
Hand placement has a lot to do with this. If you have your hand on the bottom at 6 oclock ,youre turning in the direction you want to go. Same applies when backing up a trailer. it would def be a lot easier to adapt to this than the bicycle.
That laugh.... You are winning at life! Brings me joy seeing people get so excited about the "Simple" things in life, I love it!
The tractor is easier. Using the lower portion of the steering wheel allows you to steer in the direction you want to go. I was taught this when towing a boat. When backing up a two wheel trailer, use the bottom of the steering wheel which will cause the trailer to go in the direction you want
I’ve snowmobiled my entire life and anyone who has ever sledded in the mountains will understand this concept. When you’re in deep snow you actually turn the opposite direction you want to go. If you want to go right you turn left and it’s actually a really hard concept to wrap your head around
I love your passion explaining this things! 2:00
My first thought was about his neighbors. Them not knowing it was special bike. "He really is having trouble learning how to ride a bike as a grown man, poor Destin...."
"We have purposely trained him wrong, as a joke"
8:22 I wonder if people who play inverted y axis on video games or people who have operated a camera in a studio are better at this.
Speaking of instant learning, i once pranked a friend with my electronic keyboard/piano. It had a mode that switched the notes played so that the lowest sounding note was on the right and the highest on the left, the opposite of a normal piano.
I told him it was discounted due to a defect.
Well he started playing, stopped, thought for a moment, turned to smile at me and then proceeded to play the piano as if it was normal.
This is a huge feat as the intervals produced by the black and white keys are not symmetrical.
This unlocks so many things to test.
1st is to make a manifold that can switch the lines on demand.
2nd is to try (with multiple people) not think about turning the wheel, but thinking about where you want the tractor to go, and see how long it takes for it to become natural.
3. The big test, backing a trailer with the steering reversed, both by turning around and looking across the deck, and by using tow mirrors, concentrating on placing the trailer tires where you want them to go. I bet this method would be the fastest to adapt to reversed steering.
Just did this exact repair on my John Deere, and when putting the steering cylinder back in, I told my wife I could reverse the hoses and have a smarter every day tractor.
The laughing while riding absolutely made my day. I had to watch it several times just to get the giggles out myself. 😂🤣
I think one way to learn faster on the tractor is to "steer from the bottom." Normally you turn the TOP of the wheel to the left and you go left, but when it's reversed, think about turning the BOTTOM of the wheel to the left. Anyway, love your videos. We can really tell you put love into something that was meant for people instead of pumping out content like a machine for a machine
How awesome, and funny video! I learned a lot. Thnak you Destin, you are an inspiration even to me, who is just an average guy that is not super "smart". It is so fun to learn the things you show, and get an understanding of how stuff works. It is a skill that is very nice to have in life. To be curious and ask questions like how and why stuff works 🙂
Starts with Dustin driving a backwards tractor and a goatee lol this will be a good one!
*Destin
Best part of watching this channel is Dustin's energy. This video with him laughing makes us all laugh
Have someone, who hasn’t learned the backwards bicycle, drive the tractor and see how much the balance affects it. After they learn the tractor, put them on the bicycle. Really put the scientific method to work!
LMAO that howl of pure joy he let out when he turned the wheel at the beginning is one of the purest and best things ive seen on here, you can really hear his enthusiasm, i love it
Seems to me a bit like learning to steer a boat with a tiller.
@@undefined40 Pro tip: Do not learn how to do this in a narrow, man-made canal with masonry walls. Ask me how I know… 🤦♂️
That maniacal laugh when we first see the tractor steering backwards!
Driving the tractor just follows the same principles as driving in reverse. Fun surprise, and love your stuff.
I am sure some one has pointed this out before. The reverse bicycle is just counter steering. This is a basic skill for motorcycle riders. Over 10 or 15 miles per hour you do not turn the handle bars in the direction you want to go, you push the handle bars in the opposite direction. If you want to go left you push the left bar forward the bike leans and you go left. Same with right turns. Just got home from a long ride on my Goldwing. The same holds true for bicycles when you are riding at speed.
The backwards brain bicycle was the first SED video I watched!
Things like the tractor are much easier to initially learn because the relationship of the steering to the wheels is not synchronous.
Destin, I can’t explain how much we appreciate you in this house. Making videos for educational purposes and about subjects you are passionate about (despite them not performing extremely well) is admirable. We love getting Smarter Every Day!
When I was a kid I came up with the idea of crossing my arms on the handlebars, as a trick to show off. I learned it quite quickly, but it was amazing to see how all my friends would say 'that's easy, I can do that' then instantly faceplant. By the way my solution is a much better engineered 'backwards brain bike' solution. The best part is no part, right? With my technique anyone can try it for free.
I drove semi's for 25 years before retiring, a decade later a friend needed a trailer backed up, and it took me about 5 seconds to flip on my reverse steering to back switch in my brain.
a few years ago i was camping and someone there had made one of those bikes, i caught a few glimpses of kids trying to ride the bike and i immeditly knew what it was, i searched for a couple hours for the man the built the bike, because i needed to talk to this man. i finally found him and talked to him about the bike and got to give it a try. i didnt have enough time to learn it. but it was great meeting the guy the made it and talk to him.
The laught after Destin turns the wheel for the first time just lets you know he's officially gone mad
when backing up a trailer with a single pivot point, my brain uses the steering wheel, the bottom of it, you want the trailer to go rt, move the bottom of the steering wheel right. same could be easily applied to the bike, and was applied to your tractor, even though you may not have realized it. great vid!
Hello from a Moody person(friends of MAF). Pilots work with trim wheels a lot, which tend to base relative movement on the near side of the wheel(or lower side). This might make it easier for them to handle this tractor more readily.
So to me the bike seems like it's a lot harder because it's more complex. There's a failure mode where you fall off the bike and you lose feedback once you're there. The tractor is a lot easier because there's no failure mode where you lose feedback, you can easily just instantly correct your mistake and use it to instantly learn.
I think it's funny that you mention the part where your brain needs to figure out which mode you're in, because there are some video games where I have the same reaction when it's in third person.
Some explanation on the scenario: In about all first person games, you move the stick right the camera turns right. But in a lot of older third person games, the camera stick is movement based while still pointing at the character, so this means when you move the stick right, the camera _moves_ right and _turns_ left to continue facing the character. So you have these two different modes where you either move the camera or turn the camera based on its position relative to the player. Some shooters have both of these modes in specific contexts, but for the purposes of aiming, it's always turn based, so there have been many times where I've gone to control the camera to face something and go the completely wrong direction at first while I figure out what the correct mode is.
Destin is taking the concept of counter-steering in a whole new direction
Destin, I would be surprised if you didn’t watch Andrew Camarata here on UA-cam. He does equipment maintenance and has built his own castle and stuff. Real brilliant guy. If you haven’t watched him maybe you will add it to your watchlist.
Got home from church and found a new video - great day for many reasons. Just a thought, maybe find a dentist and see how quickly they can ride the backward bicycle. We are accustomed to working in a mirror all day. I’ll never forget the frustration in learning how to work “backwards” nor the satisfaction on the day it clicked and became second nature.
Keep up the good work.
What’s missing here is a drone shot of the crazy lines in the field while you trying to learn to drive it! 😂
3:48 This is really similar to learning a new language. The effort and dedication you put into it have a huge impact on the end result.
I always found it curious that video games give an option to change your controls; up on the controller moves vision down and vice versa. “Invert Y axis” I think it’s called. Why is this a thing?
@@bovinejonie3745, I'm playing Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (a Playstation 2 game from the 90s) on my Playstation 5. It doesn't have the option to change the X axis, and it's incredibly confusing at first since it's backwards from most games nowadays. While I wish I could change it, I know it's probably good for my brain at least... 😅
I think it's because there's two ways of thinking about the camera movement in the game. You can either think of where you want the camera to move, or you can think of where you want the "view" to go. These two ways of thinking result in two different results for what should happen when you push the stick on the controller. There's also the fact that flying games often have inverted inputs that I believe come from old joystick controls that are based on the real flight stick of aircrafts.
@@W1ndows Like doing a push up! You push down on the earth to lift your body up. Awesome answer. 😎
The nice thing about a steering wheel is the top can be the direction of turn, or the bottom. Makes backing a trailer easier when you switch, too.
what a reality check seeing that backwards bicycle all rusty, i remember when that video came out lmao, its been so long already
A tractor that thinks it's a tiller steered skiff! 😂👍
This is kinda how a forlkift do.
When I was a young teen, we boys at church made a backward steering bike in the repair shop. None of us could ride it except for one ex-amish teen who had never ridden a bike. He picked up on it in an hour or so and was the only one to successfully ride our creation.
I've been waiting for this since the backwards bicycle.
The aliens are gonna be quite confused when they see Destin driving a tractor in circles in an open field, cackling to himself like a madman
My middle school science teacher showed us your videos as a reward for being good students. Im now 21, in college, and have been watching your videos ever since. Love your stuff man, thanks for all the years of awesome videos
We need part 2 where you sit backwards on the tractor and drive through the field in reverse with your hands behind you. There are certain material handling forklifts that reverse the steering purposely as the drive direction is swapped, yet somehow it's intuitive as easy.
Sailors are used to this "backward" idea. When you sail a small-ish boat with a tiller, the boat turns in the opposite direction that you push the tiller. Our Dad taught us how to sail when we were fairly young and it was pretty easy to pick this up. The tractor reminds me a bit of this. It just seems different and significantly easier than the backward bike. Regardless, it's very cool and looks strange to see a tractor turn the "wrong way".
Learning to drive a backwards tractor should be much easier than learning to ride a backwards bike - you don't worry about falling over on a backwards tractor.
Did a bicycle not do the trick?
lmao, as a drone pilot I always thought that the backwards bike seemed like it wouldn't be too hard to pickup. The tractor would be instant though
He inverted the x axis!
Smarter Every Day - come for the Dad jokes, stay for the tractor maintenance. Oh, and some science too.
Don't lie to us Destin. It was intentional wasn't it?
Just steer from the bottom, not the top. It's how my brain adapts to backing up with a trailer.
I call this the “how much do you want it” factor. I think anybody is capable of anything, it’s just a matter of how much you really want it. And you can learn some pretty profound things about what you really want and what you really don’t want.
Suddenly Doc Hudson's advice made sense. "Turn right to go left". Also, this is kinda like the tiller truck of fire engines.
There is a big difference between the tractor and the bike. Since the tractor has a wheel instead of handle bars, you can actually adapt quicker by simply putting your hand at the bottom of the steering wheel. Move your hand in the direction you want to go and it works! This is also the trick to use when backing a trailer. Cool video too. I spent many hours on a Ford 3000 back in the 70's and early 80's on our farm. Great tractors!
I think you’re correct on the drone pilots’ advantage … EXCEPT “inverted” for most UAS pilots simply means being able to reverse the use of control inputs to steer the drone when it is inbound (vs. outbound).
I had this with an overhead projector at church back in the day. Moving the transparency sheet up and to the left moves the projected image down and to the right. My brain adjusted to learn it.
I've flown rotary-wing models for decades in every possible orientation and can confirm.
Being authentic is a sticker magnet 🧲
I used to drive a truck that was modified to carry aircraft with floats equipped, and it had reverse (and rear) steering. It was the cab, engine, and front axle of an old ford pickup, with frame rails that extended about 12 feet out in front of the cab with small nonsteering wheels at the front. It had custom hydraulics to pick up floats by the crossbeam, and you hung out over the rear wheels as you drove. We used it to put floatplanes in the lake and move them around on land. There are several of these at Lake Hood in Alaska, and all of them are homebuilt and different.
Industrial forklifts have the same effect
That is the laugh of a man who is *really* enjoying life!
This is a cool throwback. The reverse bicycle was the first video that got me into your whole channel and I had always wanted to support you more because your videos has helped me discover the world in the way I understand things best! Always look forward to all your new finds!
Did you know the backwards bicycle concept is used in addiction recovery groups as a metaphor for the recovery journey? It’s more than just a UA-cam video. It also illustrates the neurology behind overcoming addiction.
Yes, many people contact me about this. I hope the metaphor helps aid recovery.
@ Yes, it is.
Destin already beat the life challenges, now he's just playing on inverted for fun.