WOLFRAM|DEMONSTRATIONS PROJECT

Roulette: A Comfortable Ride on an n-gon Bicycle

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A special case of a roulette curve involves an improvised bicycle with two
n
-gonal wheels rolling on a catenary-stitched ground. The wheels' centroids follow a straight line to ensure smooth cycling. However, rolling on triangular wheels is physically impossible. To see why, zoom in and move the time slider, possibly holding down the Alt key for fine adjustments.