Question

There are many posts/questions discussing the physics of a bicycle front wheel. The ones trying to understand the self-turning motion all try to find where the torque comes from that turns the wheel. What if we are looking for the wrong thing and a torque isn't needed?

Answer 1

Torque is needed for the self-turning motion of a bicycle front wheel.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is discussing the physics of a bicycle front wheel and whether a torque is needed for self-turning motion. In order to change the angular velocity of a wheel, force is needed to be applied, with the distance from the pivot point determining the angular acceleration. When attempting to rotate a spinning bicycle wheel about an axis perpendicular to the spin axis, the wheel axis starts to change direction due to the applied torque. Therefore, torque is indeed needed for the self-turning motion of a bicycle front wheel.