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>It seems pretty clear that the development of the bicycle would've been significantly hampered by the fact that balancing on two wheels was:

> (a) unintuitive as an idea with no analogue in nature or previous innovations

> (b) had a marked learning curve

> (c) that learning curve was separate and independent for each design.

This! It's completely non-obvious that balancing will work and there is no analog in nature to copy.

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Skating was a thing long before cycling was. With enough forward momentum one can go quite far balanced on one ice-skate.

Rotating wheels generate a self balancing moment that resists falling over... which has nothing to do with balancing on a thin blade.

For the purposes of this discussion, that's probably true. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some super-precise slow motion video of a skater gliding on one skate revealed small adjustments analogous to the steering motions of a cyclist.

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