The physics basis of the gyroscope effect is inertia. Thiings to keep on moving in the same direction unless a force acts upon them.Franck wrote:...
I am not sure of the physics either, but my experience showed a marked difference...
The effect does not just depend on the weight, but also on the speed of rotation. A bicycle wheel is not very heavy, but the gyroscope effect is sufficient to allow you to ride "no hands".
Speculation: It is likely that the spinning skirt acts as a point of reference. People not used to spinning tend to lose some sense of where exactly they are. The skirt would immediately allow the wearer to feel when they were going off off vertical. I doubt that this woud be a concious feeling. The wearer would feel one way doing it right, and another doing it wrong, and automatically adapt. It would not take long for someone new to spinning to adapt to using visual clues only.