Help - Street riding techniques

General Help
1

I went on my first fixed ride the other day around the local streets and encountered my first obstacle within 2 minutes of being on the bike… A gutter. Now after the split second thought of ‘oh shit… how am I going to do this’ I just bunny hopped up the gutter like I would on my mtb, it was just lucky the pedals were at the right position otherwise it would have felt awkward and probably would have had me on the ground quickly.

I just have a question as to what techniques people use in situations like this. How do you ensure that their pedal is at the right position and the obstacle will be easy to clear.

I know the more and more I ride the bike, it will get me in to the right mindset to tackle obstacles like this, but any tips would be unreal to speed up this process.

2

some people time the pedals by doing a little skip to re-adjust… or you could just ride around it?

3

If you can’t go round, ride along side the gutter until you can time the pedals to be in the right position, then go. You get a feel for it after a while. That being said I’ve been riding fixed on and off for 8 years and still scare myself sometime, but that’s 'cause I’m an old man.

4

I don’t really ride up gutters that much and when I do it’s straight on so it’s front wheel up, lean forward, back wheel up

No special timing or crank positions necessary

5

Unreal, thanks for the tips. On this occasion the gutter was approached front on and there wasn’t much of a way around riding around it.

prawza - what do you mean by a little skip?

6

i think he means if you realise your pedals wont be in the optimal position to jump up the gutter head on, just hop the back wheel off the ground a little.

7

umm, like a skip stop?

kinda like a mini skid, you unweight the rear wheel slightly, then stop the rotation of the pedals creating a little “skip”, which is then repeated to do a skip stop… however in the context of the gutter, you do a skip in order to make sure your pedals are in the right position before the bunnyhop.

here are some poor examples of skipping/skip stops

and
at 20 seconds in this TO Track Tricks 5 - YouTube
you see him do a little skip before hoping onto the platform… the little skip is frequently used in freestyle fixed gear riding in order to get the pedals in the right position before a bunnyhop etc…

8

Brilliant, thanks prawza… exactly the kinda stuff I am after :slight_smile: So the skid stop kinda looks like ABS brakes in action.

9

Use the force.

and

Ride a small gear (60") if you want to learn how to improve your stroke and skills.

10

The Force, I can get that on ebay right?

So a small gear… gotchya. I have a big gear on it at the moment as it is my commuter bike. I am building another bike which I will use as a more street riding bike so I will keep that in mind when it comes to that.

Thanks for your help everyone.

11

This ones for you erle!!

http://trackosaurusrex.com

12

Learn to bunny hop with your feet both ways, like you would skate switch on a skateboard.
It doubles your chance of having your feet in the right position

13

i’m gonna get that article printed on toilet paper.