Comments on: Stupid bike tricks

Stupid bike tricks

fixedgear — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:33:04 -0800

Try this with your recumbent bike. Big (~40mb) mpg.

By: geoff.

geoff. — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:34:16 -0800

Available bandwidth quota for this filesystem has been exceeded. (/throckmortdc/cutthroat_page/erl4men.mpg) Please, try again later.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:05:55 -0800

This one still works. (Assuming it's the same thing, not liable if it's not.)

By: Joeforking

Joeforking — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:06:03 -0800

I can see this getting deleted

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:11:31 -0800

(downloading) I changed the link since the original is dead, hopefully it's the same file, fixie.

By: driveler

driveler — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:13:31 -0800

Amazing.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:24:27 -0800

Why doesn't the front tire constantly flop around -- is the front steering fixed? Why don't they just use unicycles? How can they pedal backwards? This has to be in Germany, right? So many questions.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:27:16 -0800

OK, figured out the pedal backwards one. I thought "fixed-gear" meant single-gear, like a BMX bike. Not that they couldn't free-wheel. Live and learn.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:27:45 -0800

Awesome though a bit long. I remember back in the 80s there was an amazing french guy that did fixed gear/small ring stuff. I've never seen it synchronized which must be tough, but kind of surprised that they didn't do any of the more impressive spins while sitting on the head tube with the bike vertical. That's a fixed/small gear classic move.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:30:44 -0800

Why doesn't the front tire constantly flop around -- is the front steering fixed? You run a tight headset which lets the forks kind of stick in the middle position but still remain usable for some turns. At the 5:00 point they do a quick spin that shows everyone's bars spin slowly. Why don't they just use unicycles? No clue. They love the wheelie though. How can they pedal backwards? A fixed gear means fixed completely. Every time a wheel moves, the cog moves and the cranks move, which includes forward and backward motion. There's no freewheeling of any kind.

By: socratic

socratic — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:31:30 -0800

I'm skeptical of clicking on a movie titled erl4men.mpg. Too many bad internet catastrophes (including one recent one involving an "elderly care center"). I'll click anyway.. here goes.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:35:53 -0800

Thanks, Matt (and smackfu). They are geared really low, like 20 tooth chainring x 20 tooth cog. I've seen 'acrobatic cycling' which is one person, but this synchronized stuff is something else. I can't even do a trackstand.

By: mcchesnj

mcchesnj — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:42:17 -0800

all caps: INCREDIBLE! thanks!

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:49:04 -0800

Thanks Matt!

By: gwint

gwint — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:53:42 -0800

That had a chance of being a little cheesy, but at least they weren't playing the theme song to Chariots of Fire. Oh wait.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 17:34:19 -0800

Pretty cool. Looks pretty much exactly like riding a unicycle, though. Just with a counterbalance in front.

By: dash_slot-

dash_slot- — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 18:53:38 -0800

2005's 'Poster With The Most Appropriate Username' Award goes to ... fixedgear!! Yay!

By: rhapsodie

rhapsodie — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:15:06 -0800

Crazy.

By: kika

kika — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:22:23 -0800

The ads around the arena are for Buckler, a sub-brand of Heineken for a Non-alcoholic. In the Netherlands it literarily flopped because a famous comic attacked it during a live TV emission on New Years Eve (the Dutch equivalent of watching the ball at Times Square), with half the country watching. The sales just plummeted the next day and Heineken discontinued it soon thereafter. It does still exist in other countries though.

By: ecco

ecco — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:03:39 -0800

More silly fixed gear bike tricks from the 2005 Cycle Messenger World Championships (New York). Skids, ( just the 8 MB mov ), wherein a bike skids for 509 feet. Track Stand, ( just the 21 MB mov ), wherein riders try and ballance on the spot, while slowly giving up control. More bike movie fun at www.bikeTV.org.

By: mk1gti

mk1gti — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:08:46 -0800

Man, that was really pretty neat. I can't imagine how many hours of practice they must spend to make it look as effortless as they do. I almost cried *sniff*.

By: leecifer

leecifer — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:32:41 -0800

Holy crap! As a track bike rider, I'm so far beyond impressed. I can skid (not 300 feet, mind you) and track stand (two hands, two feet) but there is no chance that I could manual a damn track bike - BACKWARDS. Thanks a bunch. That was a lot of fun.

By: Pecinpah

Pecinpah — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 03:06:34 -0800

Chariots of fire, indeed...

By: bicyclingfool

bicyclingfool — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 09:30:37 -0800

In case nobody mentioned this, those bikes aren't recumbents. Google on recumbent and you'll see.... Honestly, I think the fact that these are track bikes and _not_ unicycles makes what they're doing easier, not harder. The added mass on the bike creates stability, just as a tightrope walker uses a pole to steady themselves. I just keep thinking that ten years from now, these guys will be asking themselves what happened to their youth -- they spent their every waking moment in gymnasiums doing backward wheelies on track bikes and never learned how to type or work a cash register. BTW, way impressive.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:31:48 -0800

Uh, yeah, bicyclingfool, that was sort of a joke. Get it?

By: neuron

neuron — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 10:40:03 -0800

For those of you who are unable to download the movie, I'll summarize it for you: 4 guys pop wheelies, then ride around backwards for about an hour and a half.

By: HiveMind

HiveMind — Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:00:37 -0800

Might as well just ride unicycles. Why pay for the front half of a bike if you're not going to use it?

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:16:04 -0800

Very awesome. Thanks for the post. I'm literally in awe.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:39:08 -0800

and ecco, thanks for those links. The skids are crazy!

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:50:27 -0800

OK, now I've watched the track stand movie and that's even more insane. One footed trackstands? Call the medics.