Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - How did YOU learn to trackstand ?

This is not a thread to actually teach people how to do it.. I want to know how individuals learned...

I picked it up just yesterday by riding in circles very slowly ... at first I thought my dominant side was to the left, but as some of you may have already known... it was to the right !!!!!!

=)

So I just practiced turning really slowly, and as tight as possible... and trying to stop the pedals while balancing the bike... After about 15 - 20 minutes, I had it.

I tried timing myself, and I could hold it for about 4 minutes, then after 1 beer, I could only hold it for 3, then after 2 beers, only 2.. and so forth, until I could no longer even barely ride the bike at all.. lol

Lots of late night practice. I work security (access control) at one of the dorms at VCU and when things die down and the freshmen get to sleep at about 3am I break out the bike and practice in the lobby.

i learned the feeling of it by starting at a standstill with my heel on the crank for counterbalance. but i think i finally did it by repeatedly slowing to stops & small circles

I just do it at every stop light till I can hold it. 4 minutes eh? Nice.

if you ride clipless, do you unclip both feet first?

I never practiced--I just always tried to stay up at lights. Once I realized that the light was green and I really didn't need to go anywhere. So I just stayed there.

Now I need to teach myself to trackstand with my wheel on the left.

if you ride clipless, do you unclip both feet first?

Not at all. Unclipping become second nature. I think you'd be more apt to fall because you can't get out of your clips and straps. When you "lose" your trackstand it isn't like the bike slams you down in a fraction of a second. You can feel when you've lost a trackstand and just put your foot down. That's it.

Went to a Roots show, and the people I was meeting were running 45 minutes late. By the time they got there I was a trackstanding machine.

I learned by riding slowly up to a chair and pushing it against a wall with my front wheel, holding that, then backing off and repeating. I eventually just got it. Now I'm trying to get the no-handed down and tighten up my stands.

I work with a two time world champion and I learned out of fear and shame whenever we ride together...got good pretty fast.

I already had already been practicing them for years on my road bike, so once I started riding fixed it was pretty easy.

Charlotte taught me how to do it.

While i ride clipless, I just started doing late-night practice sessions in front of the house with regular sneakers on. There was just one point where my body figured it out balance wise, and it was like I could instantly stand for 20-30 seconds. Once i had some confidence, i worked on it with my bike shoes and found out i could stand signifigantly longer clipped in.

than, you work on 1hand stands, and eventually you shrug and remove both hands from the bar. While i'm no champ at the no-hand stand (I rock one of the uglier no-hand stands i've seen), you just kinda do it. practice it up before you try to show off....

Not at all. Unclipping become second nature. I think you'd be more apt to fall because you can't get out of your clips and straps. When you "lose" your trackstand it isn't like the bike slams you down in a fraction of a second. You can feel when you've lost a trackstand and just put your foot down. That's it.

While i'm not saying that you should be unclipped when you trackstand, i gotta tell you from experience (and an experience that i am POSITIVE i am not the only one to experience) sometimes it's just not that easy. The slow trackstand fall is unavoidable sometimes. It doesn't matter that its slow. Sometimes you get the foot down, othertimes you don't. It's hilarious to watch, and though embarassing, it's pretty funnny when it happens to you too.

while watching TV.

I learned just like you and turd eventually did, trying to do very small and very slow circles, with frequent pauses (stops).

it was one of the ways to make life as a messenger abit more interesting.

I saw some bike shop employees doing it on bmx bikes back in '91. I saw messengers doing it in DC shortly afterwards, during one of those family trips. I started doing it on my mtb at lights in college, but only for a few seconds. I really got it down when I got the fixed gear last july. Learning how to do backwards circles clinched things for me because you have to make sure your balance is okay before you start pedaling backwards. One handed and no handed stands followed in about one and two weeks afterwards.

Gearing helps and so does being able to feel the bike gently push your back foot up, so you can put a little resistance on it, to bring the bike to a stop. I feel most of my control is with my rear foot.

Yep...during low speed bike handling, just dorking around in my driveway.

Riding in traffic with a geared bike. Riding with clipless shoes that were hard to get back in to the pedals inspired me.

Still can't do it very well. Coming along, though. I am, historically speaking, fantastically uncoordinated, so this sort of thing has never come naturally to me.

I learned at home in the living room, while watching the Bert and Ernie episode on being a messenger

When my girlfriend and I were broke in the Fall, we'd spend an hour some nights practicing in our back alley. The second night we were doing it, about half the men on the block appeared in the alley. Someone apparently thought we were getting ready to break into all their garages.

And that's how we learned about our Neighborhood Watch.

The alley was really good, though, because of the severe slant in the pavement. We could roll up on a side and only had to push forward to keep from rolling back. No backpedalling needed.

Unfortunately, my girlfriend can now shame me in a trackstandoff.

Still can't do it very well. Coming along, though. I am, historically speaking, fantastically uncoordinated, so this sort of thing has never come naturally to me.

yeah, i can be a real klutz...still, being on the bike is one time when i'm extraordinarily good at not being a klutz, so i'd think i'd be better at trackstands. mine are ugly and infrequent.

It's one of those things that, for most people, if you ride enough in urban areas (where you can't always just keep going forward) you're eventually learn to trackstand.

I just do it at every stop light till I can hold it.
+1


I'm pretty good at it on my SS, I wonder how it is on a fixie..

traffic lights...

There was a big blizzard on the day I built up my first fixie so I spent a couple of hours sitting on it in my living room, eventually it just became second nature.

I learned on my ten speed before I even knew what a fixed gear was, although I could only do it on street corners that had that slight hill going up to them, so I could still rock back and forth. and now it's no problem, considering I'm using the same frame, seat & handlebars on my fixed.

* I still can't do all those cool tricks though. But workin on it. the exploration of trying new $h1t is frustrating and fun at the same time.

I'm no good at it, but i'm getting inspired. I think I'll try it tonight in front of the TV. Wondering if my wife will kill me, or just think i'm nuts.

Slow-speed handling skills from years of mountain biking probably played a part, as did practicing on whatever bike I was riding before I ever got a fixie, or even knew what they were (Would you believe I used to think "trackstand" referred to BMXers lining up against the start gate?).

Once I started commuting on a fixie it came pretty naturally. First month or two it was an accomplishment to make it from my driveway to the front door at work w/o putting a foot down. These days it's pretty routine.

-Trevor

We did a lot of really slow circles, slowing to stops in the park across from our house. Ran back to the house to shotgun beers, went back out to trackstand. We did this for hours on end last summer.

We are now trackstanding pros.

Sort of.

first learned by trying to do trials type stuff on my mtb and then when I got a fixed gear it was really easy....now i use traffic lights to practice my goal every time I go riding on my fix is to never take my feet out of the clips

now try no-handed.

I have to learn to trackstand sitting down first.. so far I can only do it while standing, any attempt at doing it sitting and I can't hold it so easily...... =)

I practice at stoplights and in the hallway on my mtb.

I'm pretty good at it on my SS, I wonder how it is on a fixie..

I think it's a lot easier on a fixed. Easier to get that rollback motion when you need it. It's especially easier to do downhill trackstands on a fixed... I have a much harder time doing it with brakes.

Like many of the others who've spoken up, I learned to do it as a bike commuter on a route with a lot of stoplights. I'd hate having to put my foot down as I could see the opposing light turn yellow... I knew that my light would turn green in just a few seconds. If only I could stay on the bike... just... another... second... phew. And then, at some point, I realized that I was holding it much longer than a few seconds.

These days, my route to work is a lava-field and my feet will burn off if they come out of the pedals (yes, clipless). My tires are made of heat resistant something-or-other and can ride safely over the lava.

I do something like this with my friends mountain biking too. We challenge each other to "clean" a whole trail -- never putting your foot down once. So, I carried that habit over to commuting. I love the days when I clean my route to work.

ok... just spent about 2 hours practicing... I got the TS in the sitting position down real good =)

Now, lets see if I can do it while lugging a 28 lb book-bag & a full face helmet while stearing at the traffic signal with traffic, busses, and noise everywhere !!!!!!!!!

YEAH !!!!! =)