Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - The 'X' Factor (why the **** won't my whip skid)

I cannot, for the life of me, get my 73 Nishiki Conversion to skid. I have a front brake, so I don't need the 'skidding isn't for stopping' lecture. i'm fully aware.

i'm running a 48/15 gear ratio, and the stock for has a generous portion of rake. Could that be the reason that its umpossible to skid?

http://i38.tinypic.com/w9d7rn.jpg

http://i33.tinypic.com/jrbo8n.jpg

well for starters ur gear is so high. i was riding in the low 80s and i couldn't skid. i'm at 71 now and its a breeze

The geometry of your bike is also not helping you skid. It is easier on a track frame. But I would start with your gearing.

Lovely bike though!

It will tough with 84 gear inches. Lower it, you don't need it that high outside the track.

lower your gear ratio and grow some legs.

k. my legs are already drumsticks, but i'll see what i can do.

I have a slightly easier gear (48x16), and it wasn't easy for me to get started. But have you practiced in damp grass or on gravel? Your gear won't make it easy to learn on asphalt, but once you have the muscle memory from a session of skidding in a park, you'll be able to skid pretty much at will.

By the way: "umpossible" is my new favorite word.

1st off nice bike..

I have a slightly easier gear (48x16), and it wasn't easy for me to get started. But have you practiced in damp grass or on gravel? Your gear won't make it easy to learn on asphalt, but once you have the muscle memory from a session of skidding in a park, you'll be able to skid pretty much at will.


YES! do you have a skate park or something with super slick surface, near you.. go there
grass is fun, except its easy to crash, and my front wheel is still out of true from that.

try to get AS MUCH weight off teh rear tire as possible.

how are you even comfortably riding a gear like that around town starting and stopping that has to hurt man. It will be super easy if you gear down a little and practice in wet/grass areas. you just have to get used to taking your weight off the back of the bike it will come eventually if you keep practicing.

Have you gotten any other bike to skid? It may be you, not the bike. Just a thought. But going from my track frame to my conversion, it's a lot harder, so I feel you.

I'm still learning, but for me what has helped out is:

1.) Going a little faster
2.) Practicing on grass or wet blacktop
3.) Really throwing your weight forward. Think "balls on the stem."
4.) Pushing down on the back foot and simultaneously pulling up on the front foot.
5.) And most importantly: Commitment! Don't get timid about it, just commit to the skid and lock up.

For comparison, I'm running 48/17. Considerably easier than your 48/15.

i learned on a 48/14 conversion so your gearing isnt impossible to learn on but, it just makes it that much easier if you ever do gear down.

Practice, practice and practice, you'll get it eventually, and as its already been said, start somewhere wet/slick and lean way forward to get the mechanics down.

nuts on the stem

Just picked up a Fuji Track 08 with stock gearing @ 48/16. Riding brakeless on a tighter geometry and higher gearing means I'm nowhere near as comfortable skipping/skidding around traffic, but it can be done. Know the technique/mechanics of it. Then practice. Trial and error.

I learned on a Motobecane conversion with lax geometry, though a much lower gearing @ 40/16. I enjoy skidding the hilly stretches of the Central Park Loop on this bike... especially after it's rained. I am nervous though, as I haven't yet crashed, which I know is inevitable.

Definitely shift your weight as far forward as you can. If you need practice with that, try it on a freewheel bike with a back brake, so you can get more comfortable with the idea of being far forward on your bike and having your back end sliding about.

Your gearing is a bit high, but if you shift your weight far enough forward, theoretically you could put an ounce or so of backpressure and initiate a skid.

Also, inflate your rear tire to near its maximum pressure. The lower the pressure is, the more your tire deforms and the more rubber can dig into the ground. If your pressure is higher, less rubber will be touching the ground. Think about it in terms of shoving a toothpick into a belt sander vs. a sheet of plywood.

A friend of mine learned in one day to skid pretty good. 4 hours straight in front of his house. He went through a tire but never the less it's better than being side walk pizza. It's like anything in life, I suppose you have to work at it to get good skill. I wouldn't do it on grass though I think that's is babying yourself toooooo much, just find a spot with less traffic, practice, and soon you will be tearing it up. =]

Your gearing is pretty high. I tried to learn how to skid with 48x15 and it was tough, even when I was trying on a wet tennis court. I switched to an 18t cog, and tried again yesterday in my ally and was skidding in 2 tries. My legs still aren't that strong, so I can't hold a huge skid, but it's significantly easier with about 71 gear inches vs 80+.

The only trouble I'm having though is my foot (the one pulling up) is slipping out of my clip a little bit. I've tightened my straps.. I guess I'm just not pulling up when the cranks are parallel? :(

It's tough with that gear ratio and a conversion frame.

Some tips:
Get metal toe clips, This helps, along with good straps.
Also practice on wet pavement.

I had the hardest time skidding on my conversion with 76 gear inches, but I got new pedals, and practiced a lot, and now I can do it anytime.

Don't give up, It's hard, but once you get it, it sticks.

get a straight fork. i had this exact problem on a old claude butler frame, the geometry of it doesnt help skidding. the idea is to put your weight over the front wheel but i found it nearly impossible with that fork. i had my friend look at it, who can skip/skid very easily and he said it was just that. then i changed it and now i can skid :) look into it.

What forks are compatible with the older frames?

can you skip stop?

keep practicing, it takes, as the french say, a certain "I don't know what".

throw a 17 tooth cog on the rear, it'll make it a lot easier by giving you easier gearing and more skid patches

I ride a 82gi (50/16) right now and don't find skidding difficult. It is much easier if you would lower your gear, but I'm an advocate of technique more than the gear thing. My saying is lean a little forward and the front foot pulls up, back foot pushes down. However if you've never done a skid before it might be your technique that needs working on, but you should gear down too since you're just starting out

Nice bike btw. I really have a thing for orange bikes

practice in a baseball infield, on the dirt. then clean your bike

I'm still learning, but for me what has helped out is:

4.) Pushing down on the back foot and simultaneously pulling up on the front foot.



You MUST do this or don't think about it, especially when learning..

the key is to let your front foot (the foot that, if you were on a skateboard, would be at the front) pull up on the straps while locking up your back leg. then for starters move your weight forward by either resting your testicles on the stem or trying to kiss your front tire. once you get the whole skid down, you can start doing them closer to the seat till you can do them seated.

as has been said over and over again already, its probably just yr technique. i used to have a large-ish ratio as well and thought i wasn't able to skid due to that, but after a bit of practicing was able to skid, thus my technique was the culprit.

Put your nuts on the stem. Once you learn the physical movement, it has very little to do with overall leg strength, you can then begin to adjust to not having to move so far forward. Eventually you'll be doing seated or near seated skids and skips like the cool kids.

thanks for the feedback dudes. for the most part, thanks for keeping it positive. i'm probably gonna gear down a bit, prolly a 17t.

SIDENOTE: riding back from the co-op downtown last night, some ***** walking his dog yelled "what's the brake for?!" I replied "to stop, dillhole." In retrospect, i could have said many cooler and more demeaning things, but uh. hindsight's 20/20. Anywho, I was pretty pissed that some ****head hipster scoffed at the idea of a brake on my whip, but after further thinking, I can't wait to read about that guy in the Obits! Headline reading something akin to "Dillhole Cyclist Killed By Mack Truck"

he was probably just joking around, seeing as most hipster kids on fixed gears shun brakes.

can you skip stop?

Yeah, I was gonna say -- can you skip the bike? That is, pop the real wheel up, stop pedaling and you'll skid a little on the landing.

it took me forever to grasp the idea of pulling up with my front foot, but that is definitely the key. the ratio will make it a little tougher, but not impossible. i learned to skid on a 52x16.

use the force