Mountain Biking - Riding up stairs

I'm not much of an urban freerider (mostly single track XC for me), but I ride to school every day and there are a few sections which involve some stairs. Riding down is obviously no problem, and riding up 2 or 3 stairs is okay as well. But there are a couple spots where there are about 6 - 8 stairs to go up and I currently have to dismount and carry my bike over them. Very annoying. So, does anybody have any tips for riding up stairs? The obvious answer is just to give'er and see what happens - problem with that being that I like my front rim to be round. I'm afraid that if I just power up the stairs full-speed-ahead then my less-than-beefy XC rims will take a real beating (actually, my rear is a Rhynolite so I'm not worried about it as much as the crappy Sun CR18 on the front).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Manual onto the steps (match the pitch of your bike to the angle of the steps, pedal kick hard INTO them and then throw your body weight forward. Be prepared to leave your legs really loose, and let them really suck up the stairs otherwise say "bye bye rim"...

If you think about it, this is almost like a slow speed bunny hop UP something...;) You really don't need much speed.

Good luck

Or just get off the bike an walk. I have not found an easy way to get up more than 8 stairs. Anything under that and doing what Maelstrom said works. Hell I've even hit them at full speed only to get stopped by the 9th or 10th stair. So I simply get of and walk the bike up them. ;)

Yeah true. There is a limit for how far up I can go as well.

The only other way, my cousin the xc racer god type guy, can pedal up stairs haha...don't know if he has a limit. He makes stairs look pretty effortless. :)

Just get good peed at them and pull your front wheel up onto the steps as you approach them. You my need one or two pedal strokes to get your back wheel up the last step.

Depends on how much time you have on your hands. I like to pull up parallel to them and hop up each stair from a trackstand. Trackstand beside the first stair, hop to the first, balance, hop to the second, balance, hop to the third, etc... I've got a 6 or seven stair limit when just trying to ride straight up them.

-Moab

Thanks for the tips guys. I actually had to take the bus today so I didn't get to try any of them out. Maelstrom, the method you suggest, is that not only for stairs in which a pedal kick will bring your front tire up high enough to clear the stairs? I'm not sure if that's the case with the stairs I'm dealing with..will have to check that out.

No...really it is just a simple modification of a bunny hop. I use this same method to get up and over boulders and such. Manual up to it, Throw your weight up and forward and maybe a pedal kick I suppose, it gets you up stairs. On higher stairs I am definately NOT putting my front wheel on the top, kind of rolling on the front on the stairs. I go with speed...when my front gets to the tops of the steps I throw my weight up to unweight the back...

I can't really explain it much better. Its definately not trails based, or slow speed based...I can't do the whole hoppy hoppy thing...too slow for my liking :)

Well for ****s and giggles I got on my 8" travel downhill bike pedaled as fast as I could and hit a set of 20 steps using Maelstrom's method I actually got up to the 18th step before my bike came to a sudden complete stop, and before I went OTB's. So basically I was able to get up the entire set of steps, but my bike ended up at about the 12th (after bouncing off that 18th step and rolling down a bit) I ended up about 7' feet past where the steps stop.

You know what else? Nothing hurt or got broken. So it got me thinking maybe I sould have used a 44 tooth ring instead of a 40 tooth ring and I would have had more speed and might have made it up. I'm not gonna try again.

seems like a full suspension bike could go up stairs easily. I'd like to see guys jump UP the stairs. change things up.


as for riding up them on a hardtail, I have no clue other then hauling arse. if it's only a few stairs, bunnyhop them but more then four or five I don't know....

Yeah I didn't really mean bunny hop. Just move your body up at speed. I definately can't bunny hop that high haha...I guess maybe I am overthinking it. I just ride at speed and manul onto the stairs and hope I get up high :)...

But yeah...on my bighit I can pedal up stairs :)

Well, I'll let you know how it goes on the hardtail as soon as I get a chance :).

About a year ago there was a similar thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?postid=241711) here with some useful input (unlike now :rolleyes: ). A guy from mtbkanata.com, who is on this board, gave some good tips and he has also made a movie where you can see him riding up and down stairs.

http://www.mtbkanata.com/realplayer/Urban_Assault_250K.wmv
Right click, save as (2,50mb).

I too would like to master the skill of riding up stairs...
http://www.velobella.org/img/sidebar2_allie_upstairs.jpg
...so I've been searching for info on this. I found some sites that explain how to do things like bunny hops, wheelies and pogo's as well as stairs here (http://www.bicyclesource.com/you/stunts/stairs.shtml), here (http://www.angelfire.com/ct/mountainbiking/tricks.html) and here (http://www.garynuke.homestead.com/mtbtricks.html).

I think the original poster was asking for ways to ride up stairs that wouldn't slow his ride down. not how to slowly hop up each stair..........

Thanks for the link Speeder. I actually did search the board but for some reason that didn't come up. It looks like all he's doing is lifting the front wheel slightly and then powering up the stairs. It also looks like he's having the rear suspension do alot of work (not an option for my hardtail).

I've tried powering up the stairs I mentioned above with mixed results. It's an awfully bumpy ride and I don't think there's any way to smooth it out. After every attempt I'm convinced my rims will be toast, but no casualties as of yet. It also doesn't help that these stairs are pretty steep (much steeper than the ones he rides up in the video). You really need a head of steam to get up them.

I usually do the wrong thing & just climb the bank beside the stairs.... :p

maybe you cn practice a quick dismount and run up them, then remount on the run. like the cops were chasing you. it'd be good for ya.

CL

I actually learned from an MTB cop I was riding with one day. He was technically on patrol, but we were trialsin all over for a couple hours...pretty cool.

Maelstrom's description is as accurate as any. Once you've got that down, it's all about how much speed (actually momentum) you can carry. Make sure your tire pressure is up so you don't snakebite.