aalenkin

I know I know im gonna hear this a million times do this, do that, nuts to stem, commit commit commit etc et, pedal straps, watch your angle.........ive done that and all and I still cant commit to a skid my knee either buckles or I almost get ejected outta my bike...

Is i the tires? I have a rear 28 randonneaur dont know if I spelled that right? My Gearing? 42x16 or what is it? Help please! I wanna skid not for showing off but for safety I have a brake but I would like to get the skills down to skid while seated or if just standing at a minimum help anyone and everyone! Thanks!

mrvile

At this point it's a matter of practice. Just keep trying.

Try lightly touching the front brake when you skid. It'll shift your weight forward a bit and it might help.

lz4005

If you want safety then you want to skip, not skid.

mrvile

Shut up. Everyone knows that skidding is the safest and most effective way to stop.

spcialzdspksman

Try to time and imagine when and where you will lock your legs. i.e. get out of the saddle and start leaning forward when your locking leg is up at 12 o clock, so by the time your leg reaches 9 of clock, your nuts will already be on the stem.
From there it's just a matter of resisting the crank, which should not be too hard because you should have already unweighed your back wheel by having your upper body directly above the handlebars.
Also try to focus more on leaning forward than locking your leg. As soon as you lean forward the farthest you can, locking your leg and skidding is a piece of cake.
When you do, it helps a little to pull up on the clips with your other leg too.
I've been trying to skid seated but still can't. The best I can do is get up halfway and lock, then sit back down, but that just looks stupid.
Anyone have advice on how to do that? or maybe wheelie/pedal backwards/360 wheelie spin?

daft crunk

Try to focus on pulling up with your non dominant foot when it's forward rather than pushing back with your dominant foot. You'll push back naturally.

evotion

sorry, but if you can't skid at 42x16, something's up.

mrvile

Meh, even the guys in Mash lift their butt an inch or two from the seat when they skid, and they skid for a living. The couple of times when I accidentally did do seated skids it was really uncomfortable, so I lift my butt just a tad to avoid that.

hairnet

first seconds are golden

RubberDucks

I'm trying to re-learn in order to be an ambidextrous skidder and have found that if you plan where your feet will be and commit maybe a quarter of a crank rotation before you actually want to lock your legs, you will have pretty good results... nuts to stem is a great way to learn but after you figure it out, whip skids and skip stops are much more effective. but you should keep the front brake anyway...

Derreck

Wet grass or dirt is easier and will help you to know what it feels like and what needs to happen. I learned just to see what it was like. It's fun but mostly unnecessary, and it eats up tires so I don't ever skid anymore.

syzygy

practice in the rain. where are your feet positioned when you try? they shouldn't be parallel with the ground. which one is in front? which can you push harder with or pull up harder with? just practice in the rain and you'll get at least used to the timing. the rest is strength and crap.

aalenkin

Thanks for the 411 guys I actually read now to lean forward before I try to lock up im gonna go try it now, my left leg is dominant and the pedal is at about the 3 or 4 oclock position when I try the skid, I was thinking my tire tread might be the other reason maybe I need to go 23?

ismellfish2

You can skid sitting down easily... with a brake. That's my panic stop- last thing you want to do when you're 15 feet behind a car that suddenly slams on its brakes is stick your head way out in front of the bike.

mrvile

Yeah those are pretty much the only times I have to skid sitting down. Front brake + sitting skid + adrenaline from almost being killed by car = really uncomfortable.

spcialzdspksman

how to do skip stop guys?

tFUnK

if you're a heavier rider, skidding will be more difficult (seated skids are even harder). if you have relatively short arms/torso, skidding will be more difficult (seated skids are even harder). pulling up on the front pedal >> pushing down the rear pedal (can be pretty bad on the knees). helps if you have good cages/straps/clipless.

das_pyrate

if you have a brake then don't worry about learning to skid

Scrodzilla

^ There it is.

Oregon Southpaw

My mind is ridden with Bikesnob-like commentary watching this.

gotmyusernamechanged

if you watch the slow down, you can tell by the brother's face he put all his force into destroying that kid. (meaning it was no accident)

spcialzdspksman

Some people like to skid because they enjoy it, not as a means to stop.

Scrodzilla

Come on now!

spcialzdspksman

lol Scrodzilla I didn't know you were Scrodzilla because you changed your avatar

Scrodzilla

I know...it's kinda weird to me too! I may have to change it back.