So I've realized that a lot of posts on 'brakelessness' and 'skidding' that I've made here were kind of missinformed....

I was talking about skipping. When I was riding without clipless pedals, I could still lift the rear wheel up and drop it down at a dead stop, and get that squeak that lets you know that the rear wheel is actually skidding on the ground.

Now that I have the clipless, and a new WAY lighter/smaller saddle, the back end on my Bianchi weighs almost nothing. I've been practicing on my late night/early morning rides at picking the rear wheel up a few inches and using both legs to start it spinning backwards while there is no friction.

It seems like the best way of stopping I've found yet. I'm not usually extended too far over the bars, and it's a very quick thing. When I usually have to stop really quickly, I don't think a block long skid would be the thing to do. The quick skip, if I can get the back wheel moving backwards, doesn't seem to completely kill the forward momentum, but it puts me down to the speed that I could easily trackstand a car pulling out in front of me or a car that I know is going to make a left hand turn across my path. I've mainly been trying it on trails, or about a half block before an intersection that I know will be a problem, and I usually still have to plan where I'm going to do it in my pedal stroke....

I'm kind of wondering what I should look for maintinence wise from doing this, and how long I can expect tires to last (currently running 23mm gatorskins front and rear). Also, is it possible to lift the wheel enough that you can end up before the start of the skip when you're done? I can usually do about 1/2 a pedal stroke backwards from a trackstand, it seems like it should theoretically be possible to up the back wheel, start it going backwards, then continue the motion...

Input from other brakeless/clipless riders is appreciated.