I'm relatively new to these forums but i thought this might be a fun topic ... back in the 90's i had a Dyno Comp and my grandpa showed me how to sit on the handle bars and ride backwards ... i got really good at it to the point of nearly being as good as going forwards minus curbs etc! I also got a LOT of funny looks/comments front people that seen me ... thought i was nuts Share ur experiences if you have one

Riding backwards on the handle bars is one of the few tricks I can still do lol

TBH, I prefer fakie.

Everyone who sees me is speechless. I put my sunglasses on the back of my head and ride around with no hands. When you get tired from pedaling forward its tome to go backwards.

Thats great i remember doing that and getting some of the same looks! Haha

https://claremontcyclist.blogspot.co...ay-wooten.html

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl...855-story.html

See Artistic Cycling for how to do it with Style..

wow!, forget about balance! that would take incredible strength to hold that position for even a few seconds

That girl should have been in RAD.

I see a kid in my hood ride backwards - and definitely do the "crazy" look

Wellsaid

Wow. That is incredibly amazing. Great balancing power!

When I was a kid, my dad impressed the neighborhood gang by riding my bike backwards. I never came close to getting the hang of it.

This may sound strange. I had a memory "snapshot" of a racer I knew bitd, riding backwards one day, but I as couldn't figure out how it would have happened, - where or when, or why we were riding together, (someone I looked up to, but didn't really knowwell), I just put it in the "hmm, did this really happen?" memory files.
Over time I became less sure of it as I couldn't remember the context. I physically lost my ability to compete successfully shortly thereafter, and didn't deal too well with it.Thanks for letting me put it back in the "yup, it happened, those were good times" files.
Thank you.

BTW, he was on a typical 1970's road racing bike.

And I thought anyone who rode with their bars in that position was a dork...

This was the first cool trick I learned to do.

In artistic cycling they call this trick reverse handlebar seat (figure n. 1017). Doing such a move in a full circle with hands on the handlebars is worth 1 point, hands-free (complete circle hands-free reverse handlebar seat) is worth 1.5 points.

I heard a poster mention fakie. A fakie is much more difficult to do than the reverse handlebar seat. Consider that doing a reverse handlebar seat is really just peddling forward on your bike while turned around. A fakie involves peddling the bike backwards, a way that it was never intended to go. If you can fakie more than 10 feet consistently, I am jealous.

I cannot fakie past 5 feet at best, but I can do the hands-free reverse handlebar seat around the skate park, looking all around me, using hands for whatever, going up and down gradual ramps (so much fun!), and swerving to avoid skaters and little scooter monsters that pop out of nowhere like some type of video game. It makes for good practice!

I ride a fixie BMX, so I'm able to go down hills in a controlled manner without having to use a brake or shove my foot into my tire.. This just involves applying a slight forward peddling resistance to defeat the backwards momentum. I can go backwards downhill at a fast, regular, or very slow pace—steep hills included. It's all very easy to learn once you've got the swing of it.

Another thing I can do in conjunction with this trick is skid (again, very easy for anyone to learn). Yes, on a fixie you can easily do mad skids by just immediately forcing your peddles still. Since your weight is on the bars, it's so much easier to skid. It can have the look of being almost impossible, as people generally don't assume I'm riding a fixie.

A poster remarked about people commenting on the trick. I get people (good skateboarders who can do tricks I could never do) asking me how I do it or complementing me. One person said, "That's such an awesome trick—it never gets old!" Hearing these comments never gets old. I tell these guys that the move is easier than it looks.

This move can lend itself to doing many other tricks. So worth it to learn, IMO. I'd like to learn the reverse handlebar L-shape hold (artistic cycling figure n. 1116). I'll see if I can find an example on YouTube.

Here is my own example of riding backwards doing a hands-free reverse handlebar seat in figure 8:

https://vimeo.com/361659745

Agreed, fakie to 180 out is the most fun...