Is there a proper way to get on a bike?
05-03-23, 10:25 PM
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Is there a proper way to get on a bike?
I watched this video and he seems to be implying there is a correct way to get on a bike. Have I been getting on my bike wrong? Should I be checking my left chainstay now, especially since I'm on the chunky side?
05-03-23, 10:41 PM
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I always wheel it out, run alongside for a while, and then hop on.
But I was raised in the circus.
But I was raised in the circus.
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05-03-23, 10:47 PM
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You straddle the bike, put the lead pedal a little over level, and then you lift yourself into the seat from the first stroke.
Lots of kids learned cowboy starts when their dad got them a too big bike to “grow into,” especially if it had a coaster brake so you couldn’t backpedal the cranks to the right angle, and it weighed more than you could lift
Lots of kids learned cowboy starts when their dad got them a too big bike to “grow into,” especially if it had a coaster brake so you couldn’t backpedal the cranks to the right angle, and it weighed more than you could lift
05-03-23, 10:56 PM
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I had trouble with the audio but I think I heard him say one chain stay was thicker than the other. That may be true for this specific bike (I dont know or care since I can't afford one) but in general I beleive left and right stay are the same except for whatever dimpling is added. My philosophy is get on your bike any way you please. 
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05-03-23, 10:56 PM
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There are many proper ways to get on a bike depending of strength, flexibility, and bike type. Cowboy starts are probably the quickest but step throughs would be silly if you weren't allowed to step through.
So I would say the proper way to get on a bike is "often."
So I would say the proper way to get on a bike is "often."
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05-04-23, 12:51 AM
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Left foot on left pedal, push down on left foot while simultaneously swinging right foot over to the right pedal.
I haven't figured out how to get off yet.
I haven't figured out how to get off yet.
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05-04-23, 02:17 AM
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Like this?
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05-04-23, 03:46 AM
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I estimate about 1,000 ways.
05-04-23, 04:07 AM
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988 that could result in embarrassment...
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05-04-23, 04:11 AM
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05-04-23, 05:33 AM
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I didn't quite understand what he was saying, but was he implying that mounting the bike "cowboy style" led to the demise of his left hand chainstay? If so, I would think there was a defect in either the stay or the brazing (or maybe it hit a rock or a curb). I've never heard of mounting style affecting chainstay lifetime.
The folks over on the framebuilding forum will have had more experience with this. If you're worried about breaking your bikes in this manner, I'd ask them.
The folks over on the framebuilding forum will have had more experience with this. If you're worried about breaking your bikes in this manner, I'd ask them.
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05-04-23, 06:00 AM
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If that dude in the video had to replace a chainstay because he broke it just by getting on the bike...he was doing it incorrectly.
Last edited by smd4; 05-04-23 at 06:06 AM.
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05-04-23, 06:37 AM
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...
Mine was not a full-grown bicycle, but only a colt--a fifty-inch, with the pedals shortened up to forty-eight--and skittish, like any other colt. The Expert explained the thing's points briefly, then he got on its back and rode around a little, to show me how easy it was to do. He said that the dismounting was perhaps the hardest thing to learn, and so we would leave that to the last. But he was in error there. He found, to his surprise and joy, that all that he needed to do was to get me on to the machine and stand out of the way; I could get off, myself. Although I was wholly inexperienced, I dismounted in the best time on record. He was on that side, shoving up the machine; we all came down with a crash, he at the bottom, I next, and the machine on top.
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05-04-23, 06:53 AM
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(over-thinking at work here)
Back when we had a local bike club, I was always amazed how how clunky a lot of riders are when starting out from a stop light. They'd get in the saddle and scooter along with their toes on the ground, then try to find the pedals, clip in and go. Some of them would literally jump into the saddle like Tom Mix to do that.
Riding fixed helped me formalize my mount - start astride, insert my right (dominant) foot into the toe clip, gently squeeze the front brake and press down slightly to allow the rear wheel to come up off the ground, rotate my right pedal up to around 2:00-3:00 o'clock position, reach down and snag the strap button and snug it down, then wait for the light to change. Release the brake, stand on/push down the right pedal and lift myself into the saddle, left foot comes off the ground and either (a) glides into the toe clip or (b) finds the back of the pedal for perhaps one full turn before turning the pedal into correct alignment and sliding home into the clip. Maybe the second or third turn at most I would drop my left shoulder enough to allow my left hand to snag the toe strap button and cinch it down. Nice, smooth flowing movement and a fast, confident looking start that I remain convinced communicated to whatever motorist might be behind me that I was capable, confident and deserved respect on the roads. It's even simpler with clipless pedals and freewheels, and now it's automatic muscle memory stuff. The fumbling around thing only annoys people and communicates one does not know what one is doing.
The local guy who used to race on track bikes with one of the clubs in Chicago had a cool mount where he swung his leg forward and up and over the bars - but once astride, he did largely the same thing with his pedals.
The local guys who did the left pedal mount as described in the video tended to be leaner, thinner guys. I have NEVER run into this phenomenon in nearly 50 years of road bikes.
My takeaway from this - I think Grant over-thought things by spec'ing a thinner chainstay on the left. I like the guy and rode a Rivendell for a dozen years, and some of his earlier design philosophy informs my cycling choices, but I no longer own a Rivendell, as (for me, anyway) the OS main tubes made for a dull ride quality. My Joe Starck-built Rivendell felt stable and all that, but my standard gauge 531-tubed Mercian that closely resembles the Rivendell's geometry is so much more comfortable and flexible and lively under me, and I eventually figured out I just felt fresher on standard gauge tubing at the end of a ride than I did on OS.
Back when we had a local bike club, I was always amazed how how clunky a lot of riders are when starting out from a stop light. They'd get in the saddle and scooter along with their toes on the ground, then try to find the pedals, clip in and go. Some of them would literally jump into the saddle like Tom Mix to do that.
Riding fixed helped me formalize my mount - start astride, insert my right (dominant) foot into the toe clip, gently squeeze the front brake and press down slightly to allow the rear wheel to come up off the ground, rotate my right pedal up to around 2:00-3:00 o'clock position, reach down and snag the strap button and snug it down, then wait for the light to change. Release the brake, stand on/push down the right pedal and lift myself into the saddle, left foot comes off the ground and either (a) glides into the toe clip or (b) finds the back of the pedal for perhaps one full turn before turning the pedal into correct alignment and sliding home into the clip. Maybe the second or third turn at most I would drop my left shoulder enough to allow my left hand to snag the toe strap button and cinch it down. Nice, smooth flowing movement and a fast, confident looking start that I remain convinced communicated to whatever motorist might be behind me that I was capable, confident and deserved respect on the roads. It's even simpler with clipless pedals and freewheels, and now it's automatic muscle memory stuff. The fumbling around thing only annoys people and communicates one does not know what one is doing.
The local guy who used to race on track bikes with one of the clubs in Chicago had a cool mount where he swung his leg forward and up and over the bars - but once astride, he did largely the same thing with his pedals.
The local guys who did the left pedal mount as described in the video tended to be leaner, thinner guys. I have NEVER run into this phenomenon in nearly 50 years of road bikes.
My takeaway from this - I think Grant over-thought things by spec'ing a thinner chainstay on the left. I like the guy and rode a Rivendell for a dozen years, and some of his earlier design philosophy informs my cycling choices, but I no longer own a Rivendell, as (for me, anyway) the OS main tubes made for a dull ride quality. My Joe Starck-built Rivendell felt stable and all that, but my standard gauge 531-tubed Mercian that closely resembles the Rivendell's geometry is so much more comfortable and flexible and lively under me, and I eventually figured out I just felt fresher on standard gauge tubing at the end of a ride than I did on OS.
05-04-23, 07:43 AM
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I didn't quite understand what he was saying, but was he implying that mounting the bike "cowboy style" led to the demise of his left hand chainstay? If so, I would think there was a defect in either the stay or the brazing (or maybe it hit a rock or a curb). I've never heard of mounting style affecting chainstay lifetime.
The folks over on the framebuilding forum will have had more experience with this. If you're worried about breaking your bikes in this manner, I'd ask them.
The folks over on the framebuilding forum will have had more experience with this. If you're worried about breaking your bikes in this manner, I'd ask them.
05-04-23, 08:17 AM
#18
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Wether proper or correct, I swing my left leg over the handlebars with my foot going into the pedal. Then I push off. Like Voodoo, man!
05-04-23, 08:24 AM
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Didn't watch the video. But after over a half century of riding bicycles that's the last thing I think I need instruction on until it gets to the point I'm so old I need a mixte or step through frame. But even then I think I can figure it out.
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05-04-23, 09:03 AM
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Tilt it so I can get my right leg over, clip in. Rotate the pedal to 1-2 o'clock. Push down and use that push to lift my ass into the pedal. Either clip in on the left or push down on the back side of the pedal unclipped so I can continue the rotation, flip the left pedal with my toe and clip in if not already and keep pedaling. Sure, once upon a time with my first bike when it was too bike I used to try to do the running with it and I also used to jump off because I didn't know how to stop, but I'm no longer 5.
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05-04-23, 09:11 AM
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The correct answer is "by any means necessary."
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If someone tells you that you have enough bicycles and you don't need any more, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
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05-04-23, 09:16 AM
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No.
05-04-23, 09:25 AM
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I've always mounted cowboy style. And if you've done that all your life, it's very awkward to do it in any other manner. But I do wonder if that will need to change if I make it to my 80s.
05-04-23, 10:35 AM
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Cowboy mount. A buddy says I'm Hopalong Cassidy.
