JoeyBike

It's useful in the city grid. I can ride around the city for hours and never touch the ground with a foot. I track stand every red light that i can not run. Not as crucial since I gave up clipping in but still do it daily.

RCMoeur 

Instantaneous stress (below the yield point) doesn't typically wear out steel parts like a chain. Moving wear as a chain runs across the sprockets bathed in a mix of lubricant and rubbing compound dirt does typically wear them out. A ferocious sprinter riding a enclosed-chain-case 3 speed might break parts but won't excessively wear the chain, as it's kept clean inside the case. Also, my recumbent has a 30-year-old chain with about 10,000 miles but about zero measurable wear as it only runs through the cogs about half as often and is higher than a typical chain.

I recall one of the initial fears of narrower chains was sudden breakage due to less metal cross-section. A mis-pressed pin can indeed cause disaster as the tolerances are much tighter and the pins are generally mushroomed, but overall the narrower chains (even the 13-speeds on the market) don't seem associated with sudden chain snappage.

caloso

Same. On most streets you can just use the crown of the road.

Eric F 

When I'm track-standing, my weight is on both pedals, slightly favored on the forward pedal. It seems to me the tension on the chain is a lot less than it is under a lot of normal riding conditions.

Fredo76

I used to be able to, pretty well. Well enough to win a 'slow race' when I was a teenager.


'Slow racing' on my old Paramount

It was the second time I got my picture in the newspaper. The first was with my brother, sledding on old-fashioned sleds on Mt. Lemmon.

The third was as an adult, riding out front of a huge pack of motorcycles at the Red River motorcycle rally maybe fifteen years ago. Glad it wasn't this year's, with the shoot-out last Friday.

LarrySellerz

I’m downright embarrassed that I cant track stand. I claim to be a messenger! It’s shameful honestly.

can’t wheelie either. Finally learning how to bunny hop, after years of trying and failing, so maybe there is hope

Chuck Naill

Ironically a former neighbor gave me a light one Sunday afternoon while I was climbing a hill near his abode. His dog scared the living daylights out of me a few years before. We had exchanged words then. Anyway, for some reason he thought it was my light. I accepted the gift and found I had a USB cord to fit.

rsbob 

As my 20 year old girlfriend said to me (I was 20 too), “If I have to explain it to you, you already missed the point.” Needless to say, that relationship didn’t last.

AND, I can track stand worth s…..

JohnDThompson 

I can track stand for 10-15 seconds. It's definitely easier with a fixed gear.

LesterOfPuppets

For some reason I never found them easier on FG. Maybe because I learned them on freewheel, 15 years before I even tried riding FG.

staehpj1

It is one of those skill I never really tried to perfect but find myself doing at times when it is convenient or useful, like at an intersection when I expect to be able to go in a few seconds or a bit more and don't want to clip out. I also find myself doing it on technical singletrack on the mountain bike when evaluating a line. I am sure I have done it for more than 10 seconds lots of times. Not sure if I can do it on demand, but I seem to do it spontaneaously fairly often when circumstance make sense for it.

For me riding no hands on some bikes is a little like that. I recall riding one of my bikes that I would have said I really couldn't ride no hands and realizing that I was confidently sitting up flipping off a driver with both hands and yelling an obscenity.

caloso

Track stands, riding no handed, bunny hops, wheelies, stoppies, etc.: they're all useful in certain situations, they're fun to practice, and doing so improves your balance and bike handling.

subgrade

I suppose "not really" is my answer. I haven't even tried to do a proper track stand, i.e. without using the brakes. I can stay stationary for a few seconds while seated though. However, if applying the brakes still counts then at least 20+ years ago I could stand for several minutes (a bit over 9 min was my record). Haven't bothered to try it for a long time now, but I'm sure I could manage up to a minute after a few tries.

Kai Winters

I can for around 15 seconds then it foot down lol.

chiefkurtz

I was a bike messenger for over 5 years in the 80s. I developed a very good track stance, I'm in my late 50s and can still do one for upwards of a minute.

botty kayer

Over the years I've mastered it due to riding around London with its gazilion traffic lights. Treating the ground as lava gives me something to do while stuck at a reds, and I don't think anyone ever said having good balance and bike control was a bad thing.

And I figure I'll go through less cleats by not wearing them out on tarmac by having feet down at every light, and of course I look like a cycling legend....or a massive poser depending on peoples views

mattcalifornia

I voted "yes" using your 10-15 second definition, but people who are really good can do it much, much longer. Every once in a while, the stars align and I can do it for the full length of a red light, but I don't really both much any more unless I see the light is close to turning green or I'm just messing around on my town bike. It uses too much mental and physical energy to do it in the middle of a real ride.

Jax Rhapsody

Eehhhhhh....