Newbie question
 

Back in grade school, I frequently rode my 10-speed to school with no hands... no comments about safety issues, please... I haven't had the pleasure of doing that since the mid-80s...

I've had a mountain bike since then, and there's no way I would dream of attempting to ride that thing with no hands...

Anyhoo, I'm looking to purchase a road bike to help me meet some fitness goals... and am wondering, safety issues aside, do people still ride bikes with no hands?

I have a side objective of reducing strain off a bum elbow, which is why I ask...

Thanks much!!!!!

Lance

Riding with no hands is just a trick used to impress ladies.

It is not what you do for your full commute and its dangerous when you're in traffic.
So no, it is not a good choice for dealing with a bad elbow.
Try raising your handlebars for a more upright riding posture, that should take some weight off your arms.
Or get a recumbent.

actually last summer i attempted riding my bike no handed for the 2 mile commute. i planned it on roads with little to no traffic, minimal hills ,and stop signs. i almost made it but i had to stop a few times

in all honesty i can ride my mountain bike all day no handed but i cannot do it on my road bike, go figure.

I ride with no hands all the time. I routinely ride half of the 10 mile commute home with no hands and have ridden the entire eight miles from here in Logan to Mendon with no hands on a dare. I should also mention that it's against the traffic code here and if anything happens while I'm doing it, I get the ticket and not the driver pulling out in front of me.

I own six bikes and the pure xc hardtail, the fair weather cyclocross commuter, and the foul weather tourer commuter are all a piece of cake to ride with no hands. The road racer is too squirrely below about 18-20 mph and the other two mountain bikes are hyperstable. Once you get them going straight you can't get them to turn and once you get them turning, you can't get them to stop.

I ride with no hands but only for a short segment of the road where there's not a lot of traffic; I put my hands back on the handlebars once I see cars coming.

And a mountain bike is much easier to balance with no hands. I think it because of the heavier weight and the fatter tires.

People do ride no hands. It should be done for some purpose rather than vanity though. I was on a ride. A guy who was with me had on a long sleeved jersey under his normal jersey and it was getting warmer. He rode no handed and took off his helmet & both jerseys. He put his short sleeved jersey back on, stuffed the other in his pocket. He put his helmet back on and continued riding.

Old Joke - founded on reality:

"Look Ma! No hands!"

"Look Ma! No teeth!"

The ones that scare me and, no doubt, give us cyclists a bad name, are the young ladies I see all to often - riding about no hands (no helmet either) and looking at the sky while yapping into their cell-phones. I swear they're out there.

I'm a racer. I ride no hands to eat, change clothes, etc, often on training rides, and sometimes in races (not in the middle of the pack of course). It's very useful if you don't want to stop to do those things.

It's not so good for just riding. Sitting up like that increases your wind resistance and decreases your muscular effeciency- being bent over some lets you use your glutes effectively. Then there's the safety issue. An unanticipated side wind can cause you to swerve much more than if you had a hand on the bars. This is why I pick roads with wide shoulders or make sure there are no cars behind me when I am going to ride no hands to do something.

If you have elbow problems I suggest that you both get some PT to help fix it (possibly including a regime of weight work) and, if you don't think that it will get fully fixed, have your bike set up to accomodate it.

BTW, for some reason mountain bikes are harder to ride no hands than road bikes.

If I'm on a long ride and on a multi use path with very little traffic of pedestrians and such, I like to stretch out by sitting in an upright position. That requires me to let go of the bars. If there's no cross winds, then I can go for quite a while.

It also allows me to drink from the water bottle or even break open a gel pack and take that too.

Cose to home, when I finish my ride and just warming down, and because I know my neighborhood, I can go no hands even on turns, as long as I make the turns wide enough.

Some bikes are very responsive. Some call it twitchy others call it aggressive geometry for quick handling. Those bikes require more skill to go no hands.

That's true. I rarely ride with no hands on my way into work. I'm not only going downhill for the most part, I'm more concerned with getting there on time whereas on the way home I'm often just kicking back and cruising along. Pedaling a touring bike loaded down to 60 lbs. up a gradual incline is work enough without getting up to the speeds where aerodynamics become significant.

It's also rare to see me take much of a break on a century ride. To maintain a stability with the short wheelbase and 73º head tube on the road racer, I've got to be moving pretty quick without having to do much work to get there. That means in a pack, going downhill, or riding with a good tailwind. The first is unsafe and the second is where aerodynamics save you the most. The last? Let's just say it's a nice break after having fought the headwind the other way. :D

Not interested in ladies, thankyouverymuch. I do it because it's fun! One stretch on Radagast the Beige-and-Black was nearly 4 miles. Still learning the balance on those narrow tires on Orion.