umd

Let me preface this by saying not to bother responding to this unless you can actually ride with no hands. For more than a few seconds.

So the question is, do you notice any difference riding no-handed with your feet retained (via clipless pedals, toe-clips, glue, magnets, whatever) vs not? I ride hands-free all the time, sometimes as much as 20 minutes at a time if I'm cruisin', but I noticed last week when I was riding with regular shoes on my speedplays that it was a little harder to balance/control without the positive retention the cleats gave. It turns out I normally use pressure on the pedals to regulate my balance and I couldn't do that without being clipped in. Also I believe that the smoothness of the pedalstroke affects my ability to balance and without being clipped in my stroke was not as smooth. So what are your experiences?

permanentjaun

Correct.

(Ok I'm done.)

mrbubbles

I rode no hands with sandals, runners, clipless, even bare feet. I don't feel the differences. I do have trouble riding no hands at slow speed though, mostly speed less than 15kph.

urbanknight

I'd bet it's a mental thing. I used to think I couldn't ride with no hands unless I was pedaling because I used to force to balance. It's just a matter of getting used to doing it without (pedaling or clipped in shoes), and trusting yourself that you can do it.

On a side note, I learned on Mt. Baldy that I can't ride no handed while zipping up my jacket on an off camber road at 7-8 mph.

wideAMG

you ride speedplays without cleats?

why?

j_amie_

I don't ride with out being clipped in much, but when I ride clipped in with no hands I find I hold my line better when I continue to pedal vs. coasting. I sure could see riding with runners and no hands to be more difficult though.

uke

I ride freehands all the time on the way to/from campus. I do it in sandals, and regularly pass runners, other cyclists, etc. Slow, fast, it doesn't matter. What matters is the gear ratio. If you're pedaling in too small a gear, you pedal too quickly, which costs balance, unless you learn to cruise, which you should, because it's how you slow down without brakes. On the other (free) hand, if you pedal in too large of a gear, you pedal too slowly, and you lose balance that way because it requires too much effort to spin. So you need to learn to shift differently when riding freehands than when riding normally. I find I typically ride a gear or two higher without hands than with hands at a given speed. The good news is that once you get comfortable with it, you don't react as much to swerves, bumps, and obstacles, which results in a tighter line.

thebarerider

Just so he could ask this question on Bike Forums.

jsmithepa

Ride standing on the top tube (cleats optional), THEN u got a thread.

uke

Something that helped me when learning to do this was hanging my arms down and pretending I was somehow steering a dual line kite (pulling backward slightly with the hand in the direction I wanted to ease). Nowadays I usually keep my hands in my pockets, but keeping your arms low beside you will help when things aren't smooth.

Also, slight shifts in back position can make large differences in balance. I never know whether I'll have a free back or a 20lb backpack or something in between, so I always try to make sure I gear into the correct cadence (correct for me), and trust things to take care of themselves after that. And it goes without saying, but it's always better to brake too early than too late.

waterrockets 

I steer with one knee when I'm no handed. I think it's actually a bit easier w/out the cleats (slightly faster knee reaction). I mostly ride no handed with my arms straight up, if that affects anything

Monument Man

you ride 20 minutes with no hands?

i assume they don't have intersections where you live? or do you like to keep both hands on the trigger due to testy motorists in the area?

wez312

I just got clipless pedals a few weeks ago. Before that I had toe straps. I rode no hands either way and didn't really notice a difference.

(One of the toe straps was broken too so it didn't really do anything...)

I think if you're going fast enough it's not going to really make too much of a difference.

urbanknight

umd

I have speedplays on my bike, and sometimes I don't bother with cleats. For example, the "ride" that sparked this question in my mind was at Yosemite. My wife and I were driving through and thought it would be fun to ride around the valley. We were just screwing around, why bother with pedals?

Hmm, cleats would scratch the paint

I have noticed it is trickier to balance with a backpack on as well, although it helps with a backpack that straps down tightly so that it doesn't shift around. The worst was a sling-shoulder pack for my camera, whcih wanted to keep rotating around.

I have a few stretches where I can ride for long periods of time without stopping if I hit the signals right.


I should be clear that it wasn't that I can't do it, I just noticed a slightly different behavior without being clipped in. It was a different feeling that took me a moment to get used to. But wife told me to stop it because I wasn't wearing a helment either

halfspeed

I've been doing it since I was a kid. Never noticed a difference with or without clipless.

urbanknight

I think you just opened Pandora's box.

umd

We were crusing around the bike paths at Yosemite at 5mph.

Come to think of it, I think the slow speed is probably a better explanation for the poor handling than the lack of cliplessness

umd

But I mainly just wanted to start a thread that wasn't rehashing the same stuff over and over

thebarerider

I knew it.

umd

That's why I started the thread, but not why I was riding my speedplays with regular shoes....

thebarerider

Arm chair psychology is all I'm good at. Don't take that away from me.

newsun

This is where I notice the hardest time riding with my hands off the bars.

I like to mock like I am running on my bike swinging my arms the same way, I feel super goofy when I do it and that is the whole point. Usually the action is accompanied by a large grin on my face.

Often when out and about with my wife I am the one with the pack which is a backpack and it is kinda nice to sit more up to shift the weight. Although, this only is good if it's not too heavy. Today we went to the store and we both had bags packed as full as we could, with bulk and liquid goods, that was heavy.

gr@sshopper

I suck at no hands. Have to pedal, and can't do it without some kind of retention. With my feet locked in though? I've always had to brake before i needed to put my hands on the bars

collegeskier

I want to say that was Robbie McEwen celebratory finish in last years Tour de France. I thought it was neat. Probably looks better when you are winning a stage of the Tour.