I thought I would have this down by now, since whenever it's mentioned here it's assumed to be a no-brainer technique, mostly in the posts about how to skid. Lots of people recommend the skip instead, but being gymnastically challenged, I can't seem to lift the rear wheel in an elegant manner. Why is this eluding me?

Yes, I know, use the hand brakes.

fear of coordination of both feet combined with cranks that keep moving

do this off bike exercise:
stand up, now hop forward about 6 inches using just your ankles with both feet side by side

now do it with one foot a bit in front of the other like the cranks will place them on the bike

then do it one foot at a time, cause you can do it off either foot or both feet, both ways will get your weight off the bike and moving upward bringing the bike with you

get on bike and do the same thing, its a jedi mind screw, thats all it is, you can hop on and off a pedal while it is going around, weird at first, but thats all it is

to do a quick skip skid, I put my dominant foot forward and hop off of it then pull up with it and put my weight on the rear pedal at the same time, its a one-two motion, that split second while your weightless in the air is when you switch to pulling up on front pedal and pushing down on the rear one

if your having issues then try switching which foot is in front, sometimes that helps

So it's basically a matter of flicking your ankles forward?

Sort of. You can also get by without lifting the rear wheel, doing so just makes the task easier. In essence what you're trying to do is just quickly lock the wheel and do a short skid, alternate this with the rotation of the crank, and it very much feels like you're skipping (you know, what you did when you were a kid). Being ambidextrous about it only comes after you're familiar with skipping in with your strong leg back.

yup, its all ankle motion and timing for the most part

by varying how much ankle force you use you can change how much the rear of the bike comes up, from just skimming the road to almost doing an endo

you don't need to lift your rear wheel to skip.

seeing someone do it from behind for the first time is pretty much how i learned to do it, i had been trying for a while but once i saw someone do it while riding behind them it all made sense

perfect advice. i remembered the whole ankle flicking thing today so i gave it a try, worked first try through. from there i got the timing down to lift the wheel than apply reverse pressure, and from there got the small skid every half rotation. it makes me feel like a lil kid doing it for some reason and i'm super stoked to have this down now, it should make my back tire last longer and seems like it'd come in handy on hills.

anyone throw skips exclusively, even for those fast stops where you're going fast and the light goes red but you don't have the clearance to make it past? seems to get me stopped pretty efficiently but i'm not sure if i'm stoppign as fast this way as if i threw down a skid. but they are super easy to execute compared to a skid when you're going fast on dry pavement.

the easiest way to lift the rear wheel:

1. move to a position that is comfortable, where you feel you will have leverage and balance while minimizing injury potential
2. bend knees ever so slightly, in preparation of force dispersment
3. Firmly place hands onto underside of saddle
4. in one motion lift saddle upwards, until desired height is achieved.
***note, front wheel may or may not remain on the ground***

how can that be so hard?

Today I had a skidding breakthrough. Basically I learned to throw the back wheel of the bike off to the side while keeping a straight line. It looks cool, it's lots of fun and it seems to scrub off much more speed than a straight skid. Go ahead and make fun of me if everyone already knows this.

Wow, this is the most useful thread I have seen in the FGSS forum all week. Thanks pedex!

sometimes i'll turn the bars a little while doing a skid, not sure if this is the same thing. shaves speed a little better, as does the full on turning 90 degrees into a skid but that's not the most ideal in real traffic.

i'm loving skip stops now though, so easy to execute under lots of speed, skids i have to stand up a little if it's dry out but skips are fine seated. seems like they're easier on the drivetrain than skids, but harder on the back wheel. shouldn't be a problem with V profile rims though.

+1

here's a tip:
don't try to lift the rear wheel ...as the cranks spin around let them lift you.

well if you keep your weight to the rear it helps the tire bite more

I rarely skid completely to a stop, a couple sharp skips plus backpedal is what I typically do, even if I need to stop ASAFP.

with some practice, little skip skids can be done without hardly getting out of the saddle, once your going slower and your cadence is low, its quite easy to overpower the cranks and stop, I find myself skidding by accident sometimes when its wet when I really backpedal hard

********************
next up is bunnyhopping

it takes a village...

sweet. i got fixed bunny hops just now... not exactly high, not exactly gracefully executed (the tires aren't landing at the same time) but nevertheless, i just managed to teach myself in a few tries. a bit different than freewheel bunny hops too. i'm just doing like a combination of a skip and a wheel and getting both wheels off ground, next up is getting these over small curbs. so glad i opted for velocity fusions instead of aeroheads...
I<3trackbikes.

if all else fails just grab a handful of front brake and lean forward

when i'm teaching people this stuff i like to stress how much weight distribution has to do with it. try this: pedal around somewhere open, slowly. keey your hands on the bars and really lean forward, so that your legs are behind you and most of your weight is on the bars. keep pedaling, but play with fore and back pressure on the pedals - by pulling up with your forward foot and pushing with your rear foot you should be able to jerk the drivetrain backwards for a second. don't try to hold it or skid - you shouldn't be going fast enough for that - just drag it backwards for a split second.

get comfortable doing that. it's not what you'd use while in the street or riding, but once you're comfortable putting your weight on your bars, you can do anything with your rear wheel - you can hop it a little bit if you need to, you can skip and skid.

quite frankly, i recommend 'skipping' as short skids - the wheel doesn't need to leave the ground. just give yourself a little hop while pushing one pedal and lifting the other, and as you're coming back down (all w/i a fraction of a second), resume pedaling.

as always, practice on wet grass or wet pavement for added effect.

step one is getting comfortable with the mechanics
step two is getting comfortable using these moves in the street
they are two different things.

i hate to be "that guy" but i'm totally a visual learner, are there any videos out on youtube or whatever that have someone doing a good skip stop in them? i've heard it described a lot but never seen it.

I too had a mini-breakthrough. I almost always ride with clips and straps with my Sambas. But last weekend, I decided to put on the SPDs and real road shoes and go for a long training/road ride. All of a sudden, I'm getting the rear wheel off the ground and skipping for the first time. This is after almost a full year of riding fixed.

But, when I went back to the clips and straps for commuting, I couldn't do it!!! Conclusion: it's a lot easier with certain shoe/pedal setups.

i agree.

it's easier too, if you're standing in the pedals while you do this, putting most of your weight on your bars.

for me, i'm standing and my back leg locks around 6oclock. then i immediately pull up with the left foot. by this time, my back foot is around 7oclock.

so far, i can only do it well in that position.

by the way, skipping came naturally to me. i didn't try to do it at all. i resist to slow down alot, and one day i ended up on a smooth road with a slight decline. i resisted in the aforementioned position and i did a short skid. it surprised me so much i almost lost control of my bike.

anyways.

don't try so hard. it'll come to you.

Thanks for all the informative and helpful suggestions. I do think my major hurdle is not physical but mental, since right as I'm about to attempt the skip my brain shoots out a panic signal that effectively inhibits anything I try. My hands are resting on the brake hoods, so my brain is constantly telling me "Use hand brakes instead."

Anyway, I may have to come to grips with the expression "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I had managed to skip a couple times before, but I attribute them to flukes to the natural order of the universe, and not to my ability to control my bike.

Getting the rear wheel up a little can be helpful in learning to skip/skid in the early stages, but as soon as you have a feel for the overall technique of the skip/skid, I would say try to move on from needing to raise that rear wheel to get it started. Once you get the technique down and the key muscles involved get stronger, you may eventually find that you don't even need to get out of the saddle to skip. Focusing too much on raising the rear wheel will just complicate things in the long run and keep your attention from more important aspects of the technique.

I didn't know it was necessary to get out of the saddle for skips anyways... it can be for skids on dry pavement, but skips are just in the ankles for the majority of it, whereas skids require more of the leg.