I just got my first fixed bike on tuesday. since then I've hit the empty parking lot twice, practicing riding slow circles, trackstands and skips/skids.
the slow circles are coming along good, helping out my balance and such.
the trackstands are hard, but i'm getting a better feel for it.
but i can't execute a skip/skid. period.
how long did it take for you to be able to skip? any tips?

as long as it takes you to search

I couldnt skid well until I got clipless, but another factor was gearing.. its geared pretty hard.

I got my first fixed last week, so I am right there learning along with you. I can't skid yet, probably partially due to the fact that I have been unwilling so far to tighten my cages as much as I should, and also due to the high gearing that came on my bike. Skips took some getting used to, but what helped a lot was realizing that at first I was keeping my back leg too loose and just trying to hop upwards; as soon as I started keeping my back knee more rigid and letting my momentum bring my back leg up my skipping became a lot more consistent/useful.

trackstand - pinch the top tube with your knees for help until you get better
skip - lift out of saddle a little as pedals approach 9 & 3 then press down with rear leg/lift with front
skid - eh, just go to youtube. Im sure there are countless vids up there on this by now

I learned to skip in about 15 min with 49x16 gearing.
I learned skidding in a couple of days since I didnt do it often.

my straps are a bit loose, maybe i'll give that a try.
thanks all

it took me somewhere between a week and a year to learn - inasmuch as i learned the movement but it takes a long time for your body to get comfortable enough to use it as a tool when you're riding.

being a cool hardcore fixed rider doesn't happen overnight. practice, keep riding, and comfort on the bike will come naturally.

i'm definetly feelling more comfortable on the bike each day. i commute 11 miles a day on it.
i have a front brake on, but i guess i feel like skipping is still a necessity in emergency situations.
thanks for all the tips

Exact same story here. Took almost a year and only started happening with clipless. Since then, I can now do it OK with clips and straps, just not as easily.

for skids, practice on wet grass first. try riding the bottoms of your pedals so you don't rely on yanking up with your front foot and instead have to transfer your weight forward to initiate the skid. once you're good on grass, move to wet asphalt/smooth concrete until you get comfortable doing it anywhere. took me about 2 weeks until I was really comfortable

Go play in the rain.

+1 grass
+1000000 wet anything but not untill you know how to control the skid, old wet asphault is like a slip and slide

if you are a n00blet sand on pavement > wet pavement... that is, if you have a beach around.

This is like asking how long it takes someone to learn how to ride a bike, some people learn faster than others. Some can never learn. Pffbt.

no...some people are just lardasses and are too lazy to learn and so they go and buy a frickin huge suv, put some truck nuts on it , and roar down the road running people over. to them, cyclists=squirrels=martha, grab the shotgun.

I've been riding fixed for about a month now... I couldn't really skid until this week. I understood the motion...took advice from forums... but I think the X-factor was the new bullhorns I just got... it makes it really easy to get all your weight up towards the front of the bike, much much easier than drops... hopefully ill be able to switch back to drops cuz they r so damn sexy

yeah, really want some bullhorns. now i've got another reason.

Use your quads & other leg muscles to stabilise your knee. If you are locking it up, you are gonna be in a world of pain pretty soon.

get a brake

I just wasn't sure how to word it, I am definitely not locking the knee, but just putting more weight on it. It'll definitely be awhile before I feel comfortable riding without a brake (not planning on it ever at this point) and with where I'm at in the learning curve currently I'm considering adding a rear brake as well.

from one noob to another, trackstands are just as easy as you make em. the idea of trackstands are hard, but actually doing it is all state of mind, practice at a little incline.

as for having a brake, get one, they are awesome. i wanted to be cool and not have a brake, but for the good of myself and many others, the brake was a gracious gift. I dont wanna do the brake vs. brakeless argument, but for someone who is not good at skidding or anything like that, have a brake, your knees will love you in 25+ years.

skipping is for girls... boys run...