xfrancox

Alright, Im tryin to learn and I dont feel like Im making any progress. I searched the forum but I get so many threads that contain the word trackstand, none of which being what im looking for.

I need pointers, things to do, things not to do, possibly any videos you know of, anything really. Should I stand up straight, lean over the handle bars, sit down. I read about shifting your weight forward and backwards. It frustrates me that Im so bad at this. Im still pretty new to riding fixed but it hasnt really been THAT difficult. I dont have many friends too into biking, so its not like I can just learn by watching someone else. All I have to go on is my idea of what should be done. Any help?

666pack

there's really not too much technique other than balance involved.
dominant foot forward, wheel turned, and just don't think about it too much.

i learned how to trackstand out of necessity. i don't think i ever really practiced much, i just started doing it at traffic lights out of necessity.

one tip i will give you: it's hard to trackstand from a standstill if you're just learning. ride around a little, play on the bike. slow down and stop and hold it for as long as you can. standing up helps, center your weight in the middle of the bike. that will make you more confident and help you get the motion down.

AfterThisNap

www.trials-online.com

Just practice. My GF picked it up in about 3 days.

zephyr16

yeah trackstanding while standing up is a lot easier than sitting down. just center your weight with your feet at 9 and 6 oclock(depending on which foot it forward). it wierd i cant really describe to you in detail the things i do to trackstand because im not really conscious of them, they just sorta came with practice.

i would say that with anything, the more you practice it the better you will get. it took me forever to learn to trackstand, i had my fixxie for over a year before i was able to do it for a long time. i still cant do backwards circles to well...

kemmer

Strange, I don't think my bike can do that.

xfrancox

What is with doing backwards circles?

Nekura

I learned to track stand sitting down, and my dominant foot is reversed. Don't think about it too much and just do it.

gargiulo.mike

once you find that magical balance point, your golden

xfrancox

The site posted above had some good info on it. Going by what they suggested, I was turning my wheel the wrong way. The video they have also helped a bit. The problem with practicing something you have no idea how to do, is that you dont know what youre practicing, haha.

jol

Ride in slow small circles and then try to stop with your best foot forward, front wheel angled towards it. Don't look down.

xfrancox

Hmm, that site said to point the front wheel away from your best foot forward.

nobrainer440

I started by just trying to ride as slow as possible on my road bike, before I even got a fixie. I got pretty good at it on the road bike, so when I got my fixie, there was a little bit of a learning curve, and then it was cake.

Just try to ride as slow as you possibly can, then when you get pretty dang slow, stop with the pedals level and the wheel pointing to one side, and try to stay balanced by moving forward and backward, which will move you side to side, since the wheel is turned. Don't turn the wheel too far, or you wont be able to push the pedals.

AfterThisNap

Haha,kangaroo cranks ftw.

blickblocks

I did a little trackstand today at a light, I was kinda jittery about it though, I was going back and forth a good 6 inches. I think that kind of helps to put your body into it, since I can't pedal my bike backwards for nothing.

endform

You balance yourself more with your feet rather than moving your upper body around. And also I think you very much don't just find where you're perfectly balanced and then just try and stay there. It's a process of learning to rock back and forth over that balance point and to be able to move yourself back towards that point.

Also standing up while placing your weight on your hands makes it a lot easier.

blickblocks

By "putting my body into it" I meant more to help move the bike backwards, then I use my feet to move the bike forwards. Works for freewheeling bikes too.

slvoid

Same here.
Find a wall to hold onto so you can get the hang of what the sweet spot feels like.

slvoid

Thats a recipe for pedal strike.

I'veGotABikeSyd

it may be worth mentioning that your gearing makes a bit of a difference. I was running 48/18 on my old Nishiki and had a really hard time learning to do a trackstand because I couldn't react with the cranks and rock the bike back and forth very easily to maintain balance. Though not impossible to do, being a total noob with very little leg muscles made it much more difficult to learn on....

fetch

it took me awhile to learn.

the first 2-3 weeks i had ZERO strength in my leg for pushing/pulling back on the pedals, even in my granny gear (44/17), i was super tired from all that back peddling.

after awhile i got it though. once non-forward leg/body got used to push back, balancing and not wanting to step off. but i gotta say now with my 48/17, the bigger chainring gives me a larger "sweet spot" for my stands and that helped a lot with my balance.


anyway i learned sitting down, while doing really tight circles (thank god i have no toe overlap) just going really slow, and i just stopped the cracks at 3 and 6 and balanced. my main problems were bailing out too early and not trying to balance or failing to push back to counter balance myself.

xfrancox

Man, thanks to everyone for the pointers. If I cant do it after all of this advice then theres just something wrong with me, haha.

freeskihp

trials bikes FTW

endform

i guess this is why i should use the quote feature, I meant to respond to garuglio.mikes comment. Yeah, the moving backwards part is where I use my body too, but I think a lot of people trying to learn at first try and do it all upper body.

fischer, max

that's not what pedal strike is.

it also helps a lot to keep your front foot a little higher than the rear one, so you can catch yourself more easily when you start to drift. like maybe 10:00 and 4:00 instead of 9:00 and 3:00. once i was told this, i could trackstand pretty much indefinitely, and it also helps if you ever want to try to do it no-handed.

whix

Trials trackstand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui8AvAkIk2w

Trackstand 2.0
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-omKf9nI1...elated&search=

Huge Trackstand comp
https://youtube.com/watch?v=maRJ2nXRY...elated&search=

hope that helps