Skidding on a fix.
 

When you skid your fixed gear, do you always have to lean against the handlebars? I watched that Alley Cat video and it looked like people were skidding after the race without leaning all the way forward? Any tips?

thanks.
cory

You lean so far forward because you want to almost completely unweight your rear wheel. If you have lots of weight on your rear wheel then you won't skid as far. If you think it through it makes perfect sense.

they are going for the longest skid, not for the most efficient way to stop. so to skid for a long time, yes, you have to unweigh the rear wheel as much as you can--lean forward as far as possible without falling over the bars--to decrease friction.

I understand that when you lean forward you're going to skid extra far, but what if you want to stop really quickly?

if you want to stop by skidding, you still have to unweigh the rear wheel at least a little bit in order to start a skid. once you're skidding you can apply more weight to the rear. you can also hop skid, where you pull the rear wheel off the ground, and lock the pedals in mid-air. when the wheel goes back down it will skid. how much weight you apply to the rear depends on how strong your legs are. you need pretty strong legs to maintain a skid with full weight on the rear. people usually skid several times before they come to a full stop.

Thanks shrimpx. Sounds like I'm in for a few bruises, but I can't wait. Learning to ride backwards was much lower impact. :)

cory

do most people skid with either leg forward/back, or do you prefer skidding in one pedal position? i personally always skid with my right foot forward, but i'm trying to learn to skid with my left foot forward... it feels weird..

This is weird, but when I lean way forward and skid, my right foot is always forward. When I do hop skids (and I use the word "do" reluctantly) my left foot is forward. When I rode bmx, I was always a left foot forward rider. Wierd?

cory

The way I learned to skid was, I was slowing down by pulling up on the front pedal and pushing down on the back pedal... and then one time I did it hard enough and I skidded.

I rely on the leg pulling up on the front pedal to lift the rear wheel--don't really lean forward much. In traffic, I do little skids, one side then the other, in quick succession. If I need more stopping power I fishtail and drag the wheel sideways. (I can only fishtail to the right though, go figure...)

i feel i have more control when i do hop skids. and i'm sure it wears out less of your rear tire...

mc

Yeah, once you get used to it everything sorta falls into place. I remember the first couple times I skidded it was scary as hell. Especially when it was rainy out. Now I can pretty much control it unless I'm really flying, which I don't do very often. Just start off going slowly and work your way up to going FAST. Just don't overstep your boundaries, that's my mantra...

i love skidding into a fishtail. i love the feeling of just when you're about to lose control you just start pedalling again and everything falls right back into place....god i love fixies...oh yeah, i do a bunch of short skids with either foot forward when i'm in traffic, or one long one if i've got the space....a lot of times though i just skid once or twice, then just apply force backwards until i trackstand.

oh well, this thread cursed me.

did a skid tonight and came unclipped, flipped over my bike...

it was graceful though...!

mc

do you use toeclips? falling out of your pedals while skidding tends to happen with toeclips :)

just don't do it on a downhill.

nope. crappy WTB clipless that came with my bianchi pista.

i've got time impact-s's coming in the mail today. good timing.

mc

Skidding is so much easier on a track bike vs. a road conversion. I ate **** last time I tried it on my road fix. I guess its easier to get your weight over the front of the bike on a track frame.

cory

Orange.

Thanks for the technique tip. The hop, pull up with front foot push with back totally worked.

Cory

Grunk/Cory,
Happy to help!