I can do it on a road bike and a fixed gear, but mostly i do the rocking back and forth thing.

I can do it going into it slowly if Im not paying attention, left foot forward, bars to the right, as soon as I realize Im doing it I mess it up and lose it.

This needs a, "YES, but I choose not to" button.

A cabbie once praised me for my trackstanding ability. A few people at lights have asked me how and I just say "practice".

I trackstand 99% of the time that I stop unless I'm really tired.

And no offence intended whatsoever but I'm really surprised at how many people can't trackstand here. Find a slight upslope, turn your wheel around 45 degrees and have your feet at 3 and 9(parallel to the ground). Start by having something nearby to hold on to.

My friend and I had to stop because a construction crew was doing some work and had a backhoe in the road. We did a tarckstand the whole time and some construction guy said "You guys have way to much time on your hands." We asked him why and he said because we can balance our bicycles.

^^^ I lol'd irl!!!

I trackstand left, left. Just felt natural. Don't like taking my feet out of my clips and I have fun trying to balance.

Best trackstanding experience ever was riding at the end of Paris-Brest-Paris. Seemed like the group I was in was catching every single light. Got tired of it -- unclip, foot down, ok light's green, push off, clip in, go! -- and started trackstanding. On the road bike, after having just ridden 750+ miles, in 79 hours.... The folks in the group, mostly French from teams in Bretange, saw what I was doing and loved it. Some of them started trackstanding, too. We drew a lot of attention from other riders and spectators, all of them going nuts and applauding and just carrying on about the group of guys trackstanding at the end of a 1200km event. It was awesome!

Right foot forward and bars to the right for me.
Although I'm working on using my left foot forward and to the left, almost there, just a bit more practice.

Is it hipster to trackstand at intersections?

It's usually pretty unnecessary, but I do enjoy watching people trying with every fiber of their being to maintain their balance until the light turns green. It reminds me of the "oh no, the floor has turned to lava!" game I used to play as a kid.

I'm probably lucky to have so many beginning brakeless riders bumbling around town, there's always something fun to watch.

You forgot standing track stand.

I learned on a mountain bike years ago (Thanks, Hans Rey!). It's much easier on a fixed.

I'm now ambidextrous with it, but I started only able to do it left foot forward.

for about 10 seconds at a time. sometimes toe-overlap ****s me up.

I can't, although I never really set aside time to learn, and trying to learn in traffic doesn't seem like a good idea to me. If I'm familiar with the intersection, though, I'll usually approach really slowly until I get the green light or I can run the red.

I'd like to learn, though. Maybe I can just get a holder to follow me around.

When I learned to trackstand, I could already ride a unicycle, which made it seem like kid stuff. I can now do all of the ways in the poll and a seated, one handed and no handed, except I can only do the no handed with the wheel pointed to the left for some reason. Also, have a backpack on makes the no handed a bit tricky, i.e. I can barely do it.

Left, Right, I do it all haha. What really gets people in the cars is a no hander at a red light.

that is what I do.

i love seeing fixed gear riders trying to track stand at lights, jiggling and jerking using all sorts of nervous energy just to not put a foot down. focusing and concentrating, expressions grim but determined...it is hilarious

I don't live in a city but work in one. Mostly when I see people tracking standing it does look a little idiotic. Especially the people that rock back and forth and straining every muscle to stay up. I feel like telling them just relax and wait for light like normal people. You are wasting energy. Or you see the morons that lose their stand and start circling the trying to avoid getting hit. So yeah tracking standing at red lights is comical.

I've done all the variations in the poll at some point or another, but nowadays I stick with wheel and bars to the left and seated. If I feel like testing my balance I do seated no-handed. When I ride freewheel I can usually make it through most lights without putting a foot down and tend to do left, left. Trackstanding is one of the funnest aspect of biking to me.

I trackstand at every light I have to stop at. Its too much effort to dismount and all that ****. I can answer my phone, adjust my bag, smoke... My best though was opening and downing a beer while doing a no-handed trackstand. It was sweet.


/jackasstarckery.

win!

I ate a pop tart for breakfast during my commute across boston. I opened the wrapper while no handed trackstanding at a light next to some commuter dude who gave me the funniest look. Most jackass bike thing I've done in a while.

thats because you're doing it wrong.

point the wheel towards the forward foot. it feels counter-intuitive, but it works! go figure...