Or maybe just levity, Jedi.

dabbing the ground with your inside foot so the weight goes onto your foot for a fraction of a second, unweighting the tyre. No braking required.

Ahha that's the trick is it? I'll try that ta!

and all I wanted was some advice….. 😯

Agreed. I now have skidmarks…..! 🙄

No I was serious

You're better off doing it in the car, using weight transfer or left foot braking against the throttle (in a FWD car at least). At least that way the trails don't get ripped up 😆

Jedi, have you become a zen Buddhist?

The video of Sam Hill doing it looked like he was leaning the bike over until the point it washed out, then immediately catching it by turning into the skid/slide/drift with his front wheel.

Looked very difficult to get right, and also the sort of thing you need a big wide fast corner for.

Best place to learn to drift is wet brick. Just like the massive 'pedestrian' area out the front of my shop, that has worn many a Small Block 8.

It's a combination of lean, unweight, and flick the hips/push through the pedals. Start by using a dab of the foot to get the unweight. Over time, foot-up drifting is possible, and amazing.

A certain top 20 junior DH rider perfected the art of "feet-up 180 drift to fakie roll-back" right out here on our bricks, on my SE hardtail…

There's a question of responsibility. Presumably you've all heard the old line 'take only pictures, leave only footprints/tyre tracks'?

I'd suggest the definition of tyretracks there does not extend to drifting or skidding. Such marks are possibly the most irritating visual reminder of the presence of mountain bikers to the 'anti-bike-brigade' as as such merely hands them ammunition to banish us from the countryside or at the very least to trail centres.

Secondly any activity which causes the loosening/removal of topsoil accelerates weathering and as such should be done with respect to any ecologically sensitive areas.

Oh…and final thought…if you're skidding. You're out of control.

if you're skidding. You're out of control.

Eh?

It's a combination of lean, unweight, and flick the hips/push through the pedals. Start by using a dab of the foot to get the unweight. Over time, foot-up drifting is possible, and amazing.

Cutties not drifting.

You need to be getting loose to drift or be going quick. A proper drift means both wheels are going sideways at the same time.

Cutties are something you do on a snowboard, not a bike. Same as you don't ollie over obsticles, or handbrake turn on hairpin bends.

Cutties are something you do on a snowboard, not a bike. Same as you don't ollie over obsticles, or handbrake turn on hairpin bends.

7 Minuites in, watch it!

8)

http://www.vitalbmx.com/videos/member/Tire-Slide,12838/kylecarlson,363

Is 'world's longest skid (distance not time)' in the Guinness Book of Records?

Riding damages trails. Real drifting does a bit but it's not on the same order as just locking up the rear.

Someone on a 29er skidding it up around Jamaica.

joe@brookscycles – Member

Best place to learn to drift is wet brick.

No, no , no, no, no.

The best place to learn drifting is on an enduro bike , on a fire road, in the championship class, at a british championship enduro, on a tight check.

Oh and yes it does cause erosion. Still feels beyond cool though. 8)

RTFM! Singletrack issue 42, page 54, talking about riding rutted & bermed corners fast. According to "Nigel Page [who] runs the Chain Reaction/Intense downhill team, races Masters Downhill at the top level and is also terrifyingly fast on a bike"

"Nigel explained that your outside foot needs to be down with all of your weight pushing the bike into the ground. Meanwhile, you lean the bike over far further than you think is wise while keeping pressure on the bars to get that front wheel literally scraping the inside edge of the rut. Finally you need to move your hips quickly from a position low and over the centre of the bike to somewhere over your right foot.This initiates a terrifying sounding rear wheel slide and magically lines up your bike for the exit of the corner, where you pedal away with gusto."

Bike Drift Ha! Ha! Ha!

roadie_in_denial – Member

There's a question of responsibility. Presumably you've all heard the old line 'take only pictures, leave only footprints/tyre tracks'?

I'd suggest the definition of tyretracks there does not extend to drifting or skidding. Such marks are possibly the most irritating visual reminder of the presence of mountain bikers to the 'anti-bike-brigade' as as such merely hands them ammunition to banish us from the countryside or at the very least to trail centres.

Secondly any activity which causes the loosening/removal of topsoil accelerates weathering and as such should be done with respect to any ecologically sensitive areas.

Oh…and final thought…if you're skidding. You're out of control.

Bollocks!

With all due respect that's the sort of tripe you'd expect from some Eco-numpty who believes the British "Countryside" is an entirely natural environment and not the product of several thousand years of ape descendants hunting, farming building and warring,

"Ecological sensitivity"?!!? you what?
From the race that gave us the Motorway, Chernobil and the Exxon Valdez…

You want me to feel guilty for disturbing some top soil?

I do the odd bit of trail maintenance too where I deem it necessary, I've been riding my local trails for a few years now, the levels of trail erosion have remained pretty consistent and the "damage" such as it is is limited to the trails themselves, pine needle/leaf fall and seasonal weather changes mean they generally recover over the course of 12 months, to the same nominal condition, the local wildlife, Deer, Owls and Squirrels haven't left in protest at the state of the woods… Dog Walkers and their scratty little mutts leaving shite everywhere probably have more environmental impact that MTBs.

"Apologist Eco-fundamentalist Mountain bikers", Yet another twatty niche eh?
What type of beard, functionally crippled bicycle, item of ill fitting Girls clothing and brand of low carbon, Hemp-beaded tires do I need in order to join that particular "Collective of individuals" type clique?

Do tell…

you sat up all night thinking about that post didn't you……… 🙂

People who moan about drifting are probably jealous of those who can do it.

It's very hard to explain how to do it, best is to practise on a loose surface with lots of space. Try holding onto the bars hard (to make sure you catch the counter steer when it slides and not just stack it and let the bars turn too far), weight slightly forward, outside foot down. Lean the bike over more than yourself, turn sharply and unweight the outside foot and then sharply reweight it, that will prevoke the slide. To hold a big slide once it starts going sharply push the bars down to make the bike lean harder and thus slide longer. With practise it possible to get the handlebar to hit the floor and not actually crash, you'll stop from the slide slowing you down but you'd be amazed how much more lean angle you can hold once the bike is drifting.

You're entitled to your opinions cookeaa, just as I am mine. No call for the blatant lack of respect or bad language.

Awwwww Diddums…. 😥

@Jedi – sadly it took a wee while to compose, you're far too right we keyboard warriors are a sad lot really…

if you're skidding. You're out of control.

"If you aint sliding, you aint riding…"

I was once told by the shopkeeper

ride, slide whatever..just ride

skidding is cool

check out Joe barnes skid in the dukes of hazard clip

Midweek Mini Movies

now thats a skid

Threads like this really bring out th best in stw. 😐

Threads like this really bring out th best in stw.

Indeed it does. The world becomes polarised into two groups of people.

Those that can drift and those that wish they could drift but since they cant try to argue that's it bad for the trails. 😉

it's OFFICIAL : Yeti endorses drifting! 8)
(pics taken from Yeti website)

This thread is sooooo lame, and now I've caught the lame cooties by reading it.

BTW drifting is evil, that is until I can master it, then I'll believe its like kittens licking the topsoil.

if you're skidding. You're out of control.

I wasn't going to add anymore to this thread but I've just got to say (because I did literally laugh out loud when I read the above), thats complete sheeeiiite.

Have you seen those world rally drivers, on every bend there like totally outta control man

i shuoted skids are for kids at my mate last night and his reply was simply "well why arent you skidding then?"

we can all learn from this wise man.

If any of you want to came and see the erosion caused by the skill-less locking up the back wheels compared to to the "skill-full" drifting come on out on a trail maintainance dig night first Tuesday of every month.

No difference at all by the way, it still puts the dirt from the tread of the trail into the bushes- that's where the trail goes by the way. Any time the trail leaves the tread or migrates down hill you take away cross slope and makes drainage harder. Harder/slower drainage eventually leads to soggy wet/washed out trail.

Two things, and then that's it.

It is just such crap to claim that the only reason someone might object to "drifting" is that they can't do it.

Just because someone might give a shit about unduly accelerating erosion, or being considerate of other people and not giving the impression that mountain biking is a hooligan activity – that doesn't immediately mean that that person lives at the furthest extreme of hippy-dippy thinking. That also is a moronic argument, even if you do type it out into a 200 word rant.

Those that can drift and those that wish they could drift but since they cant try to argue that's it bad for the trails.

FWIW I can do it but not very well, and mainly on dry dusty trails like I rode in the Alps – not much of that oop north – drifting in control on uneven loose wet rocks is usually beyond me really.

I think it's pretty clear it will cause a bit more erosion than not doing it, how much more and whether you think that matters is a different issue.

I drift on footpaths.

Discuss.