No I dont want to do it to be a poser, but it just seems pretty useful when you get stopped at the lights on your commute. More often than not you just get clipped out when the lights change.

So how do I learn to trackstand?, is it just trial and error? Should i practice with flat pedals to avoid any unfortunate clipped in disasters?

practice on a slight upward slope so the bike drops back into your feet. pulse forwards and backwards against the slope gently.with the front wheel turned 60degrees ish.

concentrate on backfoot pressure more than front. – although that may be because most of my traffic lights are at the bottom of hills so im pointing down then !

good video on cyclewise website, 10 mins practice a day for a couple of weeks and it will be sorted,

definately about practice and core muscle development

yoga balances have helped me a lot

What Jedi said pretty much. If you find a slope it's much easier as you can rock forwards and backwards. Easier with flats as you'll be able to put a foot down (but also more tempted). Best way is to practice lots at every set of lights you'll soom get to a point where you can just do it indefinately. I find it very useful for balance at slow speed out on the hills.

It might be bike specific. I can do it all day on my commuter, on my mtb I can do it one handed but on my road bike only for a short while and normally constantly creeping forwards

wife found it useful to ride very slowly up a hill or gradient, pausing when her lead foot was at about 1-2oclock position, when she felt her balance going then pedal outof it and tried again a couple of pedal strokes later. building up to a couple of seconds each time, then into just doing a trackstand. found it less frustrating than just tryinto stop and trackstand also i think gave her more control over the balance at very slow speed which helps

LOL Why did nobody tell me that this counted as a Manual. I'd been trying to balance for a meaningful amount of time rather than just pulling up on the bars for a moment:

http://www.cyclewise.co.uk/index.php/media/core-skills-videos

🙂 🙂

I can trackstand on a small slope pretty much until I get bored. Can someone teach me how to do no handed trackstands please? Yes really… 🙂

Yoga, ha

so, sorry, another daft question after watching that vid, the brakes arent involved at all? its all in the pedals?

how to

I could never do this right until Rich and Craig at Cyclewise sorted me out. Flats will help for sure at first, otherwise just slacken off your spds. Best to practice on a gentle incline and not to use brakes at all. Balance spread between bars and pedals with bars turned towards your lead foot. Don't stare at your front wheel, just stay relaxed and focus on something away from the bike.
Now try to find the balance point where you can feel stable. With your bars turned, if you feel you need to move balance to the right, gently let the pedals come back (if the bars are turned to the left). If you feel you need to move balance slightly to the left then gently push forward on the pedals. Try to get used to balancing on the pedals almost as if you are balancing the clutch/throttle on a car. It will take time!
Another exercise is to very slowly pedal up a gradual incline and slow to a stop. As you slow, turn your bars towards your lead foot and try to find your balance point. When you feel yourself about to tip, just start pedalling again, regain balance and repeat.

Patience grasshopper!

Me and my brother used to play the downhill trackstand game when we were kids. Start at the top of a slope pointing downwards, you can't pedal and hence can't go back up the slope. Last one to the bottom wins. If you dab you lose.

It's quite a forgiving way to learn as you can roll out a little bit when you lose balance and then try again, obviously the better you can trackstand the less you need to roll down the hill and thus you'll win.

I think it's a useful skill to learn, particularly if you ride with SPDs. Restarting on a very technical climb with SPDs can be tough but if you can start into a trackstand, take a second to clip in and get settled and then pedal, it's surprisingly easy to get going again…

you can either use the brakes a bit or just rely on pedal pressure and eventually just pure balance/body position

best to practice across a slope with the high ground on your right – with the camber on the road this is the most likely situation you'll find waiting at lights, so make your trackstand useful right away

the brakes arent involved at all? its all in the pedals?

If you're on an incline then you should aim to no use the brakes but if you are on the flat or a down slope then unless you are riding a fixed wheel bike you are going to have to use the brakes.

In my opinion the actual skill isn't all that relevant, other than looking cool at traffic lights, however what I noticed was that I was far more comfortable at very low speeds even when the bike stalled on an obstacle.

It is a very useful skill on steep slow technical stuff. Especially if on a new trail and you just want to pause for a moment to pick the line.

I think Jedi's recommendation is pretty much how I learned. Much easier on the MTB than on the road bike. Tyre width being the key differnce.

Once you can do it on the road bike it comes pretty easy on the MTB. Still did not stop me falling off in front of a huge line of traffic a couple of years back :oops:. Could almost hear the cheers 😀

don't do it at traffic lights until you can do it without shaking like a sh!tt!ng dog
and only do it at traffic lights if you're going to be waiting for less than a minute or so, otherwise you're trying too hard

what everyone's said. Assuming you're geared, it took me about 15 minutes a day for a week of dedicated practice to get a rudimentary standing trackstand together. The following week I was juddering around at the lights. There's a tendency to look down at the front wheel – try and keep your head up and look straight ahead. You find you use your brakes a lot in the beginning, but you won't need to use them at all after a month of so.

Also it's easier with your front wheel turned to the right. As we drive on the left, there's commonly a (barely discernable) uphill sloope towards the middle.

Once you've got that sorted, try it seated – it's much more relaxing at the lights. If you want to trackstand downhill, put your foot on the front wheel and drag it backwards to get the backwards motion – surprisingly easy. And then there's everything no handed which comes after a few months of daily commuting.

Wheelieing – well that's another story. Year and counting.

is it more difficult with dropped bars, your body will be in a totally different position if u are on the brakes compared to an MTB?

Its much easier on drops as your weight is further forward (Smooth tyres make it easier too)
BTW, I think trackstanding is pretty much an essential skill if you ride in traffic, 'specially with full road pedals – most of my naughty RLJing pals do so cause they are too scared to clip in/out at stops(useless fudds!)

I agree with brakes. Only do it at traffic lights if you can do it without rocking backwards and forwards like a loon.

BTW, I think trackstanding is pretty much an essential skill if you ride in traffic

Yup…did a magic one this afo whilst trying to avoid some little scrotes crossing the road a school lunch time. They are like sheep if one goes they all go. Why did the ginger one decide to go? his mates had all seen me and stopped 🙄
Fortunately I did a bit of a tankslapper type stop with the rear of the bike about to wipe out his mate whilst I was up close eyeballing him 😈
The other hundred or so gave a great cheer and then started laughing 😆

jedi:

practice on a slight upward slope so the bike drops back into your feet. pulse forwards and backwards against the slope gently.with the front wheel turned 60degrees ish.

P

ukbikeskills' invoice is in the post OP

advice will always begiven as it always has from me 🙂

I can't believe alpin has contributed to this thread. 😀

Wahey!

here i am….

not much else left to say though, is there? everything has been said.

practice. that's all there is to it. and once you've nailed it you can make other people's bikes look good.

currently trying to nail riding backwards; both on the fixie and the mtb (use momentum after an endo). managed around two meters on both.

BigDummy:
I can't believe alpin has contributed to this thread.

You're being stalked by him it seems.

i prefer to call it destiny…