Is it the looom ?

Looks better when throwing shapes for your edit.

When you turn the bars left, the bike leans to the right, thus getting it leaning into the direction of travel quicker.

Counter steering.

Looks shite and surely it’s quicker to “Strava” the line 😯

Scandinavian flick in’it

Counter steering. It works.

You mean the ‘french turn’? 😆

[video]https://youtu.be/6D4wb2I59d8[/video]

I’ve been trying to do this lately…

am I right in thinking that, unlike normal steering (“lean the bike, don’t turn the bars”) you need a deliberate twist of the bars in the opposite direction to initiate it?

otherwise you’d end up leaning and turning the wrong way..?

Rally cars do it.
The instructor mentioned it when I did my Direct Access many years ago.
Something about setting the bike up better.

The science…

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_flick

Stylin’

Just don’t fluff it up.

All cyclists turn left to go right, and vice versa – even if only slightly. To turn right, you need to get your centre-of-gravity off to the right of the line of the bike – you could lean off the bike, but easier to just steer left a fraction to throw your CoG off.

I’ve been noticing a lot of mum’s doing this lately, in their Nissan Qashqais with a boot load of kids in the back. The Milflick.

I don’t really know how the physics apply to MTB but I think it’s something to do with weight transfer towards the inside of the corner. It means you can get lower into a turn which of course looks cool for your edit. Plus it feels really fun. I don’t think I’ve seen too many works cup riders doing it though (I’m happy to be corrected in this point).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersteering

That should obviously say “world cup” riders.

You may be doing it without realising.

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That’s just skidding…

It’s worth reading Keith Code on this subject.

(Something most motorcyclists are aware off).

Speed check is the usual reason.

Can get a bit exciting if you over cook it.

I did a few flick turns on Terry’s Belly at BPW and ended up getting all sorts of out of shape and found myself on the side of the trail holding a stick with my shoe missing!

I thought it was about maximising late apex for the turns…late apex makes sense to me so i do try and do it in the tighter turns

Simple explanation here…

and some more interesting stuff about bikes…

Also known as the freeride flick.
“I’m slow, but I have a downhill bike and I want to look like I know how to ride it. If I just throw my bike around wildly it will look like I’m riding a really tough trail. I think I’m the first person to ever do this.”copyright Teamrobot.

Stability…

Also known as the freeride flick.

Not really – that’s more of a skid/cuttie to create an explosion of brown pow* in the berm. They look crap.

You can see racers doing it a lot on steep, loose stuff with a catch berm at the bottom – kind of allows you to carve the corner without losing so much speed.

*Yes, i’m taking the piss…

Dont you find that this starts to happen anyway when you hit certain speeds on twisty stuff? when i was a kid on a bmx i used to always turn like this on gravel, with my inside foot out like a speedway rider, just cos i thought it looked cool.

Nothing really brings out the bitterness and cynicism on STW like youthful exuberance and young’uns having fun.

I believe this is why we can get stuck up next to a curb. It would seem obvious that you could just steer way. But you can’t as to turn away from the curb you need to start by turning towards it. But you can’t do this as the curb is in the way

I believe this is why we can get stuck up next to a curb. It would seem obvious that you could just steer way. But you can’t as to turn away from the curb you need to start by turning towards it. But you can’t do this as the curb is in the way

Exactly, that’s why you need to consciously shift your weight out to the right in order to get away from the kerb. Ben is right, everyone does it to a greater or lesser degree. On a bike it’s not a Scandinavian flick because you are not sliding.

Jam Bo, watch mjb’s first link.

My vid – OK the back wheels locked but it’s a fast, steep 90 degree turn that you would need to be going very slow round not to need to lock (probably impossible to not lock on the gradient) The bars still turn to the left causing a lean to the corner followed by the steer in the correct direction.

We all use that technique it’s just not that we’re probably aware of it. When we watch videos we notice it and think why don’t I do that! But we all do, mjb’s vid shows that.

My motorcycling friend at work was telling me about this.. It is a thing.

I keep meaning to try and consciously think about it, but keep forgetting to when out on the bike..

I think there’s an element of increased rotational momentum provided by it, in the same way that as you throw a discus with your LH, you wind your torso back anticlockwise, before powerfully unwinding it clockwise to generate force for the throw. The anticlockwise wind-back being the ‘flick left’ in riding, if anyone is still reading..

Interesting discussion.

I’m not really up on the jargon but I think of it a bit like unweighting before pumping the bike, or pumping before bunnyhopping.

Not really one of my specialties but very satisfying when it works just right.

mattyfez – Member
…I keep meaning to try and consciously think about it, but keep forgetting to when out on the bike..

Don’t worry, you’re doing it, only not consciously.