Riding down steps and

steep stuff, whats the best way to approach it? Tried ring down some steepish steps today but bottled it :twisted:.

dont even feather your front brake and roll all the way stay loose

practice on less steep ones first

The best way to approach,

fast and straight, don’t break on the way down unless there is no runout.

saddle down and weight toward the rear.

the faster you roll the less ‘thud thud thud thud thud’ you get over the steps. a bit more speed and you float over.

start on small flights and work up. then start riding back up, again start small and build up.

yay. bikes

Don’t forget to shift your weight back

if you gap stairs,use the second flight as a transition.

**** knows, steps terrify me, even the ones down from the top of Rivi Pike. I got down without dying though so must have done something right. I won’t even attempt properly steep steps though.

be aware that level landings on the way down can be tricky, you have to lean more forward as you cross them or you risk tipping off the back…

Ah, steps is something I’m good on, as I’m floaty light.

The faster you go, the less impact you will have on each step. You will ‘skim’ the edges, rather than bounce up and down each one.

There’s quite a big flight coming down off the roundabout, at Canary Wharf, down to the riverside walkway. I just bomb down. The slower you go, the more bumpy it is.

Fast, weight back, DO NOT BRAKE. If you brake, you will go over the bars, and mash your face up.

Start small, with a low angle. The more of both the more the impact will be from angle-to-flat and the more you’re likely to pick up speed
Use the rear brake as much as you like to start with.

some bad bad bad steps round hebden.
give me the shivers thinking of em, they are that bad.

Move to Calderdale and you’ll get good at riding them pretty quickly 🙂

Obviously that isn’t entirely practical…

Dollywagon Pike has some interesting steps. Would have been just about rideable for me except for the regular drainage ditches. Went over the bars a couple of times.

Irregularly spaced stuff gets a bit harder:

And wooden board stuff harder again, especially if the backs aren’t fully filled in

Regular spaced and stable steps dont bother me, even steep ones, but wooden or irregular steps scare the bejesus out of me.

I also dislike the bendy ones.

Ooh, I’d love to do the ones in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel. Big spiral staircase. A full-susser might be preferable, to preserve the spine, and of course you’d have to ensure no-one was coming up the other way…

I’m going to try and do that, and film the bastard.

$hit, link didn’t work

Sorry

Easy, if they aren’t too steep…

try again

Calderdale does indeed have some great steps, the ones in Nutt Clough are my favorites.

i thought he meant ‘urban’ steps at first.

here many steps in the wild are a small tree held back with spikes in the ground like those with boards shown above. when wet they are a **** nightmare if you don’t hit the first one roughly square on. problem is they are often wet.

same applies when riding down tehm though. speed and skim over ’em…

death grip on the front brake. If you’re going to crash, then at least it’s unlikely to be the fistful of brake endo(TM)

You’ll do well to beat Rivvi for steps, I was up there Sat morning.
Took a mate for a fast loop, thought it was great. You’re Never too far from a nice climb (or a set of steps)

when you ge good at steps you can progress to the endo…

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the ones in Nutt Clough are my favorites.

you were mentioned at the bottom of Nut Clough the other night 🙂

Anyhow. Steps. Easy.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ev1rb14JVk

and
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=we-9ebfqlcs

“Don’t use your front brake”??

You need to use a fair bit of front brake (and the rear) on steps around Hebden IME. You need to go down as slow as possible on some sets because of no run-out or sudden tight turn at the bottom etc.

Don’t hang off the back of your saddle too much. Locked arms are of no use. Get low but more central on your bike. Elbows bent.

And yes, start easy/small/regular and go from there 🙂

yeah dont.
until you’re comfortable doing simple stairs

Nobody has done these

But these are great fun

I find weight back works and you DO have to brake and almost trackstand to get round some of the bends on some of the steps I’ve done.

yes you do use your brakes(both) but not your front if you have never ridden down steps before and are learning

Fair point 🙂

Devs – whereabouts are they? 🙂

The nice ones are between Cullen and Portknockie on the Moray Coast. The unridable ones are called the Giant’s Steps and are east of Cullen on the coastal path. It’s a great ride but that bit is quite intimidating even on foot. We rode the grass to the right after carrying down the first half. The “steps” at the top are 3ft drops with little ledges to stand on. I’m sure Hans Rey or Danny Macaskill could do it but no one has as far as I am aware.

Those looks fiendish….but possibly do-able on a dh bike. Not sure I’d want to guinea pig them though.

what i find is, on regularly spaced steps it all seems a bit too easy until you start going too fast and thats when you lose control- it all gets a bit too bouncy! so you need to keep it smooth and controlled so as not to HAVE to use your brakes too much.

If youre going too fast and need to slow it down remember that too much of either brake will cause you to A) go into a back wheel skid or B) go over the bars. I’d rather over-brake using the rear than go over the bars any day but a bit of front brake applied at the right time is often a lot more effective in slowing you down. The more you get a feel for these things the more you learn how much of each brake you can get away with.

i’m a bit of a wuss on irregular steps. especially if they’re wet/muddy. If i can see a good place to bail (like on devs pic there’s a grass banking on the right. still look bloody steep though!) but if they’re steep and trecherous i tend to walk and be really pi**ed off with myself afterwards for not giving them a try.

Im usually okay on most things but these were urban steps, and pretty steep with it. I’m gonna give it another go tonight!

Ooo I love steps riding 🙂

Would love to have had a go down these beauties but had the road tyres on 🙁

And significant kudos if you know where they are…

TM

These in Nottingham are good fun; they start off steep and scary but the spacing of the lower sets exactly matches your wheelbase and are a right giggle.

http://flickr.com/photos/49369724@N00/2695921577/

As they say, “Practice makes Perfect”, just keep building up until you’re confident on higher sets.

For what it’s worth, I always find that I’ve got much more control on a rigid bike – for example, on the packhorse trail down Stanage… Maybe not as fast as with a bouncy fork, but the bike is much more controllable.