Can you cycle upright?

eeeee

plodder wrote: »

Unfortunately (for me), I think age (and not just having a mortgage) has something to do with it. Unless you maintain these fine motor skills from a young age, they are harder to re-acquire when older.

I only tried it this year and don't remember any hands free cycling as a kid! Maybe I did, I don't remember.

Seen one of the guys on track* cycling hands free, on his new bike, and he's in his 70's. He won a medal at the weekend in the 60+ category at the masters. Serious life goals with that guy!

*hands free cycling on track is verboten

dahat

I have always found it easy on the work hybrid but only last few months have I tried it on the road bike. it took a little while but I can now do the nessecary free handed, gillet, food and take pictures.
It's almost child like buzz cycling free handed at times.

Pkiernan

Equivalent to a motorist driving with his hands off the wheel and feet up in the air away from the brakes!!

:-)

magicbastarder

I only recently relearned the skill of cycling while sitting upright. Perhaps there's a level of psychology involved, but I don't think it's simply just a case of sitting up, there is an element of balancing skill which cycling with hands on the bars doesn't give. But when I started practicing, it came quickly enough. I'm certainly not at the level I could change a jacket while moving though.

Wishbone Ash

nee wrote: »

...Seen one of the guys on track* cycling hands free, on his new bike, and he's in his 70's. He won a medal at the weekend in the 60+ category at the masters....

Beasty kept that very quiet!

2 Wheels Good

Good core strength also helps with balance. Also, make sure your saddle is level.

gaffmaster

I always found this next to impossible. Changed to shorter cranks recently, and suddenly I can do it (just about). I think the longer cranks were throwing my balance off.

thekooman

ive a leg length discrepancy but this year i practice on every spin and have gradually got more confident in putting on/off gilet, etc. even yday i had an itch on my head so i got the helmet off and on without stopping.
the key is to get straight up in one quick movement... and put weight on back of the saddle. the saddle does need to be level (or nearly)

cdaly_

I do recall sitting up in a paceline peeling an orange back in 2015. This was in the middle of a 1000km audax and losing the paceline was not an option!...

thekooman

gaffmaster wrote: »

I always found this next to impossible. Changed to shorter cranks recently, and suddenly I can do it (just about). I think the longer cranks were throwing my balance off.

so basically your saddle was too high? :P

daragh_

cdaly_ wrote: »

I do recall sitting up in a paceline peeling an orange back in 2015. This was in the middle of a 1000km audax and losing the paceline was not an option!...

Skillz!

I can't do it. On a long list of bike related things I fail at. Off Camber turns, proper bunny hops, CX remounts, sprinting.... it goes on and on.

TheBlaaMan

Unless the headset is set up pretty 'loose' you should be able to do it easily enough - its a confidence thing. Some bike geometry's make it easier than other to be fair.

Pick a very slight incline and a gear that ensures you are having to put a bit of pressure on the pedals to keep going at a reasonable rate - there's no point in thinking that you going to do it much below 15kmph - sit up , as upright as you can, keeping a light grip on the top of the bars and then finally just with the tips of your fingers before you let go. The further you lean back, the better. Keep pedalling.

outfox

I think it might be easier to learn this while free wheeling down a very gentle incline, like 1-2 %. This is how I learnt this as a teenager. Once you've that mastered, it's just a small step to introduce pedalling.

guanciale

I can do it on my CX bike for much longer than one of my roadbikea. On that bike thenhead tube is pretty short - not sure if thats the reason but it feels less stable than the CX bike.

Gerrup Outta Dat!

No. I even wobble a bit when I try to look behind me, which is why I got a rear-view mirror. Practice makes perfect, I suppose.

Rambling Man

No. I've awful bike handling skills. I know this and stay safe by trying nothing fancy and always giving myself time and space to make adjustmemts, drink, switch to the drops etc. And my sponsors understand that I can't straighten the jersey when I win a stage.

magicbastarder

guanciale wrote: »

I can do it on my CX bike for much longer than one of my roadbikea. On that bike thenhead tube is pretty short - not sure if thats the reason but it feels less stable than the CX bike.

Iirc, it's too do with the trail - the more trail, i.e. the further the front axle sits in front of the line you'd draw down through the head tube, the more stable the bike will feel.

tomasrojo

That's it, I think. The longer the distance between the line of the fork and the point of contact on the road (essentially the point of application and the fulcrum), the greater the leverage, so the stronger the self-correcting effect.

gaffmaster

thekooman wrote: »

so basically your saddle was too high? :P

Hehe. No because I raised the saddle to accommodate for the extra 5mm of difference and fully benefit from the extra hip aperture (probably not the right word for this).

gaffmaster

magicbastarder wrote: »

Iirc, it's too do with the trail - the more trail, i.e. the further the front axle sits in front of the line you'd draw down through the head tube, the more stable the bike will feel.

Interesting!

I've seen this referred to as 'rake' before:
edit: Slightly different. It's the rake that creates the trail.

tomasrojo

I deleted a post of mine, because I got too confused.

However, this has a good diagram of how a straight fork compares to a curved fork, an angled fork, or a fork with a welded offset:
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/270348/why-do-modern-bicycles-have-curved-front-wheel-forks

Lumen

gaffmaster wrote: »

Interesting!

I've seen this referred to as 'rake' before:
edit: Slightly different. It's the rake that creates the trail

Almost, the rake reduces the trail. It's the head tube angle that creates the trail.

gnarbarian

It can be done, just practice! I could do it as a kid... I have mild cerebral palsy which messes with my balance and coordination... I re-learned the no hands trick on a mtb only 3 weeks ago!

MojoMaker

Easier of course with a longer stem. Maybe that's the OP's challenge - no-hands with a short(ish) stem?

cython

MojoMaker wrote: »

Easier of course with a longer stem. Maybe that's the OP's challenge - no-hands with a short(ish) stem?

Stem length should only really be a factor when it comes to lifting off, or dropping back onto the handlebars though. While it may change the balance of the weight of the handlebars as well, that's a passive component in the system when you -have your hands off the bars. If you are pedalling, the movement of your legs would have more of an effect than that.

Wishbone Ash

cython wrote: »

Stem length should only really be a factor when it comes to lifting off, or dropping back onto the handlebars though. While it may change the balance of the weight of the handlebars as well, that's a passive component in the system when you -have your hands off the bars. If you are pedalling, the movement of your legs would have more of an effect than that.

A bike with a long stem tends to less 'twitchy' than one with a short stem.

cython

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

A bike with a long stem tends to less 'twitchy' than one with a short stem.

By virtue of the changed position of your hands relative to the axis of steering, and a short stem increasing the resultant angular displacement of the wheel for a given horizontal/linear(-ish) displacement of the bars - once you take your hands off the bars, that becomes largely irrelevant.

secman

cython wrote: »

By virtue of the changed position of your hands relative to the axis of steering, and a short stem increasing the resultant angular displacement of the wheel for a given horizontal/linear(-ish) displacement of the bars - once you take your hands off the bars, that becomes largely irrelevant.

Way too much science........ It's like riding a bike you never forget once you've learned