Danger Panda Pointless Prize

[jrenaut]

This is a good opportunity for me to ask a question I’ve been kind of afraid to ask. What is the secret to riding hands-free? It can’t be purely a disregard for one’s safety. I see people ride for blocks without touching the handlebars. It can’t be JUST a core thing – while my core strength isn’t winning any awards, I can do something resembling a track stand on the longtail with 125+ pounds of children on the bike.

What am I missing?

[drevil]

@jrenaut 154859 wrote:

This is a good opportunity for me to ask a question I’ve been kind of afraid to ask. What is the secret to riding hands-free? It can’t be purely a disregard for one’s safety. I see people ride for blocks without touching the handlebars. It can’t be JUST a core thing – while my core strength isn’t winning any awards, I can do something resembling a track stand on the longtail with 125+ pounds of children on the bike.

What am I missing?

I can do some silly stuff on the bike, but I’m not a great instructor because I forget to mention things that I don’t think about. With that said…

Two things that I think people that can’t ride without hands don’t do:

1. Go fast enough
2. Lean back enough after letting go of the bars

I’ve found that once you get to a certain speed (which is different for every bike), the bike will stay upright on its own accord. When you figure out that speed, let go of the bars and shift your weight back. You can then steer the bike leaning slightly with your hips.

Once you get that down, unclip…

Look Ma, No Hands No Feet! by ricky d, on Flickr

Also, it helps to use a bike that doesn’t have floppy or twitchy steering. When I tried it on some friends’ fat bikes, if you turn a little, the front wheel will flop immediately and you’d go down quick. As for twitchy, I can’t ride no handed for too long on my Brompton. Maybe I just need more practice on that one.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@jrenaut 154859 wrote:

This is a good opportunity for me to ask a question I’ve been kind of afraid to ask. What is the secret to riding hands-free? It can’t be purely a disregard for one’s safety. I see people ride for blocks without touching the handlebars. It can’t be JUST a core thing – while my core strength isn’t winning any awards, I can do something resembling a track stand on the longtail with 125+ pounds of children on the bike.

What am I missing?

The bike itself has some effect too, I think. My gravel bike doesn’t like no hands unless I’m going pretty fast, but my Cinelli seems like it could ride itself at walking speeds. I’ve also found that pedaling helps even out my balance. I’d say pedal yourself up to a decent speed, lean back and relax, take hands off bars, and keep up a smooth cadence and you should be able to do it.

[video=youtube_share;pzgvIOfbi4U]https://youtu.be/pzgvIOfbi4U[/video]

[Rod Smith]

Headset must be well adjusted and no pitting of the bearing races.

[chuxtr]

Waiting to hear how many people fall off/crash. :rolleyes:

[drevil]

@chuxtr 154869 wrote:

Waiting to hear how many people fall off/crash. :rolleyes:

I see you’re a sadist, chuxtr, since you liked my original post which helped pushed this pointless prize to fruition!

It’s not that hard if you keep your feet on the pedals, so submit one, Chuck!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13717[/ATTACH]

[chuxtr]

@drevil 154882 wrote:

It’s not that hard if you keep your feet on the pedals, so submit one, Chuck!

I’m a former (local) racer and have no problems riding no hands … even riding in a group. Although I can’t make any claims about being able to ride no feet. But prefer not to test the limits of my luck taking a selfie while riding.

[SarahBee]

Extra point for doing this in a panda costume?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[drevil]

@SarahBee 154965 wrote:

Extra point for doing this in a panda costume?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sure, why not?

[drevil]

Since no one’s playing my pointless prize game, I thought I’d kickstart it off. Plus it was a good way to (hopefully not) test out the new helmet I bought from Chuxtr

I’ve ruled myself out for the GRAND PRIZE, so c’mon, someone gimme a danger panda!

[video=vimeo;204259611]https://vimeo.com/204259611[/video]

[Steve O]

I have something in mind, but have not had time to practice and execute.

[Judd]

@Steve O 155145 wrote:

I have something in mind, but have not had time to practice and execute.

Your riding hands free in the snow pic would be a good preliminary entry.

[Judd]

Here’s my baby step danger panda. I had a hard time figuring out the picture taking that didn’t involve my hand blocking the camera. Just no hands in this one. I practiced a no hands one foot on the way home tonight but didn’t take a picture.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jwetzel]

@jrenaut 154859 wrote:

This is a good opportunity for me to ask a question I’ve been kind of afraid to ask. What is the secret to riding hands-free? It can’t be purely a disregard for one’s safety. I see people ride for blocks without touching the handlebars. It can’t be JUST a core thing – while my core strength isn’t winning any awards, I can do something resembling a track stand on the longtail with 125+ pounds of children on the bike.

What am I missing?

I’m told the angle of the fork has a lot to do with it. I find that a CaBi is difficult, but I can weave traffic on my hybrid Sirrus. When I first got it, I made an exaggerated push of the handlebars to get upright fast, I think it’s harder if you just try to hover over the handlebars. #commitment

[drevil]

@Judd 155294 wrote:

Here’s my baby step danger panda. I had a hard time figuring out the picture taking that didn’t involve my hand blocking the camera. Just no hands in this one. I practiced a no hands one foot on the way home tonight but didn’t take a picture.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not bad, just gotta look up!

[Author]

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