BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

it's a bout form and confidence!

some bikes are better at it than others though.

It's mostly about your own balance. It doesn't take any particularly significant amount of core strength.

It is helpful for your bike and bags and such to be well balanced. If my panniers are noticeably unbalanced then I generally can't ride w/o hands.

^ this.

I am always scared to let go

Haha, i think i scare Jane and Steph with the amount i ride no handed on some of our rides..It's as natural to me as riding with my hands on. I can take my feet out sometimes, get in my bag,take a hoodie off..etc. The more upright you are, the easier it is. Centered over your seat, pedals level.If you're hovering over your bars because you're scared or apprehensive it's probably harder than sitting straight up and just doing it.

Very bike dependent. For the couple of road bikes I am most often on, their geometry does not encourage the practice. I've been on other bikes where I can ride along for miles that way.

The unicycle is an entirely different beast. For that, it's all in the legs for control, and inner ear for sense of balance.

Although it's counter-intuitive, it's easier with moderate speed on the bike than with the bike going slow - all the good physics helps. I have a bike with a noseless saddle, can't ride hands-free on that because there's not enough interface-area for body english.

+1 CPollack's comment about being vertical over your seat, although I think I tend to keep my right foot fully extended (since I'm right-footed) and that helps me balance.

(it may be a bit like s*x. The more advice you get about how other people do it, the more confusing it is, maybe?)

Should I be peddling or coasting?

Colin will ride down the little hill on Hampton toward our house with no hands. I get scared when anyone does it, even if they are good at it. I am too scared to do it myself.

The trickiest part about riding without hands is the first split-second where you go from some portion of your weight on the handlebars to all your weight on the seat/pedals.

First, you are trying to sit up, not push yourself up. Any force you exert on the handlebars is going to be uneven and consequently will push the front wheel offline.

Second, as a general rule, the further forward your center of gravity the more that subtle shifts in your weight will push the front wheel. So what does this mean for sitting up? It means you want to sit up straight all in one swift motion so that your weight is not forward for any significant ammount of time. Doing this without leaning takes practice.

Developing the motion of sitting up straight quickly is important. When you feel as though you are losing your balance between the point where you have both hands on the bars and the point when you are upright and stable, your impulse will be to lean forward and grab the handlebars. This is a bit of a catch-22 because leaning forward will cause any imbalance to be exacerbated and you realy will need to grab the handlebars.

Third, once you are sitting up you will likely find that arching your back slightly so that it feels as though you are leaning backward will make it easier to maintain your balance. This is because your weight will be further back over the back wheel. When you are stable and upright with your weight over the back wheel, the front wheel will move VERY little because your forward momentum will keep it in line.

Last, the obvious: If you aren't great at getting in and out of your clips, don't practice clipped in. Being clipped in can making it easier to maintain your balance, particularly on a fixed gear, but its also a bit risky if you aren't good at riding with no hands.

Good luck!

I learned how to ride a bike no-hands when I was a kid, so it's also completely natural to me but I can't really explain how it works.

I agree it's easier with some speed, ~10-15 mph, than going slower. It's a bit easier on a slight downhill coasting, but not that hard pedaling on the flat. Climbing is harder, not sure I ever really do it then.

I would absolutely not attempt it in a group ride where I was anywhere near someone else. You never know what is going to happen in front of you where you'll need to be on the brakes, NOW.

It's not really something anyone needs to know how to do to ride. Like on my ride today, on my road bike, it was nice on a deserted road to be able to sit up, stretch my back, shake my hands out, but not necesary. Riding with one hand is useful, it can help with turning your head to check for traffic, or taking a drink. All the advice above is correct, about sitting up and stuff. But you ride a hybrid, right?, so you're already sitting pretty much up. It is extremely dependent on the bike, some just won't do it.

I would say, as you ride more, you'll get more comfortable on the bike, and I think you'll just feel a point where you can do it. If you're too scared to let go of the bars, don't, and don't worry about it.

Also, in general, when you're riding along on a flat road, think about your grip on the bars. Most of the time your hands should just be relaxed and resting lightly on the grips, if you have the bars in a death grip all the time, try to relax and start to feel the bike steer from responses from the seat and other parts.

I'm thinking that lowering your saddle might help, at least until you get a feel for it?

I agree with Bill that it's not really necessary, but for me at least, on a long ride, it is a necessary skill to have if I'm going to keep going, versus making pit stops. If I need to rest my hands or change position, or whatever, it's easier if I can go hands free for at least a moment or two. Some minimal level of speed is very helpful--I think it's the gyroscopic effect of the wheels keeping the front wheel more or less aligned.

Be very careful if you're trying to go handsfree on anything but smooth, clear, straight pavement. Rolling over little bumps can be manageable, but not bigger potholes. You can usually steer around gradual curves, but watch out for any kind of turns.

I just got my first bike with drop bars recently, and while I can do it, I find that the tendency for the handlebars to spin too far around is much greater on that than it was on my flat-bar hybrid. I assume it has to do with the greater "wingspan" of the handlebars' outermost point--or at least that was my perception.

I typically will give a gentle push off the handlebars to set myself back, though I am usually moving my head and chest back as much or more than pushing with my hands. Definitely ride upright and not while leaning over (except while in transition from one position to the other).

The hands-free trackstand on a freewheel... that's my new white whale.

I'm with Todd in that I learned when I was around 10 years old. On my old 70s Panasonic it was really easy, then quite a bit harder on my cross bike and I stopped doing it. It is really easy on my fixed gear, I can usually just hold onto the nose of my saddle and can use my legs to control my speed and braking. Now I'm able to do it on my cross bike, too.

I don't really know how to explain any of it because it's natural at this point.

I just started trying to ride hands-free a few weeks ago. I found that the hardest part was relaxing and letting go...once I was upright and not tensing up too badly, it went pretty well.

(I also discovered last week that adding a handlebar bag was a good way to reset my hands-free riding skill to zero; the additional mass seemed to make recovery from the occasional wibble-wobble far more difficult.)

My learning "technique", such as it was, was to ride bolt-upright with a couple of fingers of one hand on the bars. After that became comfortable, I started picking up my hand and letting it hover over the bars for a bit. Then, one morning, just threw caution to the winds and dropped both hands to my sides.

[Edited to add:]This was on the Bianchi, not the 'bent. I've never been able to even come close to hands-free on a 'bent, although I've ridden with guys who do.

ohhhhhhh hands free bent... i like it

"I found that the hardest part was relaxing and letting go..."

a truer statement with broader application has yet to be made.

Nothing to do with core strength. Primarily has to do with using your thighs on the nose of the saddle to help steer. That's why saddles have noses. Also really helps if you look up since seeing the horizon helps with your balance. A bit of speed helps too.

This is harder than it sounds, I squeezed the saddle so hard with my thighs I think I pulled a groin muscle. So if you were the biker who passes me on the Ellsworth St. and saw me rubbing my thigh area thats why it wasn't because I was enjoying my spandex to much.

I can't think of a single situation on a bike where squeezing as hard as you can is what you want to do.

I have been reading this thread and thinking about terrified I am to try riding with no hands.

Then, yesterday, I rode with no hands successfully, and by accident. I sit straight upright when I signal a turn, and yesterday at Penn/16th (outbound), I was signalling a right turn, and I noticed that the car in the oncoming turning lane could make the turn before I could, but was hesitating. Without even thinking, I lifted my left hand from the bars and waved them by to turn.

Then I realize I had no hands on the bars and immediately gripped the bar with my left hand again, and made the turn.

[side-rant: If I can do all that while maintaining a turn signal, I think that every motorist who doesn't signal properly should be ticketed double]

Doing without thinking, excellent.

Re: how to ride with no hands:

Ask the guy I saw riding outbound on Ellsworth towards Morewood at 6pm-ish today who was riding along...

1. fully hands-free

2. leaned back with his messenger bag twisted all the way to the front

3. while doing something with his phone (texting?) with both hands

4. and while making an amused face at the incredulous face I was unintentionally making at him from the other side of the road

5. and somehow not having a panic attack or getting hit by a car

...How?