How can you skid / How to do skids / skidding

@youramericanlover knows how

First you have to have the courage to really have your weight forward, definitely standing up. You'll be putting your crotch a lot closer to the stem than is sensible but this is all in service of the skid / scene. You gotta really lean [forward], although in general people say #dontlean but they mean left or right. Some speed is good as the momentum carries the skid, the slower you go the harder it is to skid, but speed requires getting your timing right. If your struggling to get your legs locked at the right time try locking them earlier, really a locked skid happens at 2 and 8 with you dominate foot forward. I'm 5' 6 and 5/8ths and 63kg and can skid so it's not a weight thing.

Practice medium paced on quiet wet roads, and the when you're good at those do them in the dry when people are watching.

Super informative - thanks so much! Always struggled to figure out why it is easier to have speed - doesn't that mean there's more force acting on the bike so it's harder to lock up the pedals?

Are you using foot retention? It's hard as fuck without.

Jamaican skid is lfgss certified, still need the superman lean

Oh yeah foot retention is mandatory you can forget about skidding without spds / straps

You'd be going straight to shit fixie skidders say with this if I cared less for you.

On the other hand... No you can't be too light, I'm 65kg and can whip skid a 50/17 like it's going out of fashion bruh

Inb4

.

The reason the thread has been dead for 10 years is everyone learnt how to skid, bought a road bike, bought a gravel bike, gave up cycling and took up golf/kitchens/watches/cars.

You need a 'Scoble Place' print to teach you how to skid:

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/239413/

Yeh I have foot retention. Popped a couple of short ones on the way back yesterday, realise I've got issues with the leaning forward, now wondering how much practice I can get in before wearing through my tires..

Edit: Happy to report back that the skids have now happened (and balls have not yet contacted stem) - thanks for the advice all.

Leaning forward makes it easier and therefore isn’t a real skid, also Scoble lore

Ok me again. Recently bought straps (diagonal restraps) and struggling slightly to make the skids happen - feels like they take a little longer to engage than the SPDs I used to have because of the slight give in the straps (they're tight as long as I keep my foot 'twisted' but going into a skid untwists the binding slightly), so all my force is going into the pedal at a later point than is ideal. Is this normal/is the answer to just start pulling up earlier?

I have only read this post, but why are we pulling up?
I stomp on the back pedal to skid. This may be because some of my BMXs had coaster brakes? I do sort of pull up on the front pedal to do those little hop skid ones though, so what do I know?!?

This is new to me - I think I generally exert 70/30 of force on the front and back leg respectively but feel like that is going to wreck my knees.. Putting all my weight into my back leg still feels like I'm not going to get anywhere; it just comes right back up at me. I.e. I would never be able to skid without retention and the ability to pull up on the pedal to assist the back leg.

Also I cannot track stand and have no idea how to practice ): I can do a very slow roll forward but can't control the bike once it starts going back underneath me.

Have you considered using brakes?

I have (and use) them (regularly); I also don't want to wreck my tires so I also rely on resisting the pedals to slow down. But even then I think it's a good deal of pull up as much as push down and I wonder if I should be changing that. On the other hand I also do occasionally enjoy riding with just legs (and also want to learn to trackstand), and figured this was the best place to ask for advice?

For practicing track standing try it on a gentle uphill slope, not steep just very slight. Roll into it, slowing your pedal stroke and reduce the speed with your brake. Try to roll into to a position with your cranks horizontal (I.e. 3 and 9 O’clock positions). Stand up out of the saddle and turn your front wheel slightly perhaps 20-30 degrees. Now al you have to do is keep the cranks level. If you start to roll backwards apply downward pressure on your lead foot. Vice versa for rolling forward.

The hardest thing to get right is the timing of arriving in a good position with cranks level.

Of course, it also translates to non-fixed drivetrains but it’s slightly harder to adjust forward and backward motion given that you can free wheel.

Have you considered using brakes?

Wrong thread / forum.

I'm definitely a "yank the front foot up" kind of guy (not that I skid any more, tyres cost £60 a pop these days). I switched from straps to spds years ago and found it much easier to skid.

pop

"Pun intended"

and also want to learn to trackstand

lots of online videos to check our but a good tip when starting out is to look up/forward. Harder to keep balance when looking down.

Nah, it's inner tubes that pop. For tyres, it'll be £60 every x number of scrapes.

hippy will immediately point out the existence of tubeless tyres. :)