Questions tagged [technique]
How to improve your cycling form -- whether you want to pedal with less pain or become more aerodynamic. Can also be used for mountain biking or BMX techniques such as hopping or jumping.
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YEAR/MODEL Technique BMX frame
I own this Technique BMX frame and need help determining which frame i own. Serial number is M12903.
serial number underneath right rear fork
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How maintenance-free can a commuter bike be?
Commuting is hard on bikes, especially when doing it all-year long. Maintenance is essential to assure one can get to work every morning without issues but it takes time and care.
Fixed-gear and ...
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Pedal Stroke Analysis on a BikeErg
Hello I'm in the market for an indoor bike and am considering the BikeErg. I'd like to know if there is a way I can do pedal stroke analysis like that offered by the Wattbike (https://support.wattbike....
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Does pedaling while standing damage my knees even if I don't feel pain?
I am in my mid forties and ride a seven speed cruiser or maybe mountain bike. I enjoy pedaling while standing, and I don't really care about speed or efficiency. When there is even the slightest ...
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Is it better to breathe through your nose or mouth when cycling?
I just watched the 'Road to Glory' documentary about Team Sky. I noticed when they were warming up on their Turbos, some of them had cotton wool up their noses.
Is this because it's better to ...
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Slick Hybrid Bike Tires on Steep Gravel Descent?
I'm trying to take my hybrid bike with slick hybrid tires down a short (maybe 200 foot) steep gravel descent with a gradient of around -25 percent (according to Strava). How should I ride this to ...
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Does wearing a backpack weaken your jumping technique?
I mountain bike about 4 times a week. I like to do jumps, but I wear a water backpack (water bladder, camelbak, whatever you'd like to call it). I wear it because I find that a water bottle doesn't ...
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Strange handle on the left side of Winora Youkatan 12 pro
There is a strange handle (lever) on the left side of my new E-bike (Winora Youkatan 12 pro). It looks similar to the brake or gear shifter, and it is connected to the cable that goes somewhere (...
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Occassionally Dropping Chain On Downshifts
Very occasionally my chain will come of the small chainwheel on a downshift. It is not at all predictable, except that it always happens when the I'm doing an unloaded shift in preparation for a climb....
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Is turning head to look backwards while riding a bike a safe and recommended technique?
I currently have two problems with this:
While looking backwards, I do not see where I am going.
It is difficult to maintain perfectly the same direction while turning around.
Probably both problems ...
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Striking pedals on a full suspension bike
I just change my old hardtail (Marlin 5-TREK) for a full-suspension bike (Siskiu D7). The bike runs smoothly, but I notice how frequently strike my pedals with the ground and other obstacles. I ...
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Could one predict from power data whether a cyclist is standing or sitting?
I was wondering about this machine learning problem: Take a large sample of data from rides that includes whether a cyclist was standing, what the cadence, power, (or perhaps even torque?) and ...
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What could be causing pain in right hip?
I'm a new cyclist in my 40s, used rental bikes for the past year before buying a second hand drop bar bike with flat pedals 4 months ago. I've been riding it about 3 times a week since and have slowly ...
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Is there a reason why one's calfs would ache on a Turbo or Spinner, but not when riding on the road?
I'm not on my own on this one as at least two other people in my Spinning class suffer the same: when Spinning or on the Turbo Trainer, I can feel pressure on my calf muscles after a bit of time (...
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How to carry a step-through/mixte bike
How can one carry a bike with a step-through/mixte frame effectively?-- In comparison, any diamond-frame bike is a breeze for me to shoulder regardless of weight (okay, carrying a 25+-kg roadster is ...
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keep going off-axis on big jumps i don't know how to stop it?
I've been riding for about 5-6 years, and can speed through tech, can do hips, speed-jumps 5-8 meters... but every time theres a jump with a steep lip, or involves me going quite high, i keep coming ...
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What is the trick to riding on sand?
I have been trying to ride on some trials that have very soft sand and especially agitated by ATVs. When I hit a soft patch my front tire pulls in one direction and I freak out a little. I cannot ...
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Re-learning how to corner aggressively at speed after bad experiences
I'm not quite sure if this should somehow be broken up into two questions, but what can one do to take sharp corners at speed effectively, especially when you're nervous after having bad experiences ...
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How to ensure all muscles are engaged when pedaling
Forgive me if this is too subjective, however, I've been doing some mtb riding and noticed that it's always my glutes that fatigue first especially on climbs, talked over with my friends and they tell ...
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How do I efficiently shift gears on a road bike with downtube shifters?
I have bought a vintage Campagnolo road bike, so the shifters are on the down tube.
I own a mountain bike and i am used to changing gears on that one, but don't know the proper technique to change on ...
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Correctly and incorrectly mounting a bicycle
I am very fond of mouting bicycles this way:
Stand to the left of the bike.
Put the left foot on the left pedal.
Push forward with the right foot to set the bike in motion.
Swing the right leg ...
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How to get my feet out of SPD pedals?
I just bought some SPD shoes and pedals last night and I was trying them out (on one foot) while balancing in my living room. I ended up falling over because I couldn't get unclipped. What suggestions ...
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Does rocking the bike side to side when e.g. sprinting or climbing help?
Or would more power go through the pedals if the rider held the frame still/upright?
Or is there little difference? How would it be measured and what are the forces acting on the bike when rocking ...
- 114k
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MTB: choosing trajectory (line) through a turn
Consider a 3 meter wide track, the incline is 30 degrees, the terrain is dirt road with some sand, rocks, maybe mud. An at least 90 degree turn is approaching, and you have clear visibility of the ...
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How to start uphill?
It is tricky to start pedaling uphill, especially with some complicating factors out there. I want to learn the proper technique.
Saddle height
For any uphill, I put my saddle at "XC height",...
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Looking for Techniques for Riding Uphill on a Single Speed
I commute on a Single Speed (SS) bike about 13mi round trip. Going home is not a problem as the gradients are low and I can climb them. However, going in to work the gradients are much steeper and I ...
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Saddle getting in the way when cornering on MTB - what to do?
I am practicing the technique of cornering, where one must lean the bicycle into the turn, while keeping the body more or less vertical. A (possibly exaggerated) picture I found on Google:
The ...
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Why do men and women have different sporting capabilities, e.g. why is the women's hour record significantly shorter than the men's?
In this YouTube video, they show the hour record, but, during all its duration, they declare that women have a different goal than men.
(in the video he mentions women's record could be 50km/h and men'...
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How Can A Faster Rider Aid A Slower Rider On A Long Ride?
For the context of this question, two people are trying to get from point A to point B (and back) where the only viable means of transportation is bicycle (and a tandem bicycle / electric bicycles are ...
- 114k
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Pendulum motion when riding out of the saddle
When riding out of the saddle, you will often have to rock the bike laterally for stability.
My question is: how do most people synchronise this pendulum motion with their pedal stroke?
In which ...
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Would learning to ride a unicycle boost biking skills?
Unicycles are not particularly expensive, seem to be light and portable, also fun. This gets me wondering if spending a couple of months to learn riding such a thing would boost a mountain biker's ...
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What adjustments can you do to prevent psoas tightness in an aggresive postion on a road or track bike?
I have been paying attention to my own body and I feel that together with a sedentary job and not moving more than with the bike due to the COVID restrictions, I spend a lot of time in that shortened ...
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Do both riders on a tandem need to know how to ride a bike?
I want to take a visiting friend out on a bike ride.
Since this friend never learned how to ride a bike, I was thinking that a tandem might be a viable solution in the short term, instead of ...
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Low tire pressure causing fall in corner?
I recently fell in a corner. My front wheel lost traction (slid out from underneath the bike, what they call a 'lowsider' in motorcycling iirc).
I was running quite low tire pressure (front wheel) to ...
CommunityBot
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Is there a way to remember pedal, crank position before taking sharp turns
I had a nasty tumble yesterday when doing a sharp right turn into a side road.
A car was giving way to me at the junction.
I turned right and I was basically thrown of my bike. flipped onto my left ...
- 18.8k
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Rear wheel slipping out of slot after attempting a 180
So whenever I try a 180, I seem to put quite a bit of sideways force on the rear wheel when I land because I never make it the whole way. After the landing, it causes the wheel to come out of its slot....
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How do you come to a stop without dismounting? [duplicate]
I'm an avid bicycler who has just moved to the city (Boston). As I (unlike many folks here) am unwilling to run red lights and violate traffic laws, I often have to come to a stop, dismount, and wait ...
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What is the best way to prevent skidding/fishtailing on wet pavement?
This is related to the "What is the recommended type of tire for riding on wet pavement" question.
I also live in Seattle. So now has come the time where I often need to go down some steep hills on ...
- 114k
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Does ideal cadence depend on a rider's weight/size at all?
As in the question, do heavier riders tend to have higher/lower cadence and should there be any difference?
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Differences between starting a road bike vs a mountain bike?
I'm having problems getting rolling on my road bike.
For some reason I have hard time hopping back into the road bike saddle. It's the pedals spinning causing my feed to lose grip, or the bike ...
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Most favoriable collision with a car? How should I act before collision, supposing enough time?
Suppose a car is going to collide with you. What can you do to minimise the consequences?
By collision I mean that it may be intentional or an accident. Anyway I am looking for tips on how to act in ...
CommunityBot
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How to jump curbs?
Putting aside the question should one ever ride on the sidewalk, I would like to jump curbs safely and seamlessly.
Assume a hardtail mountain bike with high saddle (we are in the city), at a speed of ...
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Which position adjustments maximize the use of the glutes in a road bike?
I usually don't feel the glutes firing when I'm seated unless I'm in a really long and hard climb or if I stand up and move back.
Is there any common adjustment to maximize the glutes utilization? Or ...
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How do you keep from coasting too much on a bicycle?
Something that has always confused me about working out on a bike. I want a Hybrid to ride for fitness. I do not want the Road bike, mostly because I'm not going to ride on the road (I am too afraid ...
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Ride a bike only using the pedals
Is it possible to ride a bike standing? I mean properly standing, not sitting up straight. Your feet are on the pedals but you do not touch any other part of the bike. If not, is it possible to roll/...
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How does one ride 'no handed'?
Learning to ride no-handed has been on my new year resolution list year after year after year and I still haven't done it. I'm 46 so I need to be careful about falling off. Do people have fool-proof ...
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How to learn to ride a bike better?
I can ride a bike somehow, but I'd like to learn to do it better (maneuvering, etc.) before starting to use it as a way to move about the city. Any suggestions how I should go about doing that, what I ...
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Why do so many people put the inside pedal down when cornering?
When learning to ride, my dad taught me to always have the inside pedal up when cornering. He reinforced the lesson by telling me about a race he'd been in where someone clipped a pedal when cornering ...
- 16.8k
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Cycling uphill on a road - sitting or standing on pedals?
When cycling uphill on a road, what are the pros and cons of cycling while standing up on pedal versus sitting on saddle?
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Calves overcoming glutes function, is this a set up problem?
I've noticed that I usually become really tight calves while my gluts don't work at all. It is specially so when I accelerate in my singlespeed while I'm stand up or when I climb.
Sometimes I get my ...
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