30
votes
Accepted
Is turning head to look backwards while riding a bike a safe and recommended technique?
Yes - looking behind you (briefly) is a perfectly good way to find out what's there.
The dangers of not-looking-behind are much higher than a brief interruption of looking forward.
You're right that ...
- 131k
28
votes
How to learn to ride a bike better?
The simple, short answer is practice. Simply riding around at moderate to slow speeds, practicing starting off, braking, stopping and negotiating tight turns will help build balance, confidence and ...
- 75.9k
21
votes
Accepted
How maintenance-free can a commuter bike be?
The best is probably to look at the so called Dutch bikes - or the bikes offered by subscription services, that are usually designed to lower maintenance requirements and maximise utility - often at ...
- 24.7k
18
votes
How maintenance-free can a commuter bike be?
The two ‘key’ things for a commuter bike to reduce maintenance are to use an internal gear hub, and to use a belt drive.
An IGH has the distinct advantage of everything being encapsulated in a way ...
- 2,166
17
votes
Do both riders on a tandem need to know how to ride a bike?
Sheldon Brown (of course) has a good page on riding tandem. He doesn't get into details, but since the stoker's main job is to keep upright it doesn't demand a lot of bike handling skill. Riding as ...
- 5,631
14
votes
How can I tell if my bike can ride down stairs without damaging it?
There's no real way to be completely sure but to try it. Anything else is merely a guess and no one can be 100% sure of the answer: suppose there's a tiny crack somewhere no-one knows of and it just ...
- 1,494
14
votes
Accepted
Why do men and women have different sporting capabilities, e.g. why is the women's hour record significantly shorter than the men's?
Yes, Males have a significant advantage over females, on average, for the kinds of activities society turns into sports. Males are typically larger, taller, have greater lung capacity, larger hearts, ...
- 12.2k
14
votes
Is turning head to look backwards while riding a bike a safe and recommended technique?
You need to be able to check over your shoulder. It will get easier with practice.
Taking your points in order:
You shouldn't ever need to signal which side to pass you - the passing side is defined ...
- 62.6k
13
votes
Accepted
Correctly and incorrectly mounting a bicycle
I do not buy the stressing argument, any sprint out of the saddle will stress many parts of your bike much more.
I would only be concerned with your stability during that mount and the risk of a fall ...
- 17.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Low tire pressure causing fall in corner?
I presume you were riding in the direction you came across the bridge and down the ramp.
I doubt tire pressure had anything to do with it. On a moutain bike sized tire, unless rolling tires of rims, ...
- 53.1k
12
votes
Ways to find a safe route on flooded roads
Fairly slowly, unclipped, and standing on the pedals rather than sitting down have always worked for me.
The speed should be such that even in an instantaneous stop you don't have enough momentum to ...
- 62.6k
12
votes
What benefits does standing on your pedals have?
There are various reasons to stand on your pedals from time to time besides exercising different muscle groups:
Generate more power: while standing you can increase your power output to reach higher ...
- 4,499
10
votes
Accepted
How do you keep from coasting too much on a bicycle?
You are correct - keeping the bike in the appropriate gear is important. Generally, you should have a preferred pedaling rpm, or cadence that you try to keep constant. Change to lower gears on uphill ...
- 75.9k
10
votes
Is it a good idea to lift the front wheel to go through small bumps?
Potential for damage to wheels depends on sharpness of the bump, speed, bike and rider weight, tire volume and pressure, and how tough the wheels are.
Moving your weight back or pulling up on the ...
- 75.9k
10
votes
How to learn to ride a bike better?
In the UK there is a national training scheme targeting child cyclists, often organized through schools. It claims to have trained about 2.5 million children to date. It has been running under ...
- 229
10
votes
Low tire pressure causing fall in corner?
I would expect lower tire pressure to give larger contact patch also when cornering so should equate to more grip in corners (assuming the tire stays on the rim).
As correctly pointed out in ...
- 3,017
10
votes
Strange handle on the left side of Winora Youkatan 12 pro
It's for the dropper post.
I have no idea why a trekking bike is specced with a dropper post, but it is listed in the marketing blurb: https://www.winora.com/pl/en/ebikes/trekking/touring/yucatan-12-...
- 18.5k
9
votes
Tips for dexterously handling bike lights with winter gloves
For similar fine tasks, silk inner gloves are ideal. They are very thin but add a noticeable amount of warmth. Their real benefit comes when you remove the outer gloves and have essentially bare hand ...
- 62.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Should I leave the water bottle tip open or shut while in the cage?
To quote David Richerby: You're over-thinking this.
Most people close their bottles most of the time.
I'm not one to worry about a little "gunk", but I close my bottle more than half the time. I ...
- 17.3k
9
votes
How can I tell if my bike can ride down stairs without damaging it?
I wanted to add some more info, as I am a downhiller and did a fair amount of street biking and park.
The bike will probably handle the stairs, but some components will definitely suffer (headset, ...
9
votes
Is there a way to remember pedal, crank position before taking sharp turns
Outside pedal down and your weight on the outside foot, that 's how we were taught at the cycling school of the cycling club. You may angle the inside leg more or less away from the bike if you want ...
- 8,379
9
votes
How to learn to ride a bike better?
I agree with the advice to practice.
There's a book, Effective Cycling by John Forester, which covers everything--the physiology of cycling, bike maintenance, interacting with traffic, etc. Some of ...
- 30.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Slick Hybrid Bike Tires on Steep Gravel Descent?
Going very slowly, modulating the brakes, using not only front brake but as much rear brake as you can is the best idea.
I'm assuming it's not -25 degrees (-47%) but rather -25%. That's because -47% ...
- 21.3k
9
votes
Slick Hybrid Bike Tires on Steep Gravel Descent?
If you have concerns, there is absolutely no shame in getting off and walking down this descent.
There is no reason to ride anything that makes you feel unsafe, so just don't. Always an option.
- 131k
8
votes
How do you keep from coasting too much on a bicycle?
Your speed on any kind of bike is limited by the power you can put through the pedals to overcome air resistance. Air resistance increases with speed so, if you pedal with a level of effort that's ...
- 17.1k
7
votes
What happens if a tire goes flat while I am in a fast turn?
It depends on which tire, but the essential thing is a flat tire has almost no grip.
Two examples:
Two days ago I was descending a little hill at 60 kph (about 35 mph) when the rear tire suddenly ...
- 17.3k
7
votes
Would learning to ride a unicycle boost biking skills?
Here's my contribution: There is one bicycling skill that improved a lot after I learned unicycling: Riding the bicycle with no hands.
Before unicycling I could ride the bike with no hands in a ...
- 181
7
votes
Accepted
Re-learning how to corner aggressively at speed after bad experiences
I'm only posting this as an answer because it seemed long to comment.
But i would run some drills maybe once a week or whenever your free time allows. Go to a sports store and get some little multi ...
- 9,352
7
votes
Accepted
Is it a good idea to lift the front wheel to go through small bumps?
Hitting any obstacle with the front wheel has always a worse events development potential compared to hitting the same obstacle with the rear wheel: one can loose control over the bicycle and fall ...
- 14.4k
7
votes
Rear wheel slipping out of slot after attempting a 180
If the rear wheel is moving in the dropouts, its because the forces applied to the axle are larger than the clamping force of the retention system.
You say its a Quick Release - the lever should ...
- 131k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible