kona_scrap
Likes Dirt
lol. i think its just me but my brain is telling me that to survive i would keep my feet ON the pedals. just seems like the rational thing to do 
Commuters and messengers - let's talk about skitching.
- Thread starter Techno Destructo
- Start date
Viv92
Eats Squid
lol. i think its just me but my brain is telling me that to survive i would keep my feet ON the pedals. just seems like the rational thing to do
On a fixie the pedals will just keep spinning though. Personally I'd think twice before trying to hang onto a car going 60km/h when on a fixie.
kona_scrap
Likes Dirt
ooooooh. ok, you'd lost me there. but now im on the same page. still, id rather my feet infront of me....
how does this work??? I'd be scared to take my feet off, let alone put them behind me. you, my friend, have some very steely balls!
For starters I always run a brake, secondly I only ever do it when I've got a nice open strech of road ahead of me so I can see if I need to get them back on with plenty of warning. As for getting them back on, try in next you're crusing along at like 10k an hour, it's really not that hard after a little bit of practice.
And, no I never do it while skitching, that would be nuts, although I'm sure it could be done....
-Garth
jamisparker
Banned
clearly you have never ridden a fixie
hmm... lets see.. coming back down the bluff up here in the high country on the weekend before the snow season begins, roads are slippery. riding down cruising along all good, hit uphill grab the side of the ute one with either side, all sweet. other guy would wouldnt move across when the driver told him. it was my hilux my bestie was driving, coming up on of the hills the back wheel gets stuck in the gutter when the other guy refused to moved causing me to swerve hitting the bars on the tray and me being flung under n out into the bank being knocked out and pretty bloody concust in the end, hilux has 35" muddies on it, bike copped abit of markage and a buggered front wheel, glad i had my full face on. REALLY wanted to sleep after that... so im over this part its too bloody risk- getting run over by my own damn car!
Carlin
Likes Bikes and Dirt
I could count the number of times I have skitched on one hand. It was more opportunistic than premeditated. Even then it was sub 30ks only. The first time I tried it was on a big f-off crane actually so it was very slow/smooth.
A Fixed gear would be safer I think as it would stop you from being towed faster than you could pedal, and you would have far more of a feel for what the bike was doing.
I prefer to "catch" a bus by drafting. You can then listen to the engine so you know what the driver is doing. But make sure you know the road for the pot holes and corners as you are "flying blind" so to speak.
A Fixed gear would be safer I think as it would stop you from being towed faster than you could pedal, and you would have far more of a feel for what the bike was doing.
I prefer to "catch" a bus by drafting. You can then listen to the engine so you know what the driver is doing. But make sure you know the road for the pot holes and corners as you are "flying blind" so to speak.
Stanas
Likes Bikes
Yeah have to agree there. Skitching sounds a bit risky to me.
Never really thought about skitching until these posts. Although because of all this talk about it I think I've caught the bug and have to give it a shot. On my ride yesterday all I was doing was looking for vehicles to skitch. Thanks guys, no really.
rhysrhysbaby
Eats Squid
Saw a roadie drafting a truck through the race course road/flemington road lights at about 7am today.
He was FLYING!!!
i was quite impressed.
petri
Likes Dirt
I've got 6 1/2 years of towing stories from when i was a courier....
Don't recommend it to anyone but it's a great buzz and gets you around town super quick... I used to make the most money by doing city to south runs and those jobs generally paid double so towing was very much a part of the job for me.
Some of us used to have races from Fitzroy to St Kilda towing, good but crazy times and i've seen some horrible crashes from towing, you lose alot of skin at those speeds.
Don't recommend it to anyone but it's a great buzz and gets you around town super quick... I used to make the most money by doing city to south runs and those jobs generally paid double so towing was very much a part of the job for me.
Some of us used to have races from Fitzroy to St Kilda towing, good but crazy times and i've seen some horrible crashes from towing, you lose alot of skin at those speeds.
RCOH
Eats Squid
Will never do it on my Fixie. Have done it a few times on the street bike or old SS commuter. Have also done it shuttling for DH at oxford falls/red hill on numerous occasions.
I used to do it a lot on my skateboard, skitch a ride up Cambell Pde from Bondi mini & vert ramps to where I leved at the top of the hill. That was fun
I used to do it a lot on my skateboard, skitch a ride up Cambell Pde from Bondi mini & vert ramps to where I leved at the top of the hill. That was fun
Techno Destructo
Riding In Peace
Did one this morning on a medium sized truck... he must have seen me, since about a second after I put my hand on the handhold, he accelerated sharply, which I half-expect anytime I do this, anyhow...
Only held on for a few seconds due to the probably negative reaction from the driver, but it was enjoyable. Gave him a wave and a smile as he pulled away from me.
Only held on for a few seconds due to the probably negative reaction from the driver, but it was enjoyable. Gave him a wave and a smile as he pulled away from me.
kona_scrap
Likes Dirt
clearly you are very correct. but if i dont want to do it on a normal bike. there is no way in hell i'd try it on a fixie
kona_scrap
Likes Dirt
i feel like a total spaz for asking this but what is the difference between skitching and drafting? i'm pretty new to the whole "grab a random car and hold on" stuff.
Graunched
Likes Dirt
i feel like a total spaz for asking this but what is the difference between skitching and drafting? i'm pretty new to the whole "grab a random car and hold on" stuff.
Skitching: Physically holding onto a car, truck etc and getting pulled along by it. Very dangerous and not to be attempted unless very confident with bike skills and riding in traffic in general. Also illegal.
Drafting: Riding behind a truck (bigger the better) or car in the slip stream/draft. Only danger is other traffic, sudden braking of vehicle that you are following and the fact that you have to follow within a couple of meters of the vehicle for it to be effective.
Although the bigger the vehicle and the faster it is traveling = further distance that you can sit behind it.
*edit* Basics of Drafting
If a following object, moving at the same speed, can position itself within the slipstream, it will require less energy to maintain its speed than if it was moving independently, because the first object reduces the amount of air resistance experienced by the following object. Alternatively, the following object will be able to move faster than it could in open air which will permit it to pass (overtake) the leading object. Using this principle is called slipstreaming.
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kona_scrap
Likes Dirt
ok, cheers for that. im finally up to date with all the expressions for riding with traffic. yay. cheers
cheers
Techno Destructo
Riding In Peace
Just did a few experiments with drafting lately... I haven't REALLY drafted large vehicles before, but then again, I haven't done many "grey-area" techniques before when riding on city streets.
Tried it on some large vehicles... buses, moving trucks, etc...
Pretty effective! Managed to keep a pretty high speed (well, as fast as the vehicle in front of me, anyway) with a minimum of effort.
What were the downsides?
You have to stay pretty close to the back of the vehicle to really exploit the drafting/slipstream, so this introduces a couple of dangers. One which was mentioned before was you have to be extremely vigilant of the brake lights on the vehicle you're drafting. In other words, most of your focus will be on the back the vehicle which means you can't look around or get distracted (for fear of not being ready when the vehicle in front of you has to slow down suddenly and you run your front wheel into it).
The second is that since you're right behind the vehicle, you have no reaction time to deal with uneven riding surfaces if you hit them. This means things such as objects on the road, potholes, large grooves/cracks, etc... will be under your front wheel instantaneously. You should probably only do this technique when riding on roads you know like the back of your hand.
The third downside is that, well, it's not quite as fun as "the other method" of exploiting other vehicles on the road.
I'd say it's only marginally safer. And not by much. But it's almost as effective.
Tried it on some large vehicles... buses, moving trucks, etc...
Pretty effective! Managed to keep a pretty high speed (well, as fast as the vehicle in front of me, anyway) with a minimum of effort.
What were the downsides?
You have to stay pretty close to the back of the vehicle to really exploit the drafting/slipstream, so this introduces a couple of dangers. One which was mentioned before was you have to be extremely vigilant of the brake lights on the vehicle you're drafting. In other words, most of your focus will be on the back the vehicle which means you can't look around or get distracted (for fear of not being ready when the vehicle in front of you has to slow down suddenly and you run your front wheel into it).
The second is that since you're right behind the vehicle, you have no reaction time to deal with uneven riding surfaces if you hit them. This means things such as objects on the road, potholes, large grooves/cracks, etc... will be under your front wheel instantaneously. You should probably only do this technique when riding on roads you know like the back of your hand.
The third downside is that, well, it's not quite as fun as "the other method" of exploiting other vehicles on the road.
I'd say it's only marginally safer. And not by much. But it's almost as effective.
Haha never heard it called skitching but yeah do it all the time.
Its about 20km commute to work and over the gladesville bridge at my pace is death. Fastest my little polar thing said I was doing whilst on a garbo truck was about 75 - 80 km/h.
After that one hand on a roadie whilst hitting potholes starts to get pretty etch.
Its about 20km commute to work and over the gladesville bridge at my pace is death. Fastest my little polar thing said I was doing whilst on a garbo truck was about 75 - 80 km/h.
After that one hand on a roadie whilst hitting potholes starts to get pretty etch.
Tip with drafting:
Get as close as you physically can, even if it means occasionally brushing the tyre on the bumper. Big vehicles don't slow down suddenly, so unless you're a gumby (alas I suspect many of us are) you'll never have problems with running up the back of things. The closer you are means that if a bus/truck was to emergency stop you only have a tiny gap until your tyre brushes the guard, and you can use that to slow down effectively. Trust me that's a much better solution than keeping a metre gap 'cause then when you run up the back you'll be carrying relatively more speed and that wouldn't be fun. And yes if you're feeling silly you can rely on rubbing your tyre as your braking, it does smell and leave a nasty mark so be polite and avoid doing it
Of course keep fingers on the brakes, eyes on the brakes and your upper body loose incase you blindly run over something like a stick, pothole or pedestrian.
Get as close as you physically can, even if it means occasionally brushing the tyre on the bumper. Big vehicles don't slow down suddenly, so unless you're a gumby (alas I suspect many of us are) you'll never have problems with running up the back of things. The closer you are means that if a bus/truck was to emergency stop you only have a tiny gap until your tyre brushes the guard, and you can use that to slow down effectively. Trust me that's a much better solution than keeping a metre gap 'cause then when you run up the back you'll be carrying relatively more speed and that wouldn't be fun. And yes if you're feeling silly you can rely on rubbing your tyre as your braking, it does smell and leave a nasty mark so be polite and avoid doing it
Of course keep fingers on the brakes, eyes on the brakes and your upper body loose incase you blindly run over something like a stick, pothole or pedestrian.