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I have seen this done, and it probably has a name or another way of describing it that I have not thought of, but I cannot find information about it on the internet.

When stopped at an intersection, some cyclists will turn their front wheel to the side, and it seems to help them stay on the bike while the bike is not moving forward. Unless I'm imagining things.

I'd like to know how to do this, how it works, etc.

William Denny
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2 Answers2

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It called a track stand. It originates in track racing on a velodrome, where in the opening stages of the individual sprint event you sometimes need to come to an almost complete halt. Tricky and dangerous to do if not well practiced, it can end in a 'sprawl of shame' if your technique is not perfect.

Kim Ryan
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  • This is a copy of Batman's answer. – BSO rider Aug 07 '15 at 00:14
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    I didn't see his answer until after I posted mine (which has more detail, and took longer to complete). This info is common knowledge amongst cyclists. – Kim Ryan Aug 07 '15 at 00:16
  • Er, no. Pursuit is where people / teams start on opposite sides of the track and try to catch each other. Track stands originated in sprint racing, but coming to a complete stop is against the rules nowadays. Tricky? No, it's a skill like any other. Dangerous? Well you can fall off ... A rare -1 from me. – andy256 Aug 07 '15 at 00:17
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    @BSOrider Check the times, he would have been typing at the same time as Batman. – andy256 Aug 07 '15 at 00:18
  • Actually, Batman's answer has more detail, because he linked to the wikipedia page. – BSO rider Aug 07 '15 at 00:18
  • @andy256 yeah, you're right. BTW, should one delete their answer in this situation? – BSO rider Aug 07 '15 at 00:20
  • I don't think so. It happens. I think @Kim should update his answer though, so that I can remove my downvote! – andy256 Aug 07 '15 at 00:22
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    Lol. BSO pulls up to the lights next to Kim. BSO: Hey, you're in my spot. Kim: No I'm not, i was here first. BSO: Yeah, but I was clearly about to pull up in that spot. Kim: Mate, just relax. I'm a better rider than you anyway, so i'll make it off the lights earlier. BSO: pushes kim off his bike. – LifeCycle Aug 07 '15 at 01:24
  • Batman's answer has less information because it's just an external link -- external links (even Wikipedia links) have a habit of going away or changing over time. The best answer would be no answer at all - just flagging as a dupe. If you have something to add to the existing answer about Track Stands, add it there so all of the information is in once place. – Johnny Aug 07 '15 at 02:29
  • In either case, what I really needed was the name. I tried many ways of phrasing my question and keywords in Google search, but nothing useful came up. Now that I know this, I'm swimming in YouTube videos. Thank you, all. And now hopefully if someone tries searching terms similar to what I tried (in the title), they will find this. – William Denny Aug 07 '15 at 19:52
  • Thanks @andy256, I updated answer to refer to the individual sprint, not pursuit as you point out. I see cyclists doing track stands while commuting to work. Most can pull it off, but in the small gap between cars, it is dangerous and I've heard of several nasty falls in this situation. Enjoyed your humorous take LifeCycle, there are always pushy riders out there :) – Kim Ryan Aug 08 '15 at 00:17
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The technique you're probably thinking of is doing a "track stand".

Batman
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    Could you please provide a bit of detail about how track stands work, how one does a track stand, etc? – freiheit Aug 10 '15 at 00:04