Skip to main content

Track stand tactics take top honours

Cyclists and vehicle drivers may have their differences on the road but they can, nonetheless, admire each other’s skills. The ability of an articulated truck driver to back up while threading his lengthy vehicle through a narrow passage is often admired by cyclists. Drivers, too, can admire the ability of a cyclist at a stop light to balance his bicycle while stationary, without taking his or her feet off the pedals, a feat called the track stand.
January 5, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
Cyclists and vehicle drivers may have their differences on the road but they can, nonetheless, admire each other’s skills.

The ability of an articulated truck driver to back up while threading his lengthy vehicle through a narrow passage is often admired by cyclists.

Drivers, too, can admire the ability of a cyclist at a stop light to balance his bicycle while stationary, without taking his or her feet off the pedals, a feat called the track stand.

But one Brazilian rider has taken the track stand to a higher level, as the video link below shows. The middle-aged man is no athlete and the bike is not a racing machine. Far from it, as it appears to be an inexpensive commuter machine. And the gas canister on his head is not lightweight.

To perform a track stand, a cyclist holds the pedal cranks in a nearly horizontal position with the front wheel being steered to the left or right as balance dictates. There is, in fact, often a slight forward and rear rocking motion to maintain balance.

For anyone interested in learning how to perform a track stand, the video below, presented by a seemingly professional rider somewhere ‘down under’, is a quick lesson in the art.

However, viewers of the video will notice the demonstration is taking place on a public road and that the cyclist is taking up one entire lane. In a nod in the direction of safety, he first of all says you want to find a quiet road so you don’t get run over. But then a vehicle then whooshes by him in the opposite lane, narrowly missing him. He is not apparently bothered by the incident.

Please %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal click here Visit Youtube Video page false https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbeaB3G79vI false false%> to view a video

Related Content

  • Scania get tough with Off-Road truck versions
    April 19, 2012
    To address the needs of the off-road market, Scania has added bigger non-slip steps, an additional step for windscreen cleaning and light guards to its off-road range of tractive units and multi wheelers. As an option the chassis can be supplied with factory-fitted PTO hydraulics and tank to power tipper rams or similar.
  • Show of Strength for Asphaltica-Samoter 2014
    May 14, 2014
    This year’s 50th anniversary of the first edition of Samoter in Verona, Italy, could mark the start of a construction equipment sales’ renaissance for a nation with a rich construction equipment manufacturing heritage. Guy Woodford reports It’s been a tough few years for the Italian construction equipment manufacturing industry. A difficult domestic and wider European sales market coupled with a challenging European economic climate has created something of a perfect storm. But many Italian and other Eur
  • Hyundai’s hydraulic hybrid offers 20% fuel savings
    January 6, 2017
    Hyundai Heavy Industries is showcasing a hydraulic hybrid machine at bauma. The R220-LC Hi-POSS is a 22tonne-crawler excavator with a system that allows brake energy to be used for other functions. Hi-POSS stands for Hyundai intelligent power optimal sharing and energy saving. “This is the most novel thing we have,” said Hyundai product engineer Joachim Van de Perre. “With a conventional excavator, when you brake, the energy heats the hydraulic oil. Here we use the energy to perform another task with the ma
  • Hyundai’s hydraulic hybrid offers 20% fuel savings
    April 18, 2013
    Hyundai Heavy Industries is showcasing a hydraulic hybrid machine at bauma. The R220-LC Hi-POSS is a 22tonne-crawler excavator with a system that allows brake energy to be used for other functions. Hi-POSS stands for Hyundai intelligent power optimal sharing and energy saving. “This is the most novel thing we have,” said Hyundai product engineer Joachim Van de Perre. “With a conventional excavator, when you brake, the energy heats the hydraulic oil. Here we use the energy to perform another task with the ma