Riding no hands on a b@&e

[dragonzfly]

I hopped on a mates MTB the other day which is the first time I've ridden more than one wheel for years and found that I can no longer ride no hands.
Seems counter intuitive to me but there you go.
Anyone else out there find the same thing? Or am I just weird/er.
Cheers

[aracer]

Not just you - I noticed a very similar issue when out racing my bike the other day. Where previously I was very happy riding no hands, it felt really uncomfortable when I tried.

Doubtless it's just like riding a different sized wheel in that a bit of retraining of the instincts is needed when going back.

[57UniRider]

Hmmm. This title caught my attention, but it's contents surprised me.

When I first got my uni, I wondered whether riding a "b*&e" with no hands would help me get my legs, etc. conditioned for uni riding. The thought process was that I could ride the bike with no hands fairly easily, and I could get some exercise that way... but the uni was taking so long I wasn't getting any exercise or conditioning on it.

My new riding friend told me she was doing the same thing, even though we never discussed it.

This must be a common thought, even though when I was learning everyone here said forget the bike, ride the uni over and over until you get it.

My "bike" experiment didn't last long.
I haven't ridden it in months.

So... is there any advantage at all... or any connection at all... between riding a bike with no hands and riding a uni?

[aracer]

Originally Posted by 57UniRider

So... is there any advantage at all... or any connection at all... between riding a bike with no hands and riding a uni?

You're sitting in a similar position and pedalling - I think that's about as far as it goes, even the side to side balance is totally different.

Doing wheelies on a bike might be similar to riding a uni - I do think about having another try at that on a bike, and maybe going back to work on my skills now I'm starting to do stuff on a uni I can't do on a bike.

[Hung Like Saddam]

I couldn't before I learnt to Uni, now I can. Probably just being brave enough just to go for it after riding a Uni.

[johnfoss]

No-handing a bike also has something to do with the bike itself. Depending on the steering setup (head tube angle and other factors), some bikes are a lot harder to no-hand than others. Try a racing bike some time. They have a very steep head tube, and can be very no-hands unfriendly! Same for an artistic bike (even steeper head tube), though both are, of course, doable. They have two wheels, after all...