Riding down stairs

dave f said:

Hi all

On my commute home, I ride down a set of 7 steps.

I got a puncture yesterday. Normally I run slicks on the mountain bike at 100 psi, and the mini
pump only pumps up to about 60 psi so I was a bit more cautious descending.

Will riding slowly or quickly down stairs cause least damage to the bike?

Thanks

Dave

The main thing is to be smooth. Get off the saddle (not sure how you'd do it without, unless you've
got full suspension... ouch!), bend your knees and elbows, get off the back of the saddle, and let
the bike float underneath you. I find that I feel smoother (and faster) riding down stairs if I
almost shove the bike forwards and down when I get behind the saddle. If you time it right, it makes
for a really nice smooth transition to the steps. Stay behind the saddle, and then kind of make a
rocking motion backwards as you get off the stairs. Pull on the bars, get a little bit farther back,
and use the same pull to start your forwards motion back onto the saddle. Kind of hard to explain,
but its almost bunnyhop, minus the unweighting of the rear, or a downhill manual. If you do it
right, you'll be smooth on both transitions, won't get bounced around too much, and not come down
too hard on any corners.

I always ride stairs fast, but then again, I'm running 2.1 knobbies most of the time. I didn't have
a problem with my 1.25 or so slicks with that technique though.

Then again, you could ignore the steps all together and just huck off the top. Bonus points if
you're still in "work" attire 😉

Jon Bond

"Jonathan Bond" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

dave f said:

Hi all

On my commute home, I ride down a set of 7 steps.

Quoted message said:

Then again, you could ignore the steps all together and just huck off the top. Bonus points if
you're still in "work" attire 😉

Jon Bond

Hehehe...I like the way you think Jon. ;^)

Mike

I used to work at a bike shop in Buffalo NY. There a mechanic, Dave Thomas, now Dave of Dave's Speed
Dream Wheels, would ride his Gios down the stairs from the second floor show room to the first
floor. Great for business. GJ

"Michael Dart" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Jonathan Bond" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

dave f said:

Hi all

On my commute home, I ride down a set of 7 steps.

Quoted message said:

Then again, you could ignore the steps all together and just huck off the top. Bonus points if
you're still in "work" attire 😉

Jon Bond

Hehehe...I like the way you think Jon. ;^)

Mike

Gary Jacobson said:

I used to work at a bike shop in Buffalo NY. There a mechanic, Dave Thomas, now Dave of Dave's
Speed Dream Wheels, would ride his Gios down the stairs from the second floor show room to the
first floor. Great for business.

One of our LBS has a bar upstairs (same owners). There's a steel "fire escape" on the side (it's
access to the bar too) and I've seen people go down that on a Raleigh Chopper.