[Closed] Do you ride down long runs of steps?

Serious answer- it's often hard to tell from a photo as it makes things look a lot easier/shallower....but yes, probably.

Why wouldn't you on a 29er? They roll everything don't they?

Ive yet to find steps i wouldn't ride down so id say yes

one way to find out! (please video and post results)

Get yourself down it. Especially on a wagon wheeler.

Serious answer- it's often hard to tell from a photo as it makes things look a lot easier/shallower....but yes, probably.

I would second this gentleman's response.

And yes you can ride a 29er down most things, but its not the law.

If you didn't feel like it then there's no shame in that. We all have (a developing?) skills envelope.

But why turn around? You could have walked down.

 

I ride steps on the full rigid so you'd be fine on your bike.

Yep - steps are fun. Only problem I'd have with riding that is there's not many places to go if there are walkers coming up.

oops! got me quotes the wrong way round - don't know how that happened!

needs a fatbike

great pic, yeah I'd ride that, it looks like it would be great fun.

If you don't like the look of something you don't have to turn back. It's not against the rules to walk through the bit you don't like the look of then get back on.

OK then... I'm back there tomorrow morning! 😆 I'll walk them up first...

Are those the steps down into the Devils Punchbowl at Hindhead?

Some great (and steep) riding round there....as per your original post, I'd ride down most steps...mountain bikes are great at that kind of thing!

I once went down a set of steps that were exactly the same dimenions as my wheel base it was bizarre.

I#d wimp those steps I reckon unless I could see the run out at the bottom and do them fast.

Oh, and I turned back as I was late to work already and I didn't know where the track would take me to (hospital maybe...)! 😆

only thing that slightly puts me off steps like that is where the mud behind the wooden risers has eroded so there's a lip at the edge of each step - I always worry my front wheel will 'jam' against one. Getting my weight back further seems to help though.

Depends what the risers are made of. Slippy, damp wood? No chance!

There's a ridiculous set of steps on the Stiperstones I had a go at a while back; I got so far down before getting The Fear and "intentionally" ditching into the long bracken beside the track... 🙂

If they are regularly spaced & height steps yes, those with shallow & large drops mixed because of erosion & slip I'd stop and check out first

I know photos flatten stuff out, but that just looks like a bumpy slope. get yer arse over your back wheel and you'll be reet!!

The TOC h trail on Cannock chase is built for wheelchairs and has a brilliant set of 30 steps hacked into one bit of hillside. Very good fun for taking strangers down as each step is a different height and width and the erosion means you have to go up a bit before each down. It has a bit of a non-pc name too which makes it more fun.
No way could you get down it in a wheelchair.

my daughter asked me to ride down a longer set than that with her behind me on the tag-a-long..
We did.
she was 4 at the time.
there was no suspension or 29" wheels.
she is AWESOME tho.

No pressure. 8)

I'll do a few steps or shallow ones but I'd chicken out of those ones. Really don't fancy a trip to A&E

I don't like the ones where the tread is made of earth and the risers wood holding it back, the earth gets compacted down and eroded so they start to become concave, and eventually become a set of little wheel traps.

The steps down from by the Windmill on pitch hill as example. Rideable but a bit nervy (probably been repaired now so everyone thinks i'm a wuss)

Yes, whenever I can. There's a set of steps on the Malverns that are are a perfect pitch so that both wheels drop at the same time. Must be about 50 of them which then change to varying pitch for another 40 or 50. I giggle like a small child all the way down them 😆

The challenge is bunnyhopping back up them, winner is exluded from buying the rounds after. Thankfully my miss-spent youth trying to emulate the Martins in the town centre has put me in good stead. *burp*

if you're clipped in....... go for it

I'd ride those, although steep, if they are fairly regularly spaced out then it should not take long to get into the rhythm.

[i]OK then... I'm back there tomorrow morning! [/i]

careful of ice, count to 3 go on 2, once you're in the rhythm, you'll wonder what the fuss was about... wheeeeee!

i have rode bigger sets of steps, problem with those and some i have local is the wooden edges, if the gravel behind them wears down and the steps are uneven its a dodgy ride and an easy otb ending

I would have been half way down before realising they were steps.
But give them a go. You can almost crawl down them on the brakes 1st.
Or balls out and hit them hard and fast

Please film your first attempt.

Last set of steps I saw, I wheelied down them... broken knee and elbow though.

Honestly, only you (and perhaps close riding mates) know if you can

a) ride them

b) probably ride them but the chance of injury is small

c) don't be an idiot - lets go the other way

It's rhythms over steps that worry me, and you're accelerating faster than you can brake safely and you can either fly down them at full whack or bounce down them with your helmet falling over your face.

I reckon you could clear the fist ½doz or so with a good run up! 🙄 eyes on the landing zone though..

Would you ride it on 100mm [s]29[/s]26er HT

Not a massive fan of stairs but they look fine to me. Run off is important because I try to keep off the brakes after an OTB incident descending a set of random drop stairs made from railway sleepers. Ouch.

Saddle down and nice and steeady does it... but those look like wooden risers that are shouting "hospital food"

Also check if the gravel behind the riser is washed out as these make great wheel blockers... There is nothing like a set of steps where the lip is the same as teh bikes wheelbase for that comedy barely incontrol bouncing effect..

Video, or it didnt happen

Video, or it didnt happen

I have no GoPro. Which means I can't record it. Which means I can't ride them... Sorry guys. 😆

I think people are over analysing it, if you are going to do them just do them. The more you look the more nervous you will be. The more nervous you are the more likley you are to grab a fist full of brake and go OTB. The best situation would have been to carry on going down them the first time you stumbled upon them. You would have made it, felt like a boss and applied the knowledge that you can do those steps so you can do 'X' in the future.

It doesn't always work like that though haha!

I've rode down the granite trail/bogey hill in Newcastle, Co Down. It was... interesting? The steps are of varying length and drop. Some are short and shallow, others are long with big drops. The hill is also pretty steep and long. ([url= http://www.seaviewapartment.co.uk/granitetrail.pdf ]1 in 3 incline[/url])

[img] [/img]
Modern picture that doesn't really show how uneven or steep it is.

[img] [/img]
Old picture that gives a better idea of how steep it is, but still has the bogey tracks and doesn't have the stairs yet.

29er with suspension? I rode my CX bike down a set of concrete steps on holiday, felt like I was 12 again, it was great fun. 30 steps down onto the beach road. Not sure if I would do it again though

Wheel was easasily trued again once home.

There's a set of steps by the clocktower in Malvern, after the longest/most technical downhill on the Malvern's, I get to the flight of steps at the end and just bottle it!!! 😳

As others have written, steps are OK until they get eroded and scooped out behind wooden boards. Usually they are shallower if you stick to the edges, which means you can bail out easily if your nerve fails.

Don't do what I did: near ASDA in Radcliffe there's a very shallow flight of steps, just begging to be ridden, that has a bend in the middle. Pikeys have stolen the hand rail so all that's left is the cast-iron stanchions. The day before we moved into a new "project" house I was riding down at a good speed and I leaned to take the corner. Right hip hit a stanchion and I bounced off and cannonned fast into a stanchion on the outside of the bend at speed, hitting it with my shoulder just far enough outboard of my collar bone not to break it. It flippin' hurt and I was not popular as the next morning we moved in and started pulling down ceilings and partitions - me doing it all one-handed as my left arm was useless, the shoulder blue and yellow and siezed. Cool. I still have the "dent" in my right hip to show for it ten years later.

Steps? pah!
Try this on - I only did it once, with two 'dismounts'....250m+ descent in just under 1km. A shame the SDA choose the muddy field next door to race down, rather than this....
[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8395/8613030177_bf6e52b034_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8395/8613030177_bf6e52b034_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/e872Ni ]IMGP0481[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/88555557@N00/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
[url= https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8401/8614104382_811dd32208_b.jp g" target="_blank">https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8401/8614104382_811dd32208_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/e8cx85 ]R0017150[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/people/88555557@N00/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr

Can't make this appear as a picture, sorry. These steps are too scarey for me on my rigid:

http://singletrackmag.com/magarchive/issue-26/

Love riding steps 🙂 Difficult to tell how steep from a photo. As others have said, careful in the wet on the wooden bits and watch out for scooped out steps. Seat down, weight low, give it a go 🙂

Good fun riding the steps at the end of this trail... got a corner wrong once, melted my glove against the wall

Some stairs on a local route on my old FSR.

Steps are rubbish!

There was a steep set of steps near where I used to live and the week before I moved I psyched myself up to ride them.
actually - [url= http://www.picturesofengland.com/user/103889/pictures//England/Hampshire/Hilsea/Hilsea_Lines ]these[/url]
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR done. Crap and pointless.

Seat down. Arse off the back. Heels down. Relax and go for it, let the bike do the work. If you fall off, it's nothing to do with me!

Honorablegeorge ^
😯

Honorablegeorge ^
😯

Bet you wish you'd gone first!

medoramas

wooden steps?

Not a big fan myself, give me proper stone ones and I'm happy. You need a bike you can sit low and [i]behind[/i] the bars, something you feel perched on is not the right tool. Stalling is a worry but too much speed and you won't get the timing right and be buckaroo-ed off. OPs pic looks OK but if steep and the steeps high enough and it'll be a mare.

kendo954 - Member

i have rode bigger sets of steps, problem with those and some i have local is the wooden edges, if the gravel behind them wears down and the steps are uneven its a dodgy ride

I was halfway down a set of local steps when I discovered that some of them had washed out completely- the railway sleepers that made up the step edge were just hanging in the air. Still no idea how I rode that outtbh, pure luck probably.

I like steps, not so keen on railings though!

Where are those steps?
they look ace

[b]ndthornton[/b] They are in Torquay. Between Ellacombe and Babbacombe, long footpath (yeah, yeah...) - easy to spot on OS Map. 😀

Honorablegeorge ^
😯

• looks at holidays in Finale Ligure •

Awesome terrain in that video honourablegeorge.

Yes is the answer.

yes, but not exciting - maybe my FS 26er just makes things too easy

That's why I ride them fully rigid:-)

Marin, you're gnarrrrly!

if you're clipped in....... go for it

If you're not...just drop your heels (and laugh at the disco slipper owners on your way down).

I am irrationally terrified of riding steps. No idea why.

Grrrrrrrr!!!!!

Always wanted to go Finale Ligure. That video makes me want to go more. May have to look at there instead of Verbier

[img] [/img]

This is a run of 211 steps [url= http://is.gd/zXTSPm ]down the side of a dam[/url] at the bottom of one of my regular rides. It's completely rideable but it's more of an exercise in testing how well your fillings are attached than any form of fun. Good for checking your suspension setup though.

Intimidating. Not difficult, not fun. But obligatory.

🙂

Normally, BUT.....

There are some around that are just not worth it. In the back of a park in Cockermouth there was a set that the spacing just didn't work and every time the front dropped the back was rebounding. Lasted 3 before bailing into the bushes as I recall

Loving all this 'stairs porn'. Brrrrrp, oh yes!

I find controlling speed is the main thing on longer sets. Perhaps start halfway down, so that if you can't effectively use your brakes you will still be sub-death speed by the end of the set.

slowoldman - Member

It's not against the rules to walk through the bit you don't like the look of then get back on.

It absolutely is against the rules to do this.
Do not listen to this man, he is obviously a cyclocrosser and therefore a deviant.

BigJohn - Member
The TOC h trail on Cannock chase is built for wheelchairs and has a brilliant set of 30 steps hacked into one bit of hillside. Very good fun for taking strangers down as each step is a different height and width and the erosion means you have to go up a bit before each down. It has a bit of a non-pc name too which makes it more fun.
No way could you get down it in a wheelchair.

Those are horrible, I've ridden them a couple of times, first time I was clipped in and damn near shat myself.

It's when one foot becomes unclipped that the fun starts. Especially as they start off with front wheel going down before back, then both down together, followed by a random selection.

It depends on the 'wavelength'.

This thread has ruined me - 51 years old no talent just 45 years of blindly riding down steps on motorcycles and MTBs and never considered it to be a technical challenge and now I am s**ting myself about the next time I have to ride down some! You see this is what thinking does to you it prevents you just doing stuff! Thanks people....

"Do you ride [b]down[/b] long runs of steps?"

or [b]up[/b]?

Commentary by Filip Polc at Red Bull Monserrate Devotees 2012

Get the next new wheel size and riding up will be a doddle 🙂