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How do you ride down stairs?

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Twister

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I'm an old roadie and cross guy who bought two mtn. bikes this year and I wish I'd done it years ago. I love it. I've become a star spangled mountain bike nut!

I have never ridden down any stairs. Never saw the need. But, by golly, I see it now.

Any tips on how to do it? I'll be using a full susp 5 incher with platforms.
 
#2 ·
Get to a decent speed, lean back, dont turn the handle bars, dont brake. The faster you go, the better. Oh, and stand up too, you don't want to be riding down while in the saddle. Keep your arms and legs loose and absorb the bumps.

It really is easier than it looks, it's just like going down any other hill except much bumpier. Good luck man! :thumbsup:
 
#3 ·
It is usually easier to go a bit faster, so the stairs all kinda of blend togeather.

Real slow bounce bounce is fun.

But watch out, at a middling speed the suspension can get into a rythm with the stairs and it can be hard to handle.

Better yet practise going up the stairs!
 
#4 ·
like almost everything else, start small and work up as your comfort level increases. i guess the "smallest" step would be a curb, then maybe find something that has 3-5 steps and so on.

you dont need a huge amount of speed, even 5 mph is prolly ok.
 
#5 ·
Make sure you have some decent health insurance. :) Its crazy the numbers of bikers out there that dont at least carry a decent high deductable insurance policy before they start doing some crazy stuff. A lot of really bad accidents happen on "easy stuff."
 
Discussion starter · #6 · (Edited)
jeffscott said:
Better yet practise going up the stairs!
Click to expand...
I actually enjoy climbing as long as its not TOO long.

So how do you CLIMB stairs?

I've got excellent insurance. Besides, I'm not gonna crash, and if I do I won't get hurt. (I'm bulletproof!)

Good idea to work up to longer and longer stairs.

Maybe I'll wear my full face motorcycle helmet and some pads. Don't want to mush up the old phizz!
 
#7 · (Edited)
Going up you're going to need more speed than you think since you won't have that many opportunities to pedal. I usually pull up a bit at first to save some momentum over the 1st stair.

Going down, just lean back behind the seat enough and keep your speed up. Sometimes going over rocks is easier than going in between, you won't catch pedals then.

Edit --->Ahh, I was thinking rock stairs. Going down normal stairs is pretty easy, up I would imagine would take much more speed. For a fun going down stairs picture check out this thread http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=348113 some sillyness at a friends house. http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=348734 and at a friends work!
 
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#8 ·
We've got stairs that are cut into hills with variable runs, some are quite long, so you can go slow and bump up each step one at a time. It takes concentration and balance.

Some times you get a step where the front and back have to go up at the same time, kinda of a bunny hop.

Then you have really wide stairs where you back wheel is several steps below your front, you (I) have to go fast enough to make the steps blend togeather, (you know that speed cause you go down the stairs first).

Pick a gear that allows you to stand and mash at that speed with a pretty fast RPM.

Spin-up to speed lift the front and the mash, you will be amazed how easy it is.

Railings can make it a lot harder to bail.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
Yeah. Lots of great advice here. I love this place.

I can see where railings would be a factor, or walls and light poles and stuff like that. I need to look around for some rubber stairs surrounded by wide and thick cushions.

At least I need to be selective where I cut this caper, anyhow. I suppose I should prolly make sure there is somebody with a cell phone in the area too.

Should I make my tires hard or sorta soft?
 
#10 ·
Softer tires are better, but they have to be hard enough not to pinch flat, (real common) or squash and dent the rims.

In the end riding in the city mine are pretty hard to reduce rolling resistance and that works okay too.
 
#11 ·
As a general rule you could try 2 methods:

1. Go as fast as you can and try not to fall off the pedals. or

2. Go as fast as you can and try to air it out over the stairs with a good 5" travel bike you'll have a nice soft landing.
 
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#14 ·
flights can be tricky..especially when the flight area is small, and you're going fast. for those, i would slightly hold your break. just to slow down a bit. you dont wanna be going over your handlebars. make sure you lean back, and on a DS, you should be fine.
 
Discussion starter · #16 ·
Flights. I can see how they would sort of break up the flow.

Rock hard tires.

Weight back.

Be ready to feather the back break.

Keep the speed up.

DItto, bail out.

Don't try to steer.

Start small.

Choose a friendly set of stairs without extra obstructrions.

Be prepared to crash.

This is going to be fun!
 
#17 ·
Be careful on the rock hard tires idea, if your suspension is not completely dialed in correctly you will not have the softer tires to help/bail you out. For any normal 2.0 range mtn bike tire 35-40 psi would be a good starting point. If you make those tires too hard they will not aid your suspension at all. I don't think at this point you need to worry about denting your rims, you just need to worry about staying on the bike and in the pedals. Just out of curiousity are you using clipless pedals?
 
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#18 ·
going up stairs, you absolutely need to run normal xc tires at 50-60 psi ideally. down them, your normal xc pressure should be fine. riding down staris is really, really easy. just intimidating at first. just do what everyone else said as far as technique goes.
 
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