How do you push your bike?

[Jameshow]

My trike is hard to push, so if I have to move it I pick it up by the rear wheel and pull it

Was that you on the first audax video?!

 

[MontyVeda]

... except for narrow gaps and suchlike, at which point it's vertical, up on the back wheel and hands on the tops.
...

That's the easiest way to get a bike down a flight of steps... doesn't work with racks or mudguards though, which i have these days. I avoid steps.

 

[HLaB]

I'll either hold the stem where I dont need access to the brakes. If I do I'm pushing the bars/hoods. The bar/hoods are usually my default for short pushes or starting and I'll transition to the stem if its longer and feels safe to do so. But given the majority of times its only ever a short push, pushing the bars/hoods will be most common for me

 

[oldwheels]

Me on left of bike and one hand on saddle and other on handlebars.
Tadpole trike as Numbnuts says but Delta is a problem I have not had to do much yet. Lift front wheel and pull seems the only way but too heavy for comfort. So far I pull on seat back with right hand and steer with left.

 

[Peter Salt]

I've got people that do it for me.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I have never done much pushing it with the front wheel off the ground
probably because I have always had a bike with full mudguards - which may seem weird, especially as I had a good bike in the 1970s - but I could never see the point in taking perfectly good full mudguards off a bike only to end up with a load of mud all up your back!!

Oh -- been thinking - it does depend on whether or not I have a hand free - if one hand is partiall occupied then I use the middle of the bars/stem one handed
but using 2 hands on the bars gives more control and puts you at the front of the bike
Being at the front I fine help on paved areas such as shopping streets - other people relate to you better if you are at the front raththan pushing a lump of metal in front of you

IMO

 

[Alex321]

37kg minus 14kg for the bike, 3kg of water, 1-2kg for clothes, that leaves 18-20kg for the panniers if they're full, but most of the bike weight is supported on the wheel and my hand, so I can't see it needing much weight at all to overbalance it. The pannier CofG is ~0.5m from the axis of rotation, so they exert plenty of torque once they start to go.


My original pannier lasted for 36800 miles, 10500 of which were fully laden for touring.


The bike isn't doing a wheelie, it's toppling, with panniers going to one side, and the front wheel coming out sideways from under the opposite side:


Like this:

View attachment 712671

I had completely misunderstood what you had said was happening.

I thought it was doing a wheelie.

As you explain it now makes a lot more sense. At walking speed, there isn't the gyroscopic balancing effect from the wheels that you get at riding speed, and a small deviation can suddenly cause you issues with it overbalancing.

 

[a.twiddler]

I had to think about this, as I've been on the Darkside for several years. With a conventional drop bar bike, if lightly loaded then just for wheeling about, it's nice to be able to hold the back of the saddle and nudge it in the direction you want to go. If loaded, push with the bars. Stand to the left to keep away from the transmission.

Recumbent bike with above seat steering, push the back of the seat and steer with one hand on the bars, keeping to the left to avoid the transmission. OK for round the garden but generally I can ride it everywhere with not much need for pushing.

Recumbent bike with under seat steering, not so easy, as the bars are under the seat and even with arms like an orang utan it's a stretch to steer with a fingertip while pushing on the seat back. Keeping to the left to avoid the transmission. As with the over seat steering version, ok for moving it about but it's an incentive to ride it up everything.

Delta recumbent trike with underseat steering. It can be pushed with the seat back and fingertip on a bar end but also, to turn in a tight space or to get up a short flight of steps, the front end can be lifted with a hand just behind the steerer and the rear will follow. It's pretty low and pretty light. You can even make it vertical and turn it through 180 degrees if necessary. Though as with any trike, you could complete your whole trip without getting off at all if that is what you wanted to do.

 

[slowmotion]

I walk on the non-drive side of the bike with my right hand on the top of the stem. I would have thought that using both hands on the handlebars opens up the risk of you over-balancing and crashing to the ground on top of the bike.

 

[steveindenmark]

I have a Brompton. I push it like a shopping trolly

 

[Punkawallah]

Using the walk assist

Boardwalk Cruiser made from scaffolding pole, I presume :-)

I think there may be a dissertation waiting to be written here, on the sociological impact of bike pushing techniques over time; including (but not solely) the effect of bar shapes, bike weight, loadings and variations in what is considered acceptable impositions on personal space.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Boardwalk Cruiser made from scaffolding pole, I presume :-)

I think there may be a dissertation waiting to be written here, on the sociological impact of bike pushing techniques over time; including (but not solely) the effect of bar shapes, bike weight, loadings and variations in what is considered acceptable impositions on personal space.

Haha sorry I meant on my e-bike there is a walk assist mode, it's surprisingly powerful.

 

[matticus]

Just blow the referee whistle louder and slow cycle push behind the Deliveroo chaps.

Nice.

Alternatively, when looking for solutions to problems like "How to get through a crowd in a busy city" I generally ask:
"How would Tom Cruise deal with this?"

Of course, the answer generally involves a high-powered motorbike, so this will need some thought ...

 

[Drago]

Nice.

Alternatively, when looking for solutions to problems like "How to get through a crowd in a busy city" I generally ask:
"How would Tom Cruise deal with this?"

Of course, the answer generally involves a high-powered motorbike, so this will need some thought ...

I always ask myself...

"What would Lewis Collins do in this situation?" I really should stop doing that, as I keep getting arrested.

 

[a.twiddler]

I suppose the definitive answer to the question of how you push your bike is "with your feet on the pedals". If I was a Real Cyclist I wouldn't admit to pushing up hills, and in town the adoring crowds would part like the Red Sea before Moses as I arrive on my morally superior, ecologically sound means of transport so I could ride anywhere without dismounting. Cyclist Dismount signs would not exist. Since we don't live in hill less Holland with its cyclist aware population we just have to make the best of it, but it's amazing how many ways there seem to be of propelling your bike when you're not on it and how everyone thinks their way is the right way. If it works for you, it probably is the right way.

It just brings home what an awkward contraption a bike really is when it's not being ridden, with its sticky-out pedals waiting to catch your shins, handlebar levers ready to poke you in the ribs when you're not looking, chainwheels wating to jab your calves and generously share their lubricant with you. Not to mention the various cable ends and quick releases lurking in hope of making uncomfortable contact with unsuspecting parts of your anatomy. It's almost a case of how to get near enough to it to push it while sustaining the least pain. Like dog owners, everyone will say "mine doesn't do that" but from the outside looking in, and with panto season looming, "oh yes it does".

The main benefit of having to push a bike any distance is that you appreciate how nice it is to get on it and ride it again afterwards.