# How do you ride down stairs?



## Twister (Feb 28, 2006)

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.


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## Ironchefjon (Mar 23, 2007)

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:


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

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!


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## bstyle74 (May 8, 2005)

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.


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## borregokid (Feb 18, 2004)

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."


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## Twister (Feb 28, 2006)

jeffscott said:


> Better yet practise going up the stairs!


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!


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## Ithnu (Feb 16, 2007)

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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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

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.


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## Twister (Feb 28, 2006)

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?


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

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.


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## baraant (Feb 25, 2005)

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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## c_m_shooter (Mar 8, 2007)

Try it on your Cross bike first. Then there will be nothing to it when you try it on a squishy bike.


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## the_godfather (Jan 19, 2007)

on a full suspension bike there will be nothing to it. lean back. dont turn sharply, finger on the back brake. dont touch the front one. speed evens out the bumps and going slow makes you bounce around a lot


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## chrisernator (Aug 28, 2007)

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.


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## snaky69 (Mar 8, 2005)

If you're doing it on concrete pump up your tires very very hard to prevent denting the rims and pinch flatting(I run 60-80psi for urban stuff).

Keep weight back and centered, go at it with some speed and have fun!


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## Twister (Feb 28, 2006)

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!


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## baraant (Feb 25, 2005)

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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## sean salach (Sep 15, 2007)

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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## Trouble Maker (Mar 19, 2007)

I don't think anyone mentioned pedals at 3 and 9 o'clock.


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## baraant (Feb 25, 2005)

Twister, have you tried any stairs yet?


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## Twister (Feb 28, 2006)

baraant, I've been riding on platforms on my mountain bike. I still use cages on my Bianchi as I have on all my bikes for about 30 years. I'm torn about which way to go on that issue, so any suggestions would be good.

I'll be getting the new FS I just bought on next Wednesday, but I won't be able to ride until Friday. Assuming it has stopped raining by then. It's REALLY soggy around here.

I went off a two step stair on my HT the other day, but it was more like a flat-to-flat than a stairs. I'm looking around for a suitable 5 to 8 or 10 step one for my "maiden voyage".

I've been running at 50 psi for a while now, so for downstairs I'll just stick with that. I had a couple curb induced pinch flats at 40, but I do climb dirt hills better at 40.

Keep the pedals flat is a very good point. 

My biggest decision now is whether to transition to clipless. Are they better for stairs? If I do I'm thinking Candy's, but I havn't really done any serious research yet, which I always do before I purchase anything I'll be living with for a while.


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## d_m_b (Jun 8, 2007)

holy god stick with platforms if you're going for stairs first time and haven't used clipless. you want to be able to bail and not have your bike come with you if you can't clip out in time. you really don't need to pedal down stairs. i guess the extra pull could help going UP stairs, but you still need to be able to bail fast. not to say that it can't be done...just would take a while of getting comforable on the clippless and being able to hop out of them fast. good luck


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

Just the opposite for me.

I did learn stairs on my department store bike with platforms.

But when I got my good FS bike, I went to cleats that day, and went and rode stairs the first day. (i did do the classic timber!!! at an intersection though).

Felt way better and safer, cause my feet wern't going to get bounced off.

I kinda of think of cleats like a good pair of ski bindings, keep you in when you need to be in, let you go when you need to go.


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## pimpbot (Dec 31, 2003)

*Depends on the length of the flight*



Ironchefjon said:


> 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:


The 24hoa course at Laguna Seca has a long staircase with a 90 degree left turn on a landing about 1/3 the way down. Plus there is a 180 turn at the bottom of the stairs. If you just let fly on this staircase, bad things happen.

You have to carry some speed, but too much can make you wreck at the G-out at the bottom. Also, during the 24hoa race, there are tons of folks who decide to walk it, or puss out halfway down and stop mid-staircase.

I typically drag my rear brake some, and carefully control the speed with my front, just to keep it in check. Weight back over the rear wheel and stay loose. Keep your bars away from the railings.


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## Rod (Oct 17, 2007)

You'll be fine just stand up, lean back over your seat, and absorb the shock with your arms and elbows.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

Rod said:


> You'll be fine just stand up, lean back over your seat, and absorb the shock with your arms and elbows.


Just an addition: I find that keeping my center of gravity low on bumpy descents helps: arms bent, elbows wide.


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## baraant (Feb 25, 2005)

I can't offer much in the way of which pedals to use except how I started; I had the straps or cages they put on middle of the road mtn bikes and these held my feet in fine and I could get out fast if I had to. The first time I did stairs they were about 30 feet high and I was right behind a friend of mine who went down and I didn't even give it a second thought. The only thing I was thinking was " this is going to be fun!"

I still believe less air pressure would be much better for you and it concerns me that you got pinch flats at 40psi, most riders who use lower air pressures don't start getting them until the 30 or less psi range, you can check over on the XC racing and training forum for this.

I do have to be honest with you that I think if you're afraid or apprehensive about doing stairs you might want to stay away from them until you become much more comfortable on your bike. Just my $.02.

What FS bike did you buy?


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