There isn’t much written about the history of the slider, but the trick always brings us back to Jake Lanich. He helped popularize the super slider and would definitely have a place in a fixed gear Trickipedia.
As the clip shows, a slider means pedaling backward with the front wheel turned at a right angle. You steer the bike like a rudder.
Watch Jake Lanich’s Welcome to Wheel Talk.
Shout out to Jake Lanich and Matt Reyes for the footage, taken from Jake Lanich’s Welcome to Wheel Talk.
Starting the slider
As with a fakie, there’s more than one way to get into a slider.
From a fish ’n’ chips
If you already have your fish ’n’ chips down, I’d say you’re about 75% of the way to understanding the slider’s feel. It depends on how comfortable you are with the trick.
From there, find the limit angle of your bars that counters the fish ’n’ chips rotation. Instead of feeling like you’re spinning around the saddle, you’ll start to feel that you can pedal straight backward.
In the picture, I’m deliberately opening the angle of my bars to counter the fish ’n’ chips momentum. That’s what lets me start sliding straight back.
Keep your weight back as you do it: that’s the main thing that stops the rotation. Watch Jake Lanich’s position after each rotation in the clip above.
From a nose bump
You can also start from a nose bump, or nose press. Find a suitable wall and practice a few nose bumps against it. Once you’re comfortable, do the following as your momentum brings you back down:
- Grab your saddle. If you’re right-handed, try using your right hand.
- With your other hand, bring the bars to your side at a right angle, or 90°.
- Start pedaling backward, just as you would in fakie.
Still wondering which hand goes where? Try the slider position while stationary. Which way feels most comfortable?
PS: You can also enter a slider while riding backward, but the timing window is short and can feel tricky at first.
Controlling the slider
Holding a slider isn’t easy at first. Like learning fakie, it turns your usual riding habits around.
As in our other tutorials, where you put your weight makes a big difference. When you start pedaling backward into the slide, keep your weight at the back, with your body behind the saddle.
Try it for yourself: hold the saddle and bars and pedal backward, first with your body over the saddle, then with your body well behind it. You should feel a big difference. Keeping your weight back lets the front wheel hug the ground and makes it much easier to pedal in a straight line.
Note: As with many tricks, you don’t need to use your straps at first, but they make it easier to pull and push on the pedals.
Now it’s down to practice. There’s not much more to it!
Good luck, and tag @after.spin on Instagram. We’d love to see you sliding around.
