- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Drift Triking downhill Cheddar Gorge (still from Drift TriKING video)Video: Drift Triking - mad skills on the downhills
Get ready for some lively downhill tricycle action, was not something we’d be expecting to say on this grey December Monday.
That was until this video turned up, skidding and spinning onto our screens from Cheddar Gorge. Get ready for Drift Triking – people hurtling down hills with only a front brake and their supreme skidding skills to save them from an encounter with a rock face or some very nasty gravel rash. Or crashing into an oncoming car on a blind bend going sideways – because, yes, the roads are still open to traffic while all this chaos is taking place.
Video: Cyclist rides railing on top of 200ft dam (in the ice and snow)
It must take some serious guts – and some serious skills – to manoeuvre one of these three wheelers amid the chaos of a downhill derby. There’s crashes, there’s 180s, there’s 360s, there’s two wheeled skids, and there’s an upbeat hip hop soundtrack.
Drift Triking is gaining popularity in and around Cheddar Gorge, where the sport started. Cheddar Drift Trikes has 1600-odd followers on Facebook. There are even teams, sponsored by Drift Trike clothing and equipment suppliers.
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
Latest Comments
- joeegg 1 min 11 sec ago
I had a similar "accident" but i was in the position of the red car coming up to the junction.Massive 4*4 turned in on my side of the road and...
- mdavidford 1 min 46 sec ago
On the basis that 'they give us all a bad name'... ...I'd like to apologise on behalf of Fords everywhere.
- Kestevan 6 min 23 sec ago
Don't be silly....
- Dnnnnnn 13 min 56 sec ago
I'm not arguing for a plebiscite - that's no way to run a representative democracy. But considering the views of those affected by significant...
- anotherflat 18 min 46 sec ago
Having been through redundancy due to an employer going bankrupt, it's good to read that the employees should get their redundancy and pension...
- andystow 39 min 59 sec ago
Well, my aluminium mudguards are looking a little beat up. Might as well make my wallet match them.
- chrisonabike 1 hour 35 min ago
There's a book that can help you with that! I can't remember if it covers traffic jams on the Via Appia specifically but I'm sure there are some...
- brooksby 2 hours 27 sec ago
There are a lot of people out there who seem to think exactly that. It's like all those times that the traffic lights change as you are halfway...
- hawkinspeter 3 hours 17 min ago
That still annoys me about the BBC - iplayer only keeps some programmes available for a short time, so we have to rely on people making copies to...
- nextSibling 4 hours 7 min ago
The point of limited-run models like these isn't to make a profit. It's a marketing exercise to get the brand in the media via filler articles that...
Add new comment
30 comments
God, you lot are a shitload of fun.
Question for those saying that this behavior is acceptable.
By what mechanism are these lunatics immune from hitting a group of cyclists coming up the hill?
That's the only question worth considering really.
Possibly the cyclists would be shielded by all the cars on the road?
Or maybe they'd all be single-file in to the side in order not to inconvenience the cars overtaking them on the uphill?
Well like I said, that's how I see it.
This website seems to clarify the law: http://cyclinguphill.com/rules-laws-cycling/
- you can't cycle the wrong way down a 1-way street
- you can't jump red lights
- you CAN be ticketed for speeding, apparently
My point, however, is that many in here seem to think it's OK to do all of these 'because motorists are assholes'.
No, it isn't.
Anyway...I wish you all a Merry Christmas and safe riding!
Or have to have an MOT, VED, or insurance. (I have insurance, Cycling UK member) (and I constantly monitor the roadworthiness of my bicycles, not some once yearly nonsense, then it doesn't matter)
And while I can be prosecuted for "being drunk in charge.." the law sets no specific limit. so it could be for half a shandy. And if I had a licence, I might not get points and a ban (?), but I don't so I couldn't.
And speed limits don't apply to non-motorised users.
And, with concern not to stir any trolls out there, filtering as opposed to undertaking.
So I guess my point is the laws don't quite equally apply.
And I believe, and am quite happy to be corrected, that Boris allowed cycling the wrong way on one way streets. I'm no Londener.
Sorry Carl, it's perfectly legal to use a mobile whilst riding a bicycle on the public highway. It's very foolish, and could come under the catchall "reckless cycling" but does not come under the specific mobile phone use law.
Wow, looks fun. Maybe me and some mates can do that in our cars while there's a bunch of cyclists coming the other way.
Oh, but that would be f***ing stupid, reckless, dangerous and inconsiderate towards other road users, wouldn't it?
Well, yes, because you'd be putting other folks' lives at risk rather than your own. So, not an especially valid comparison, then...
What if an inexperienced motorist swerves to avoid one of these fuckwits and goes off the road?
Carl has a point.
Motoring is just too dangerous and it should be banned, not just to save the drift trikers, but also to save the motorists themselves who are already heavily victimized by state interference that makes them pay for a small fraction of their own petrol.
Here's how I see it: laws apply equally to all road users. Being on two wheels or three does not exempt me, nor does it entitle me to behave recklessly or illegally (eg drift down hills, jump red lights, cycle wrong way up 1-way streets, use my mobile). Furthermore, the fact that physics and evidence suggest idiot drivers are far more dangerous than idiots on 2/3 wheels (and they are) does not entitle me to act like an idiot just because I own a bike.
I am glad I'm a boring old grown up now. Cos that looks awesome. Young, foolish me would definitely have chosen that as my cause if death.
These cunts will be lumped in with cyclists in the news, great.
I can't help but think that riding in a barely controlled way on the wrong side of the road, forcing cars to stop (as several had to do in the video) isn't likely to build bridges with our fellow, motorised, road users.
That lunatic Blondeau rather cornered the market for freewheeling downhill on a device other than a bike for me....
http://buggy-rollin.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=119...
This is plain stupidity, an accident is waiting to happen. Police should interfere.
Sorry, but it's not exactly new, as it was happening in 2009 (aparently having started in New Zealand)!
http://drifttrikemag.com/news/what-drift-trike-and-drift-triking
Just when I was despairing of the youth of today something like this comes out ...and they totally redeem themselves.
Like street luge back in the day. Awesome
That looks like a lot of fun.
Someone will die though.
That looks like so much fun.
The joy of the "bicycle"
I thought the funniest thing was the pimped out car at the end. Spending hard earned on a peice of Rollin' Irony.
Won't be long before the Old Bill issue a few 'Furious Cycling' tickets. The Daily Mail will have a field day.
When I were a lad we used to do that in cars. Times must be hard down that part of the country.
luxury! We couldn't afford cars. We had to steal tortoises from t'zoo and turn 'em on thez backs
Your zoo had *tortoises*? Gaw, there's posh! Our local zoo only had an old goat that someone had painted stripes on. And it were stuffed.
All our zoo had was a single dog.............It was a shih tzu
Can only be a matter of time before someone screws the pooch
Reminds me of...
Ha, ha, that's the coolest thing I've seen all week!