Amazing street freestyle bicycling

Bike trials is a form of mountain biking where the rider attempts to go over an intense obstacle course without putting her feet on the ground. Scottish cyclist Danny MacAskill is a master at street trials. In this demo video, he rides around Scotland's Edinburgh Castle, bunkers on the island of Inchgarvie, and a power station in the Scottish Highlands. (Thanks, Sean Ness!)

• [facetedjewel]

  White knuckles
  Yeah maybe it’s not so bad
  Aww go ahead and let it down

• [Anonymous]

  MIND BLOWN

  This is so a.w.e.s.o.m.e !

  Beautifully shot too…

  David should do a show at Cirque Du Soleil, miles better than any of the stunt cyclists i’ve seen on there.

• [Zobi]

  Danny MadSkill; gorgeous work!

• [Anonymous]

  Anyone have any idea what that first song is?

  • [Anonymous]

    Wax & Wire by Loch Lomond

  • [Anonymous]

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrLl5wkpnAY

  • [Anonymous]

    wax and wire is the first song a little peice is the second

  • [Anonymous]

    loch lomond – wax and wire

  • [Anonymous]

    the credits have the songs but the firswt is loch lomond – wax and wire

    • [Anonymous]

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFupJ2PDYNI

• [Anonymous]

  I used to think I was bad-ass when I would ride my bike down stairs.

• [narddogz]

  The video is beautiful and his skills are amazing, but I have problems with it (and others similiar to it)…

  1) He apparently is using public property for his personal obstacle course including (often historical) structure that are not designed for bicycles, and certainly not the impact from all the weight of the bicycle and rider focused into a couple of square inches where he lands. Damage is likely, in which case this person will quickly go from innocent free spirit to trespasser and vandal.

  2) The success of many of his stunts is dependent on the structural integrity and “grippiness” of the objects used, which are out of his realm of control. If a tile is unknowingly loose on a roof edge where he lands and it slips away, suddenly none of his finely tuned skills will be relevant; gravity will take over and the consequences will likely be severe.

  3) The miracle of editing gives the impression that this is easy and the success rate is high. Maybe it is for him, but anyone can look like a master if they are willing to take risks and do enough recorded takes. Less skilled and more impressionable people (mostly children) will try to duplicate this and get severely injured or killed. (Search “Parkour accident” or “Parkour fail” for plenty of video examples.)

  4) Should we celebrate people like this… people who risk their lives just for that amazing shot or video? If so, what do we say when they die or become paralyzed? “It was worth it?”, “he died doing what he loved…”(likely falling and impacting the concrete), etc. What about when public health has to pay for their care?

  • [Mitch]

    Yeah, and why bother climbing a mountain when you could charter a helicopter to take you to the summit. Of course there is risk in what he is doing. That is part of the appeal. I hope he isn’t damaging anything, but in the video he is landing on fairly soft rubber tires all the time, so it should be ok.

    I don’t like it when people on freestyle BMX type bikes with foot pegs scrape all the paint off railings and damage other things in the city.

  • [Anonymous]

    Narddogz, honestly you are either 70 years of age or the ultimate bore… If he was pulling butterflies wings off or frying little kittens I’d say boo hiss, but the guy is a free spirit doing some beautiful tricks. Screw rocks & walls, they are just objects.
    Go live a little, you might enjoy it…

  • [roberts]

    “Christ, what an asshole.”

    http://boingboing.net/2010/03/30/recaptioning-new-yor.html

  • [Anonymous]

    Seriously? So we should celabrate people that have no skills? Any sport at a profesional level is dangerous. Hell I’m part of the mtb community and I can assure you team sports like football are more injury happy than biking.
    As for the risk for him. He knows it, every biker knows it. Do we really need to be reminded that life is risky? Does your keyboard warn you that prolonged use might hurt you? Because people like you lead us to absurdities like it. Be serious. If someone is stupid enough they can jump of a roof without proper training that only makes Darwin Happy.

  • [SeamusAndrewMurphy]

    narddogz, ever read H.L. Mencken’s definition of a Puritan? You might find a bit of yourself looking in that mirror.

  • [imag]

    A couple points:

    1. Good trials riders, unlike most skateboarders, actually pull off the vast majority of their tricks – so it’s not like he was crashing all over the place.

    2. That bike – also unlike a skateboard – has aired down rubber tires, and he’s not doing rubs with metal trucks, so I doubt if the bike is causing anything more than weather damage.

    3. Stone structures are actually pretty hardy, believe it or not. They get worn by constant use patterns. I doubt if a few passes in odd areas by a bike is going to suddenly bring down a thousand year structure.

    4. Riding at this level is art, as much as the landscape and any of the buildings. This is ballet with our space, our shared reality. It is beautiful and worthwhile, in my opinion.

    5. I’m sure the rider well understands the risks, and has accepted that they are part of the sport/art. Your concern for him or anyone who follows him is somewhat superfluous.

    6. I have to agree with the sentiment in Anon’s comment. Every structure in the video will be dust sometime. Live a little :)

    All that said, I don’t think you’re an asshole at all, and I resent the overuse of that tagline in reference to people on the boards. It’s not funny when it’s mean.

  • [user23]

    oh, hai :-)

    I mean, really? A post on the morality & dangers of bike riding? I’m fairly certain almost all of us who regularly read articles on BB (and post in response to them) are highly educated..and aware of risks related to physics.

    Yes, people like this should be celebrated (especially the camera work..both shooting & editing) because they bring a rare & special beauty into a world desperately lacking. At the end of the day, that phone booth he did a trick off of will crumble…but the joy this sort of video inspires (in, at least, me) will live on as my improved mood and happiness will become passed on to others…and so on & so on.

    go find some kitten jugglers to rail against.

    ps: As an avid cyclist who hasn’t trashed too many historical structures, I seek out this fellow’s vids whenever I can find them. His stunts are so zen – tricky editing aside. derp.

• [JoshuaTerrell]

  The “extreme” sports videos I generally watch tend to be very aggressive, self centered, and arrogant. This video has tasteful music, excellent cinematography, and the content centers around somebody who is extremely (ha!) talented. I loved every minute.

• [imnothere]

  Great stuff! I want to see him do Stonehenge.

• [tallpat]

  It’s like parkour with wheels.

• [statistic]

  If you like this, check out any riding by Chris Akrigg. Videos aren’t as polished, but his riding is also incredible.

• [Ipo]

  This is the vid mentioned above somewhere:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o (p0ops)
  Watch it!
  It boggled my mind then, so I was happily exited to find this one a few days ago.

  {why can’t I log in?}

• [Ipo]

  I guess it signed me in after all. The error message suggested otherwise. Sorry about that.

• [Drang]

  So this guy sat in a camper as it drove around Scotland so he could ride his bike on benches and walls? Seems backward to me.

• [Anonymous]

  Drang,
  Yeah, as it turns out, this is more exciting than watching him bike down the street for days on end.

• [Anonymous]

  One of the most amazing pieces of filming I have ever seen. The camera movements and the positions were perfect. The whole thing is AWESOME

• [Anonymous]

  Absolutely amazing

• [El Mariachi]

  How is he lifting the bike off the ground without toe clips?!? Is it something like doing an ollie on a skateboard? I’m having trouble picturing the mechanism.

  • [Anonymous]

    You sort of…push back with your feet and twist your wrists forward. I guess sort of like an Ollie, what with the back and forth motion.

  • [aeroplane]

    It’s kind of like an ollie, yeah. It’s called a bunny-hop or a j-hop. It’s a staple skill in trials, BMX, and mountain biking.

  • [Ted8305]

    Yep, it’s exactly like ollying a skateboard. Trials and BMX share a lot of the same mechanics as skating.

    Epic videography too, by the way. Multiple tracking shots of the same runs from different angles. Lots of golden hour shots scattered all over Scotland, requiring many days of shooting. Never mind the epic riding skills, this video clearly took a lot of skill and effort to pull off!

  • [tallpat]

    I think it goes something along the lines of: 1)Grip handles tightly. 2)Pull up on the handle bars to initiate the front wheel lift-off. 3) “Rotate” wrists slightly forward (like the motion one makes when decelerating on a motorcycle) this essentially “pulls” the back wheel towards the direction of the (now elevated) front wheel. At least that’s the way I remember doing bunny-hops- granted I was only ever able to clear a curb… Nothing near the height of a picnic table or hand rail.

    • [Anonymous]

      you use the friction between foot and pedal to lift the rear of the bike up.

  • [Anonymous]

    yeah, the basics of it are that you do a wheelie, and then when you have that you do a front wheelie. Once you do this fast enough, both of your tires come off the ground. This being said, that handlebars take the place of toe clips

  • [Anonymous]

    It’s called a bunnyhop, or a J-hop (slightly different). It’s similar to an ollie. You pull up with your hands to lift the front end, then pop up the back with your feet. It’s weird to try to understand if you don’t try it, but it works very well.

• [Anonymous]

  Bike Riding as an Art!!

• [simonbarsinister]

  I love the music. Does anyone know what the song is?

  • [roberts]

    The song listing is in the credits, folks!

• [Anonymous]

  That was totally awesome!

• [pidg]

  Nice.

  And a much better ad for Scotland than the Sean Connery/tartan/sporrans/haggis/golf ads the government makes.

  • [Anonymous]

    You watch what you say about Sean Connery and Haggis!

  • [jamiethehutt]

    “And a much better ad for Scotland than the Sean Connery/tartan/sporrans/haggis/golf ads the government makes.”

    You forgot the hot red head in a big woollen jumper sitting by a peat fire…

    “Visit Scotland” I do. Every day. Then I go back into my own little world and feel much the better for it. :-P

• [eurycea]

  The first song is wax and wire by Loch Lomond. Not sure about the others, but I’d like to know. I love the music.

  • [simonbarsinister]

    Thanks eurycea, I’m listening to a Loch Lomond mix right now! Nice mix.

• [eurycea]

  The first song is wax and wire by Loch Lomond. Not sure about the others, but I’d like to know. I love the music.

  • [Anonymous]

    The second is The Funeral by Band Of Horses

  • [Anonymous]

    The percussionist for Loch Lomond plays in my current band, Y La Bamba. Ritchie (lead singer) and others in that band are wonderful folks, we all live in Portland, OR. Ritchie also runs The Woods, a super great indie-ish music venue that’s a former funeral home. I’ll let him know you like :)

• [abulafia]

  Second track was ‘A little piece’ by The Jezabels. Well, according to the credits of the film…. You know, the words at the end.

• [Anonymous]

  Nahh, Narddogz probably isn’t 70. I’m 64 and I thought this was great, unless, of course, you want to live as long as you possibly can by squeezing everything even remotely fun out of your life for fear you might get hurt. Yeah, kids will try this and get hurt. When I was a kid I walked on narrow bridge railings high above a river and that was before YouTube was even a gleam in Sergie Brin’s father’s eye. Jeesh.

• [forgeweld]

  Wow. Sick skills. The man is great. I agree, camera, editing and overall production deserve big props. I am concerned though, that in some outtakes where he didn’t make his trick, he might have scratched the finish of some of those lovely railings. *sob*

• [cat0]

  I absolutely loved his april 2009 video, and actually searched youtube last week for any new videos of him. And now I enter boingboing and the wish is forfilled. Awesomeness.

• [simonbarsinister]

  Second song reminds me a bit of Kate Bush’s voice.

  • [zuben]

    I thought the same thing. Sounded a bit like an amalgam of Kate Bush, Sigur Rós, and Explosions in the Sky.

    This video looks incredible at 1080p, full-screened on my 24″ display. The combined artistry of sight and sound was quite a surprise, and I was compelled to download it.

    I had gone into this thinking that, like most demos I’ve seen, after a while, what begins as mind-blowing would eventually become mundane. This one actually gets more interesting as it progresses.

    I think it was the sequence starting at 2:34, with the clarinet high-tide and driftwood segue to the low-tide sunset backflip and the first strains of The Jezabels. That is when I sat up and started to pay attention.

    I really appreciated the thematic solitude and juxtapositions of nature and ruins of war and industry that followed.

    The narrative being told through motion upon seemingly unmoving and timeless objects. And those fish-eyed lens shots so seamlessly worked in.

    I suppose his sponsor insisted upon the token consumption of their product (3:57), but the direction was so good, even that didn’t really break the spell. And he seemed to defiantly non-shill it. Bravo.

• [irksome]

  This is pure brilliance, like poetry on 2 wheels. I rode a trials motorcycle way back in the ’70s (an old Bultaco that I sorely miss) and, even with the advantage of a clutch and throttle, I could barely dream of half the stunts this man accomplishes and wouldn’t even consider the rest. Riding backwards on the front wheel (see 2:20 and 4:25) is no minor feat; I burst out laughing to keep from crying. Beautifully shot, nicely set to wholly appropriate music; total package. Thanks.

  An’ if’n i’ innae Scots, i’s CRAP!

• [crojack]

  Bike trials in certainly NOT a form of mountain biking. Where did that come from?

• [max]

  i like how when his wheel hits the ground, it makes a honk

  • [roberts]

    It’s brake pad squeak, IMO; he really puts the brakes to use, and though the front one is a disk, it may or may not be hydraulic. I’m sure you can find the complete spec’s for his steed, somewhere.

  • [JPW]

    I believe those are the hydraulic brakes.

• [Anonymous]

  Amazing!

• [blurgh]

  What a nice link that’s been put up on the internet’s boingboing.net.