Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/10/14/a-video-love-letter-to-skitchi.html
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Looks cool! Shocking failure to address the endemic problem of skitcher-on-skitcher violence while fighting for the same fender, though 
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In the North East as a kid in the 60’s we grabbed the rear bumper in the snow and road on our heels, sort’a like skiing behind a car.
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On my bicycle trip from Austin to San Diego, I heard about a guy who found a willing driver to do this across a few states. Don’t know if it was true or not.
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Is skitching like sidehacking? My terminology is out of date…
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I live at the bottom of the foothills on the west side of the Lagunas, just east of San Diego. When I have to drive eastward, there’s often someone (sometimes more than one) waiting at the bottom for somebody to haul or drag them and their bike up the mountain. On the 8 they wait on the freeway entrance ramps. If I have room I’ll usually give them a lift. That must be an awesome ride down the east side on a bike.
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Even better right before Ocatillo, or further east after Yuma. That westbound downhill ride before Yuma was glorious until I encountered a filing cabinet on the shoulder halfway down, and no opportunity to swerve around it without being run over.
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Strictly speaking, isn’t it theft of services, too? You’re hurting that vehicle’s fuel economy and actively costing the owner money.
Hmmm, this thread will be totally civil.
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what a beautiful video. I’m not into the subject, but really enjoyed the music, video, presentation. well done!
No. It can’t be.
Someone is shadowing him. Right off his left flank. A person on a skateboard, rolling down the highway right behind him, just as he is laying in his approach vectors to Heritage Boulevard.
The Deliverator, in his distracted state, has allowed himself to get pooned. As in harpooned. It is a big round padded electromagnet on the end of an arachnofiber cable. It has just thunked onto the back of the Deliverator’s car, and stuck. Ten feet behind him, the owner of this cursed device is surfing, taking him for a ride, skateboarding along like a water skier behind a boat.
In the rearview, flashes of orange and blue. The parasite is not just a punk out having a good time. It is a businessman making money. The orange and blue coverall, bulging all over with sintered armorgel padding, is the uniform of a Kourier. A Kourier from RadiKS, Radikal Kourier Systems. Like a bicycle messenger, but a hundred times more irritating because they don’t pedal under their own power – they just latch on and slow you down.
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If someone is riding on my car, I’m going to come to a gentle stop. Then I will curse the guy. Sorry, but if I make a turn on that guy and I don’t know he’s there and I kill him, I’m going to feel crappy for the rest of my life about it. He’s assuming the risk to himself – he seems sincere enough about that – but I’m not consenting to the risk of killing him.
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I did this for years when I lived in Japan using a road bike in the 80s. I liked having my left hand on the front brake lever (they drive on the left). Here, I have my right hand on the rear brake which is a little gitchier for its less stopping power. Should I assume our narrator has a coaster brake? Also prefered a rear-corner-of-vehicle grip over a door handle but most cars nowadays are too slippery back there.
That low bike w/ the wide bars looks less stable and more prone to bumping my power source. Large bars with a small wheel verses of the gyro benefits of a large spinning wheel and light bars as I see it. With the road bike I could eventually take the other hand off the bar, too, and if the stars of road, driver and confidence aligned I could just chill. Haven’t tried it much in the city or here in the States, tho. Too skeered of potholes or my ride swerving to avoid them and whatever else. Anzen dai-ichi!
Of course I don’t do this at home cuz I can’t fit the car in. Duh.
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How old is this guy? 25? He has the sensibility of a 15 year-old.
I look forward to his next video: “How to Shoplift”
First lane splitting and now this. Boingboing seems to love ways for bikes / motorcycles to scare the shit out of drivers.
Skitching: bad idea. Not wearing a helmet while skitching: even worse idea.
You know you can swap the brake lines, right? Some people prefer the front brakes to be on the right lever, which makes sense in the modern era of index shifters, since right-handed riders no longer need to keep that hand free to operate stem/downtube shifters.
Immediate thought upon seeing the BB headline:
I would describe this game as Road Rash’s dork brother who’s always stumbling because he never learned how to tie his shoelaces. Great fun. Not.
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I almost caught a skitcher on video here in downtown Tijuana this afternoon, but the bus lurched forward before I could get the shot.
Speaking of…anyone have a clip of Christian Slater (and stunt double) doing this in Gleaming the Cube? All I could find was the teaser trailer and completely unrelated scenes. Some with a very young Stephen Bauer!
Eh, poor comparison. Study after study has shown lane splitting to be safe for riders, and a net-positive for traffic for everyone involved.
(“Lane splitting” referring to doing it in slow traffic, which if I recall was the context brought up by Boing Boing.)
