Foot down is my favorite game in the whole world, period.
The rules are amazingly simple It’s exciting for bystanders to watch
Foot down is nearly impossible to cheat at and invariably results in laughter
Best of all, it improves your bike control skills
To play foot down you start with any amount of people riding their bikes in a circle.
Then, the match begins.
If you put your foot down, you’re out.
If you go out of bounds, you’re out.
The last person standing is the winner.
Games don’t get much simpler than that.
Some players use the strategy of staying out of trouble while the others fall victim to
their own attacks.
Others play more aggressively.
No matter what strategy you use the object of the game remains the same, and who’s
foot touched the ground first is the only thing that matters.
But there are a few versions of foot down with some interesting rules.
For instance in “Regulation foot down” you should leave your bike in the ring after
being eliminated.
It then becomes an obstacle for the remaining players.
Body checking and deliberate ramming are allowed in my circle of friends.
But understandably some people refuse to play this kind of foot down for fear of bike damage.
I can recall a couple of tweaked rotors and bent spokes in games past, but nothing you
wouldn’t expect from a day on some real mountain bike trials.
Today we’re going to play ten rounds of full contact foot down and crown a champion.
But first, we’re going to build something.
I want to turn this XC hardtail into a foot down bike.
While that may seem like an extravagant waste of a mountain bike, it’ll all be reversible.
This project is just for fun and experimentation.
For starters a good foot down bike should be barebones, as it’ll spend most of its
time pedaling around a small court.
Removing the gears will eliminate a lot of mechanical complexity from this bike, reducing
the number of things that can go wrong with it.
Since I’m not trying to spend money on this thing we’ll use what we have to hack it
into a single speed.
I’ll remove the outer chainring in the front, as well as the cassette in the rear.
I have this chain tensioner just in case, but we’re going to attempt to get the tension
right without it.
The chain tension is a little tight, but it’ll work in and be just fine for a hacked foot
down bike.
Since this bike came with mechanical disc brakes, we can use this special lever to engage
both front and rear at the same time.
By having one lever for both brakes, the rider can enjoy full stopping power while using
their other hand for self defense.
Or to wield a firearm if they’re playing civil war reenactment foot down.
Finally we’ll install a bell to signify the start of each round.
A few little details and our foot down bike is done.
It has predictable gearing, very few vulnerabilities, and of course that dual lever which also makes
it great for games like bike polo.
But how will it perform in the ring?
Our foot down bike seems up to the task, but we have here four bloodthirsty opponents ready
to do battle.
In ten short rounds, one of them will be crowned
the champion.
At this point in the game, Kevin was locked in for first place, so the tenth round was
a tie breaker for second.
I hope
you enjoyed this video and I hope you’ll try playing foot down.
It’s guaranteed to make you laugh.
If you already play foot down please share the details your version of the game below.
Do you allow body checking, ramming?
Weapons?
Let me know where you draw the line.
Thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.