# Is it possible to ride a bicycle on top of a railroad track?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-ride-a-bicycle-on-top-of-a-railroad-track/505831>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 9, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-ride-a-bicycle-on-top-of-a-railroad-track/505831 "2009-08-09T13:39:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-ride-a-bicycle-on-top-of-a-railroad-track/505831/1 "2009-08-09T13:39:17Z")

</div>

The question is whether a standard bicycle with standard tires can be ridden for long distances by staying on top of and following a standard railroad track?

I’ve never seen it done and wonder if it is even possible.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-ride-a-bicycle-on-top-of-a-railroad-track/505831/2 "2009-08-09T14:00:53Z")

</div>

Check out [this YouTube video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHB9Kb_nRkQ), starting around 1:00. The guy is doing stunts on railroad trucks, but riding faster should be easier.

Most people don’t have the skills to do this, of course. A bicycle is primarily balanced by steering input. But if you can do a track stand (i.e. balancing a bike without moving), I think you can ride on an arbitrarily narrow path.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-ride-a-bicycle-on-top-of-a-railroad-track/505831/3 "2009-08-09T14:05:53Z")

</div>

I’ve seen someone who has hooked up a strut thing with a guided wheel set up to his bike (think like an outrigger canoe) who rides on the old tracks around here. I think without such a thing it would be insanely difficult-- the tracks are slightly convex. I can’t even stay on a white line for very long.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-ride-a-bicycle-on-top-of-a-railroad-track/505831/4 "2009-08-09T14:21:48Z")

</div>

Your question has no definitive answer. Can it be done? Of course. How far? It’s like asking how far an acrobat can walk on a tight rope. There are some pretty amazing bicycle acrobats that could probably go a fair way, but eventually they would probably fall off at some point.

[Bike tire widths](http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#width)