With all the technology going into bikes these days, some sort of backlash is both inevitable and easily-spotted – the twin undercurrents of rigidity and singlespeediness are small yet strong. For some, though, doing without suspension and gears just isn’t enough. One manifestation of that is the admittedly tiny number of people riding and racing on fixed MTBs, eschewing not just gears but also doing without the ability to coast.

And then we have trials ace Chris Akrigg, currently sponsored by Mongoose. He’s always been a bit leftfield even by the somewhat wacky standards of bicycle trials, but the envelope is definitely taking a proper pushing right now. Having spent many years undermining the slow-moving, hippity-hoppity image of trials by concentrating on “flow” and keeping things moving, he’s now taken that style to its possibly-illogical conclusion and taken the brakes off his bike.

There’s something of a BMX influence there, sure enough, but Akrigg’s certainly not doing flatland. What he is doing is perilously close to impossible to describe, so it’s a good job that he’s made a video of himself doing it. Make sure you’re sitting down, and you may want to find something to prop your jaw up – when you’re ready, you can find the video at, predictably enough, www.chrisakrigg.com. Enjoy…