A death-defying bike rider​

Danny MacAskill is a Scottish trials cyclist who shot to fame when he released a street trails video on YouTube in 2009. His current viral success totals over 450 million views on YouTube alone. 

Danny has travelled to some of the most spectacular places in the world to achieve awe-inspiring feats with his mountain bike. He has redefined what can be achieved on a bike and his films, created by Cut Media, have kept hundreds of millions of viewers all over the globe on the edge of their seats. 

The world’s first motion platform VR bike ride 

Cut Media commissioned REWIND to design and build an interactive experience that would allow audiences to literally put themselves in the saddle and experience a point of view that has previously only been experienced by one person: Danny MacAskill. 

Danny MacAskill’s VR Ride Out puts the user on Danny’s bike for the first time and tests their mettle against a vertigo-inducing white-knuckle trip that challenges their balance and composure with heights.

After mounting a one-of-a-kind bike rig, users don a virtual reality (VR) headset and tear through two different experiences based on the exploits of the cycling icon. The VR journeys offer a breathtaking ride along the vertiginous Collies Ledge in the Isle of Skye, Scotland, and a hair-raising balancing act along the Landwasser Bridge in Switzerland. Everyone who tries the VR experience receives a branded playthrough video of their rides to share on social platforms. 

The virtual adventure was created using a combination of headcam and drone footage from the YouTube star’s viral film ‘The Ridge’, which was scanned as photogrammetry to create initial geometry. The Santa Cruz bike was tightly integrated with the motion platform in Unreal Engine to create an exhilarating experience. Through the marriage of VR, haptic feedback, and motion rig technology, a first for the industry has been created. 

The immersive trips are part of a multichannel marketing initiative by Cut Media to celebrate the launch of Santa Cruz Bicycles in the Ride Out bike store in Amsterdam.