Legendary circus performance outfit has joined forces with Danny MacAskill and other pro riders to see what is possible on a bicycle.

Check out this very interesting video. It’s hosted on Cirque du Soleil’s YouTube channel, as opposed to Danny MacAskill’s or Red Bull’s, so it’s almost passed under the radar as far as the bike world is concerned.

But we stumbled across it – y’see, sometimes it pays off to while away the wee hours of the morning endlessly trawling YouTube. We wouldn’t recommend it though. Yawn. Anyhoo…

It shows Danny ‘YouTube Sensation’ MacAskill and a bunch of other trials riders and BMXers performing at a workshop with legendary Cirque du Soleil. Presumably with a view to maybe putting on a bike show for the famous French performance show-cum-circus.

The video was shot during what Cirque du Soleil call a ‘C-Lab’ that took place in Glasgow. A C-Lab is essentially a meeting of minds and similar talents to see what can – and cannot – be done with a given concept.

Although the video is rammed with primo bike handlers, it’s apparent that most of this stuff is entirely new to them and there’s a frisson of nerves in there. The nearest thing we can think of to some of these tricks is MacAskill’s iconic haybale riding stunt featured in A Wee Day Out.

The ramps and obstacles are not stuff that you’d find in any skate park or indeed in any city centre architecture. These are bespoke one-off crazy things from the brains of Cirque du Soleil.

According to Danny MacAskill, Cirque du Soleil “are of the belief that you can train someone up to do almost anything… make the impossible possible”.

You wouldn’t think Danny MacAskill needs any training up would you? As another rider says: “It’s definitely ‘out there’ in terms of bike riding!”