A YOUNG man has died and another was in hospital with serious injuries after riding a wheelie bin down a long, steep street on the NSW central coast at the weekend.

The practice, in which a wheelie bin is laid on its side and then ridden down the street, is well documented on YouTube.

Sometimes the bins have modifications such as handled bars for steering; others are cut away to make seats. Some video clips have children riding them.

The 22-year-old Umina man died after riding a wheelie bin down Lone Pine Avenue, which runs on to Kingsview Drive, at Umina Beach in the early hours of yesterday morning. Police believe that he and another man rode the bin down the street, lying one on top of the other, then struck the gutter and were thrown into a small tree.

Another man had gone down the hill on another bin before realising his friends had not reached the bottom.