Wheelies and manuals

[manual63]

I have been working on wheelies and manuals on my P.2. What I have noticed is how much better my overall balance and control on my bike is just from developing these two skills. My goal is to be consistant with them both. Right now, I can pull off a long wheelie or a long manual sometimes, but not everytime. Consistancy is my goal now, and the more I practice, the better I get. I will put some pointers on here soon, but gotta go now.

[JHM]

Hi Shad,


What's a manual?
Thanks

[noise_is_life]

I can answer that.

A manual is basically a wheelie without pedaling.

[thebionicman]

Manual...something that is beyond my ability. Someday...Someday. Shad, I look forward to your pointers.

[Trevize1138]

Shad's given me some pointers on manuals that have really helped. I'd say a good 90% of off-road bike handling skills come down to mastering the manual. I should say I'm far from that goal, however. :)

But, yes, as Pat said, a manual is just a wheelie but without pedaling. A wheelie can be done almost indefinitely if you're a good rider because it's basically like riding a unicycle, except you've got a free wheel so you have to use your rear brake to keep the wheel from getting ahead of you. A manual has a finite life, however, because without pedaling eventually you'll come to a stop, but before then you'll get slower and your balance won't be as good.

For most practical purposes, you should work on holding a manual for 2-3 bike lengths. On the trail, 1- 1 1/2 bike lengths is all you need for most obstacles like log rolls or dips, but practicing on a street or paved trail is recommended to get a feel for things, and 2-3 bike lengths is just assurance that you're holding the manual, not just popping your front tire off the ground briefly.

The entire key to this maneuver is getting your weight back over your rear wheel. The less weight over your front wheel, the easier it will be to control its position above the ground. Sounds simple, and it is! I figured out the weight-to-the-rear trick after a couple tries.

The next step is the hard one: lateral movement. I keep falling to one side or the other after a second or so of trying to hold a manual. I still haven't mastered that part, but I'm trying!

A good manual means you'll easily roll over logs, pump through dips, glide off drop-offs and have better all-around bike control. A manual is also the first 1/2 of a real bunny hop, the 1/2nd half of which is the Polish Wheelie where you lift the rear tire up. That's another trick I have yet to master. I can do a real bunny hop if I think about it, but when I slack I start pulling up with my clip-in pedals (bad!).

That's what I know about manuals, anyway ... :)

[manual63]

Okay, I'm back from my Huckin' session downtown.

Chris said it pretty well. He did not stress the brake enough. For both a wheelie and a manual, you need to lean back so far that you will loop out (flip over backwards). You actually should not use clipless when learning this....you will loop out and your tailbone will get thrashed if you don't get your feet down before your @ss! You should try pulling up on the front wheel hard enough the fall backwards off the bike. This will get you to know where the point of no return is. Now, the brakes are the key to making sure you don't fall back, but you have to know where that point of no return is before you apply the brake or you will always hit the brake too soon and your front wheel will just come crashing down.

A manual requires you to lean way back over the rear wheel, behind the seat, and be as low as you can without crotching the tire (you will know you have done this when you hear and feel a buzzing sound.......don't try it.....especially if you are male). You start by being upright with the knees slightly bent, not seated, and you throw your weight back and pull up on the bars at the same time. You must do this hard and fast enough to loop out, but you have your finger on that lever so you won't loop out and land on your @ss. Make sure you pull evenly on the bars or you will fall to the side. The faster you roll, the easier it is to not fall to the side, but don't go too fast to start. You keep the wheel up by moving your hips forward and back to maintain the ideal balance point. Tap the rear brake sometimes when you can't move your hips forward enough to keep from looping out, you should not have to use your brakes much if you do it right. Then you just hang on until you just can't stand it anymore. BMX bikes are easier to do manuals on, but you can do them on a mountain bike, it just takes more ummmph and the side to side balance is a little harder.

Wheelies are done while seated. You pedal to keep the front wheel up and you tap the brake to keep from looping out. You start by going fairly slow and being in a lower gear, say middle ring in front and 1 or 2 from the largest in the rear. Then you pedal quick and hard while you pull up hard on the handlebars. Like I said, do this and fall back a few times (jump off and land on your feet) to find that point of no return. All you do once the front wheel is up is pedal hard when the front wheel starts to fall and pedal light when the balance feels right in the middle. Use the rear brake when you start to fall too far back, just tap it slightly so you don't slam the front wheel down. The real key here is the lean way back. Don't lean foward, act like you are reclining in a Lay-Z-Boy. If you don't lean back enough, you will just pick up speed by pedaling really hard and fast to keep the front wheel up. Soon your momentum will catch up and you will not be able to keep the front wheel up. Speed control is key and leaning back using the rear brake is your speed control.

Have fun.....and wear a helmet........:D

[manual63]

Oh, one more thing I need to add if you get good at manuals. You can combine manuals and wheelies.....kind of. You see, one day I was on my Freestyle bike and I was doin' a manual on a long bench thing, yeah I had to bunnyhop into it. When I was getting near the end, my front wheel started coming down. I had to start pedaling, while standing, to keep the front wheel from coming down first off the end of the bench. Something you don't want to do or you will flip over the bars. I have also cheated during longer manuals by doing a quick pedal forward to keep the front wheel from coming down. You can also click it by just doing quick jabs forward on your pedals and then freewheeling back. So, if you get good at manuals, these extra tips can save your hide or allow you to extend a dead manual if you want to cheat.....:D.

[manual63]

I am just posting here because I was talking about manuals in another thread. I gave some good suggestions here on how do do wheelies and manuals. So, if you are interested, check it out.

One thing I do want to add, is that lowering your seat really helps. Doing a manual on a traditional tall frame long stem mountain bike with a high seat is going to be very tough. A bike like my P.2 or even my On-One is ideal. Low frame standover height, short stem, and disc brakes for good modulation. Since you have to have your @ss low and behind the seat, it's ideal to have the seat low so it doesn't catch your baggies when you need to come forward.......you are wearing baggies.....right??

[JHM]

.......you are wearing baggies.....right??

No way! I wouldn't wear those fashion challenged, performance stealing, get in the way of riding, short pants ever.

You really should step-up to real bike appropiate apparrel.

Anyway, thanks Shad for the detail. The description lets me visualize the whole process. I have been doing manuals and wheelies forever, now with your description of the mechanics, I can work on improving my form.

I read through all of these posts backwards before I realized that I had posted the question!:etard:

[manual63]

You really should step-up to real bike appropiate apparrel.


appropriate biking appearal.....maybe, but not appropriate eye material.......:)

[Tex]

I find that wheelies and manuals are under sepparate headings in my book. I can ride a wheelie fairly well, pretty much longer than I have the patience for anymore. But I can't manual worth crap, mind you, I can do short ones on trail to bridge gaps between obstacles. But to do what some of these guys in the videos do, I just can't get it.

Shad, I think I'm going to need a lesson from you this year. My biggest problem now is, the last time I was practicing them I missed my rear brake, went right over backwards -hard- and broke my elbow. As I fell back I tried to get my arm underneath me to break my fall, I hyper-extended it and fractured it, like opening a car door the wrong way:hit: . Now I'm a little gun shy about even trying them.

[manual63]

Shad, I think I'm going to need a lesson from you this year. My biggest problem now is, the last time I was practicing them I missed my rear brake, went right over backwards -hard- and broke my elbow. As I fell back I tried to get my arm underneath me to break my fall, I hyper-extended it and fractured it, like opening a car door the wrong way:hit: . Now I'm a little gun shy about even trying them.

This is why I always have my finger on that lever. I never wheelie or manual without having my finger on the lever. Sometimes I have to hop into a manual and then I need to grip the bars. As soon as I land, I get that finger on the lever. Did you use platforms or were you clipped in? For everyone reading, using platforms is a safety thing, not a BMX thing. Don't kill yourself because you don't want to simply switch out your pedals.

I will get you over the fear. If I have to run behind you will a pillow in my hand....I will.......:laugh::laugh:

[Tex]

Did you use platforms or were you clipped in? For everyone reading, using platforms is a safety thing, not a BMX thing. Don't kill yourself because you don't want to simply switch out your pedals.

Oh, you want to talk safety? Well then, actually I was clipped in, and I was extremely drunk as well. Well, I was really drunk up until I heard that bone go Snap, then I sort of sobered up real fast.
So there you go boys and girls, let me serve as an example for you all. Don't go downtown, get tanked, then hop on your bike and attempt to do something you have yet to master. All it leads to is 4 hours in a hospital waiting room. The worst part was that my wife was out with her girlfriends dancing downtown that night. I stopped in and interrupted her fun night out, so she could bring me to the hospital. Her friends still like to laugh at me about that.:cryin:

[Beau]

I have been working on wheelies and manuals on my P.2. What I have noticed is how much better my overall balance and control on my bike is just from developing these two skills. My goal is to be consistant with them both. Right now, I can pull off a long wheelie or a long manual sometimes, but not everytime. Consistancy is my goal now, and the more I practice, the better I get. I will put some pointers on here soon, but gotta go now.

Now sit down and take your feet off! That's even cooler!

[manual63]

Now sit down and take your feet off! That's even cooler! My friend Troy Kendrick can do that. He is the manual master. I once saw him manual most of a BMX track over the jumps and all, that guy is amazing. I can't quite do the no footer version, but I really never have practiced it much either.

[Tex]

I think I used to work with Troy at the shop formerly known as "Bennett's Cycle". If it's the same Troy, he could hop on any bike and manual accross the parking lot. I mean ANY bike, some customers road bike that he'd never ridden before, a kids bike, it didn't matter. It was unreal.

[manual63]

Yeah, I think he did actually work at Bennetts for awhile. He was actually a pro BMX racer for awhile. I know he raced A Pro, but I am not sure if he ever turn AA Pro. I rode the Edina trails with him last fall and he could jump everything there like it was glass.

[Tex]

That's him.

[manual63]

I was working on hoping into manuals yesterday. If this is something you are interested in, like hoping onto a bench or even just up a curb and landing in a manual, here are some pointers.

The first part of it is knowing how to bunny hop high enough to clear the height of what you want to land on....plus some extra height of about a foot or two. If you know you can do that part, then approach the object at a medium speed, say 7 to 12 MPH. When your front tire gets pretty close to the object you need to pull up the front end of you bike wheelie style, but much higher than you would for a typical bunnyhop. You need to keep that front end up really high the whole time, so keep those arms bent and keep pulling on the bars while you pull up the rear wheel. Try to just clear the height of the object by about 6" to 1ft. Once your rear wheel is above the object you want to manual on, straighten you knees and push the rear wheel down onto the object and keep pulling hard with your arms. Make sure when you land that your weight is pretty far back over the rear tire. Also keeping you body low helps keep the front end up. Have that finger on the rear brake lever in case you lean too far back and loop out. If you don't have the front end high enough, it will come down as soon as you start rolling forward. If it's high enough, you just have to fine tune the balance point for the manual part, which you should already know how to do before you do this trick.

The big secret for these is starting out with the high lift on the front end and keeping it there. If you can do that part, you will be able to land in a good balanced position so the front end doesn't come crashing down. Use your elbows by bending them......this gives you a much better ability to pull back on the bars with your arms and not always needing to lean back further to make small adjustments.

Now if you have to drop off the other side to go back down, be careful to make sure you maintain the manual as you go off the edge. If you start to fall forward when you go off the edge, you will nose dive. So if your manual is sketchy, it's best to just let the front wheel drop before you go off the edge and then pull it up again as if doing a normal drop off. Don't try to hang onto a failing manual if you need to drop off the other side of something........only drop off if your manual skills are good enough to have the control.

I am not 100% skilled at this yet. I am much better at it on my BMX bike, but am getting pretty good on my P.2. It's just a matter of time and practice, but it's a lot of fun when I actually pull the whole thing from start to finish.

[manual63]

I was playing around on my BMX bike last night and I managed to pull of a couple of hops into manuals the length of a building (about 1/2 block) that had a curbed sidewalk next to it. The feeling hopping into a manual and going for that long is just way too cool. I also did the one I have been practicing at the Southdale Library. I hop into a manual and go to the stairs and hop down the stairs, about 4, to the flat. I can also 180 those same stairs....but not from a manual yet.....that's way tough to do.

I am learning that the faster you go....the better balance you have. It's only a little bit scarier....but not to bad....just have that finger on the rear brake lever at all times.

[manual63]

If you are trying to learn to manual........a few more pointers. For me it is easy to manual my BMX bike. When I get on my P.2, I don't understand why it is so much harder to hold a manual. I have been working on it and found out a few specific things that might help you too.

The first thing is speed. It seems the bigger wheels and the higher center of gravity makes you want to fall to the side. The more speed you have....the better side to side balance you will have. The second one I noticed is how much more arm work it take to manual a mountain bike. A shorter stem helps a lot, but it is still much harder to keep the front wheel up on an MTB. So I have learned to really bend my elbows a lot more than usual. If you are leaned back over the rear wheel and you arms are straight.....you have no way to make fine balance adjustments with your arms. Only your hips can keep the balance point and that's usually not enough. By having your elbows bent, you have more strength to pull back with you arms if the front wheel starts to fall, but you also have room to push the front end down if you start to loop out (fall back). This allows you to use the brake less which is why I always keep coming down too soon. I use the brake and it's hard to do it just right without having the front wheel come down on you. The feathering part is key so you don't over brake and bring the front end down. Your finger should always be on the rear brake so you can keep from falling back too far.

So, elbows bent and a little more speed and you should be able to improve your manuals. It's so much easier on a BMX bike. I feel like I can manual forever some days on that thing. Then I get on my MTB and have a tough time with it. Practice....practice...practice....that's the only way to do it. It's taken me years to manual good and I still have my off days. So, don't get discouraged. If you get to a point where you can manual just 2 or 3 parking spaces.....it will greatly improve your mountain biking. It's all about balance and bike control......oh....and being cool too.

[dasil003]

I've been working on wheelies for years. Just a couple tries here and there. This spring I've been practicing a lot more ('specially since the trails are all still closed). I build a tiny dirt ramp in my back yard to practice jumping to manuals and wheelying over uneven terrain.

All my practice has been on mountain bikes, so I was surprised to get on a BMX and find it a lot harder to do the basics. For one thing, I can't trackstand worth **** on a BMX, it's just too twitchy. The inertia of the mountain bike helps me I think, it's like balancing a long rod on your chin vs. a short stick. I'm thinking of setting up a 24" BMX racer for practice.

[manual63]

All my practice has been on mountain bikes, so I was surprised to get on a BMX and find it a lot harder to do the basics. For one thing, I can't trackstand worth **** on a BMX, it's just too twitchy.

What's funny is that since I come from a BMX background.....I find mountain bikes to slow and bulky. So it's funny to see someone who has mostly ridden MTB to say the opposite.

Keep up the fun......it's worth it in the end.

[transplant]

So Saturday I was pumping up my kid's tires and I decided to dink around his Haro for the heck of it. I have zero BMX background, never even owned one (amazing I'm so well adjusted). I found I could bunnyhop it pretty easily. I didn't grab too much air, but more than I thought possible. Next I decided to try a manual. I actually rolled one for about 10-15 feet, much to my surprise. Of course, I did his on the second try and was unable to duplicate it again the next 8-10 times. But all it took was that first time, and WHOO! I gotta do that again! Oh yeah. I also wasn't wearing my helmet at the time. THANKS, SHAD! You negative influence, you:banana: !

[J2]

uh, I can manual on my crosscheck do i get props for that?