[Closed] I can't manual

I can't bunny hop 😳

Don't worry about it - as a motorcycle-racing pal of mine says, if you haven't go both wheels on the deck you're not going fast enough.

I've never been able to manual, hasn't stopped me in 25 years of MTBing.

I know but it's one of those things that really bugs me, I feel like a shell of a man when a more able biker glides past, effortlessly balancing on the rear wheel like some kind of MTB titan.

I can do both, but only badly and would look cooler if I just didn't try...

I can't do it either.

I can jump, drop, bunny hop and wheely pretty well but the closest I've ever come to holding a manual for any time I went off the back and skidded along the road outside the in-laws house with my 7 year old nephew watching.

As a 35 year old man I felt ashamed 😳

Have you got one of those turbo trainers that fixes to the bike by clamping the rear axle by any chance? If you have (or can borrow one) they are great for getting the feel of a manual as you can focus on the weight shift without having to worry about balance or hitting anything. Just make sure you have something soft behind you to land on when you overcook it as you can't use your rear brake to bring the front wheel back down again.

Mind you, while I can easily get the bike vertical on the trainer I'm still pretty crap out on the trails 😳

I may pay someone to teach me it's bugging me that much.

Mind you, while I can easily get the bike vertical on the trainer I'm still pretty crap out on the trails

So the whole turbo trainer thing doesn't work too well then after all... 😆

I can keep the wheel up just enough for drops and steps and jumps

I can't bunny hop

<edit> can't wheelie either but that doesn't bother me, always struck me as a schoolyard stunt whereas manuals and stoppies are the muts nuts and sooooooo cool aswell as being useful trail skills 😉

I may pay someone to teach me it's bugging me that much.

My thinking too!

I can't either, not that fussed tbh but it's occasionally useful. As far as learning it goes, I'm making some progress on a bit of pump-track-ish trail, it's the only place it all really feels natural to me- might be worth a try?

+1 on that! 🙁

Maybe this summer. Wouldn't mind spending a day just perfecting manuals, hops etc.

Have a recurring dream about manualling, so something in my sub-concious hasn't given up on it.

i have that same dream i think..... its amazing how easy it is in my sleep

I can wheelie easily but manualling is a bit harder, its just getting to that balance point that I find tricky. We covered it in a dirt school session and if you can get someone to hold you upright form the front as you tilt back on the back brake to find the tipping point, that helps you find out where the balance point is.

From there I think its a case of transferring that to doing it on the bike in motion, putting your weight low and back, and kind of pushing the bike away with your feet - not pulling up with your arms, as that pulls your weight forward and up, when you want it to be low and back. I've done some great manuals occasionally, but find it really hard to do on demand, need to practice more.

So, what's the difference between a manual and a wheelie?

I recommend Adam at [url= http://www.thebikeschool.net/ ]The Bike School[/url] on Cannock Chase or FoD. I did the Jumps and Drops course, which has the ultimate aim of teaching how to do both those things well, but builds from the ground up, starting with manualling (to 'proper' bunny hops, into drops and then jumps)

It's an invaluable technique for maintaining speed, dealing with dips and bumps that are too big/ small to hop or jump, and is a good way of avoiding being splashed by puddles/fords too 🙂

Manuals+bunny hops+pumping>>>>>>>>pedalling

(manuals+bunny hops leads to far more opportunities to pump and go faster)

Get it learnt, mediocre trails now become fun pump tracks, mega awesome trails get even better.

Pedalling is the devils work (apart from uphill), sometimes a necessary evil, but do all i can to avoid it since it normally kills flow and there are, far more fun means to generate required speed.

So the whole turbo trainer thing doesn't work too well then after all...

Guess not 🙂 Actually, before I hit on this practice aid I could only just pop the wheel up enough to get it over a small obstacle, now I can occasionally bring it right up in the air. So I'd say it has helped, but it's still very hit and miss on the trails that's for sure.

So, what's the difference between a manual and a wheelie?

AFAIK a manual is where you lift the front wheel simply by shifting your weight backwards while freewheeling. With a wheelie you pedal fast to drive the back wheel forwards in order to initiate the lift.

I can keep the wheel up just enough for drops and steps and jumps etc

Why would you need more?

Cheers roverpig. Just seen the other thread with the answer too 8)

Use flats for practice.
Get used to coming off the back first.
Front wheel perpendicular to a tall wall, load front end and move weight back, pushing forward with feet (and come off the back). Develop along this line to find balance point. The wall will help to keep your arms straight and stops the bike going forward and knocking you over.
Move onto grassy area, load, move, drive. Then do it whilst moving feathering the back brake to keep the balance point. You should have already have the confidence to move off the back if it goes too far.

Try a BC MTB Coach 😉 it's basic coaching with youngsters these days, with great success.

See Paul I know what all those words mean just not in that order. This whole pushing with your feet thing is where I have a block I know I can do it on drops because I do but I don't know how. I can't raise the front wheel much more than 18 inches or so for a second or two and never get to the fabled balance point although I can wheelie perfectly well.

I reckon it's a thing I should know how to do.

Find a bmx track, they are great for manual practice.

I taught myself to manual last summer and although not brilliant, I can do a half decent manual now.

One of the keys to the manual is getting past the balance point and coming off the back. Until you have gone past it, you will struggle to know where it is.

Spend a bit of time purposely coming of the back and jumping off the pedals.

Until you have got over the fear/psychological block of coming off, learning a proper manual will be tough.

Until you have got over the fear/psychological block of coming off, learning a proper manual will be tough.

...this is the issue I definitely have, must try harder 😯

Yeah without pedalling I can't raise the front wheel, that's the problem.

Ok, now this is weird, I too have dreams where I can manual...

Have a recurring dream about manualling, so something in my sub-concious hasn't given up on it.
i have that same dream i think..... its amazing how easy it is in my sleep

andyl - Member

Wouldn't mind spending a day just perfecting manuals, hops etc.

If you can perfect manuals in a day then fair play. It's taken me months and even now the results range from piss poor (a couple of bike lengths) to not bad (40-50 metres) with the occasional really long one. I will say this though, once you can quickly find the sweet spot, manuals are effortless.

I can do it (not very well) on my BMX or my GF's bike - I really struggle on my Pitch which is quite long so hard for me to get right down behind the back wheel.

ianv - Member

Find a bmx [s]track[/s], they are great for manual practice.

i'm the crappest rider i know (DFL in my last 3 races) but even i find manualling on a bmx much easier, just hang off the back a bit and the front wheel comes up, controlling a manual is the tricky part, getting it started is easy (on a bmx).

on a mountain bike, getting a manual started is much more tricky (in my poorly skilled experience)...

i have wheelie dreams, i can go round corners and everything 🙂

I got bored of Andy Barlow from Dirt School's efforts to teach me to manual, so I wheelied him square in the nuts!
[img] [/img]

I still can't manual as I haven't spent the required time practicing, but having had some training from Andy I know where I'm going wrong and I realise the balance point is way further back than I had thought.

I found this tut quite useful. Game me a better idea of how to push the bike away from me.

JOELAWWILL.COM "http://www.joelawwill.com/MBA-may09-train-62-66pdf.pdf"

Yeah without pedalling I can't raise the front wheel, that's the problem.

glad I'm not the only one with manual dreams, sometimes I'm riding outdoors but often along corridors at work, offices etc and yep round sharp corners too 🙂
Don't think we need a dream interpreter to figure this one out.

I can do the sitting on the back wheel bit easy enough but without "pulling" on the bars there is no way the front wheel comes up 😳 Think my brain has had too many bumps and onset of old age means it can only do one thing at a time. 🙄
I can do the lean back, knees bent, push through the pedals. Then the brain says "you are not to pull on bars" At this point every other movement seems to be neutralised ❓

Like gtip I too gave up after some instruction

However I can get myself up and over most obstacles I come across, often by just getting off and pushing 😆
Too old to be embarrassed about anything nowadays 😉

Right that's me in the doctors car park tomorrow. I am going to make this happen!

Another handy tip is to find a gentle slope to practice on - only needs to be slight, but helps keep momentum

Neither can I...can't manual, nor wheelie and my bunny hop is extremely lame.

The last time I did try to manual I was learning with All Biked Up, I was clipped in managed to get the wheel up .. smile on my face... 10 ft further down looped out and the memory of the knock scares the crap out of me now.

Now ride with flats but I like PaulB's idea for some self coaching..

I would question whether a manual can be taught in a day.
I'd suggest your better trying to crack wheelies first, then move onto coaster wheelies (not pedalling but sitting down wheelies) then think about manuals.
If you can coaster wheelie you've, in concept, got a manual covered, other than the method of starting a manual versus a wheelie.

The manual starts without any pull on the bars, moving your weight backwards with straight arms and bent knees and pushing through your feet, then keep it going all through the knees pushing and absorbing the momentum while covering/dragging the back brake for fine control.

I think coaster wheelies, sitting down, while going down hill using the brake for control are the way to start and learn the knack of manuals. Good luck. Takes years of practice rather than 1 day of learning - IMHO.

some bikes just don't want to manual other just love it. My front heavy coiler is so easy to pop the front up where as the soul you have to really work to hard to get it an inch off the ground.

Takes years of practice rather than 1 day of learning - IMHO.

I'd agree. Took me about 6 months to get a half decent manual.

I think you can learn how to get to the balance point, and past it in a day, but staying there is another thing all togther.

some bikes just don't want to manual other just love it. My front heavy coiler is so easy to pop the front up where as the soul you have to really work to hard to get it an inch off the ground.

I have a mk3 chopper that's virtually impossible to ride in anything other than a manual, but I just haven't got the bottle to get my weight that far back on an adult sized bike.

1. Have you got a hoody? Get one
2. Do you have an ASBO? Get one
3. Do you have a job? Pack it in
The rest should follow easily

I have dreams where I can bunnyhop sideways up the curb. I feel a little sad when I wake up in the morning.

How do you get the front wheel to come up? I never can. The best I can do is unweighted it for drops.

How do you get the front wheel to come up? I never can. The best I can do is unweighted it for drops.

its hard to explain, but you kinda rotate every thing around you and the bikes COG.... bum goes back an down, feet push under and through hands go foward dropping the wrist as the front lifts.

buzz-lightyear - Member

How do you get the front wheel to come up? I never can. The best I can do is unweighted it for drops.

borrow a bmx, adopt this position:

[img] [/img]

it really is that easy*.

most of his body seems to be behind the rear axle, i find that's a really tricky thing to do on a mountain bike. i can manual my bmx through some of the rollers at Bolehills, i can just about do it on my mtb, but it needs more oomph, and i'm crap at judging how much oomph is needed.

(*not falling off the back is the tricky part)

How do you get the front wheel to come up? I never can.

Easy when you know how. Forget about the feet for a second and focus on shifting your weight rapidly from front to back.

Lean over the front and then quickly shift your weight back as far over the back wheel as you can. Your arms will straighten and the front wheel will lift due to the rapid shift in weight.

Now push in the opposite direction with your feet and the bike will flip out from under you and voila! you have now found the balance point and quickly gone past it. 😀

If all has gone well you are standing on your feet with the bike vertical on its back wheel.

If it has gone badly you will have ended up on your arse with the bike in front of you in a heap. 😆

It was one of those things that I could never, ever, ever get my head round either. I went on a 1-2-1 day with Andy Weir at Ridelines and he taught me in about 30 seconds. I think it's one of thse things that if you don't know how to do it you'll spend ages trying to work it out by yourself. Get someone to show/tell you and it just clicks.

I'm no teacher myself, so all I can say is how I remember to do it: Preload, and then push yourself back and low - a lot lower than you think - with your bum really close to the rear wheel. The bars kind of lift of their own accord, and then it's just about maintaining the balance point either with the back brake or by 'kicking' the bike forwards and away from you. Keep the sideways balance with a knee out in the required direction. That probably reads entirely wrong to the purists, but it works for me.

I'm no teacher myself, so all I can say is how I remember to do it: Preload, and then push yourself back and low - a lot lower than you think - with your bum really close to the rear wheel. The bars kind of lift of their own accord, and then it's just about maintaining the balance point either with the back brake or by 'kicking' the bike forwards and away from you. Keep the sideways balance with a knee out in the required direction. That probably reads entirely wrong to the purists, but it works for me.

That sounds about right to me (no teacher either) but i've never been able to control a manual with the rear brake. The front just drops. Saying that, i've never went off the back either.

Bike choice could make a big difference to how easy it is to pick up. Hardtails are probably best to learn on, as the rear is constant. I find it tricker to gt the full-suss up, but once there the sweet spot feels wider.

I only have one manual on video (about 20 seconds in) and you wont get any tips from it as it's a headcam 😀

Here you go:
http://mpora.com/videos/jBwiMsFTb

i cant flat land manual but can front or rear manual through dips, doubles etc.... 2 different things

I feel slightly better knowing The Jedi can't flat manual... 🙂

however in my next life I want to come back as Graham Aggassiz that man is a god when it comes to manualing besides the other stuff..