If you could master one bike skill, what would it be?

This is a tough one, torn between barely getting out of breath going up hill like those XC guys do, being able to do massive gap jumps or being a manual master.

jumping! like large jumps, gaps, being able to whip

Balls.

manuals or backflips. I can get the front end up easily enough, but i can't hold it more than 4 or 5 seconds. Flips would just be awesome

Being able to bunnyhop over a gate or fence would be my skill of choice.

7w/kg

corners

High speed manuals down hills

manual, so I can cross ditches with ease like my mate does.

He pulls the front wheel up, drops into the ditch on his back wheel, gently puts the front down on the other side of the ditch and then pedals out. It's like magic!

Jumps, but consistently.

Went to FoD last week and on a few runs of the jump skills line went like this:
Nope
Nope
Nope
Ohh there's my mate taking photos, nailed the jump perfeclty.
Nope

Same with the blue DH lines and their fairly large rollers/doubles, every so often I'll double one up and it's all fine, then the fear immediately returns.

Sometimes I think I should just throw myself down a similar line with actual gaps and just get over it.

No-handed. Can't do them, wheelies, manuals or jump. Bloody roadie at heart.

Manuals because they're super handy all the time and endos for awkward mountain switchbacks. Oh, and the ability to ride alpine switchbacks well, like Steveo from White Room. 

Big gap jumps.  I really want to do something like the old Vision Line at Revs or Full Moto at Dirt Farm.  Just once before I'm too old would be nice, a full speed, balls out, full commitment jump line.  I imagine the adrenaline rush is amazing!

And be betterer at steep stuff.

And manuals.  Manuals just look cool.

Endo turn.

Transitioning from sofa to couch without so much faff that I immediately go off the idea.

Wheelies for me, after 40 years of riding (a good 30 of those on a bmx) and i still cant wheelie very far, really struggle with the balance point, yet a manual roll or peg manual on a ramp is no problem

Riding no handed im very good at! my record is 10 miles including bumping up and down kerbs on a bmx, even off road i can ride no handed through bumps, pot holes and even climbing and descending trails to a certain degree

Im in awe of this guy though!

Jumps. I really want to improve my wheelies and cornering, and it bothers me that I can’t manual at all, but my mid-life crisis fantasy is a perfect a jump line run. As a 51 year old and parent I’m almost certainly too fragile to make this fantasy come true 😆

A double cash roll, which would then be followed by fame and fortune 😁

Stupidly fast corners. Or tailwhips. But I think cornering would be more useful

Leaving the house to go riding.

Big jumps, tabletops etc. Have gravitated more towards the XC side of things in recent years but would love to start upping my airtime game.

Also, never been able to do a wheelie.

Bunny hops.

Stupidly fast corners. Or tailwhips. But I think cornering would be more useful

Being amazing at cornering would absolutely be the most-useful skill.

But I feel my most prominent weakness is steep switchbacks, especially if rocky. Partly due to a rubbish sense of balance. So maybe I'd like to have great balance for stuff like that.

Jumps/drops (and landing them), I’m happy that I’m good enough at the rest and it’s only airtime that’s holding me back.

Jump to manual landing or those stoppie landings Bernard kerr does, literally impossible for me. It's totally baffling how they do it.

A bit more courage wouldn't go amiss when jumping comes into the mix when there's anything more than a small gap. That's not really a skill, it's more self preservation.

For actual bike skill I'd like to be able to back wheel hop so I could channel my inner Macaskill and get over insurmountable obstacles, just for fun.

For the ego probably pulling endless wheelies.

For practicality it would be cornering like a pro - the way they change direction defies physics .

Jump to manual landing or those stoppie landings Bernard kerr does, literally impossible for me. It’s totally baffling how they do it.

You may be a great rider already - but for me as a mediocre one bimbling around most of the time - but being able to do lanuals and stoppie landings from my little jumps would be hilarious

Manual

Unicycle. As good as this guy...

Those Mathieu van der Poel wheelspins on the cx bike would be a nice skill/talent to have.

A proper American bunny hop.

Being good on skinny boardwalks would probably be the most useful skill I could learn, I am better than I once was but they're still my nemesis. 

I can jump. Well, I can if I practice enough, or go somewhere where I can do it. But I really wonder where my gumption to do techy stuff has gone. I can ride it, but more often that not I'll do a 'safety dab' or stop and have a 'check-look' at stuff that I can do, have done in the past, and really shouldn't be bothered about now. It winds me up.

Oh and get around Alpine corners, Not necessarily endo turns, but just get around a tight 180 without wobbling around it, or dabbing...

Manual for me. I can do them a bit to get over little things but would love to be able to hold one for a while.

and mentaly being able to do gaps. I could clear a table top 100 times but if you took the middle out i'd fall apart....

and mentaly being able to do gaps. I could clear a table top 100 times but if you took the middle out i’d fall apart….

Yep. That's me. The only gaps I've done are the ones where you don't realise it's a gap until you're committed...

Wheelie, which I assume would lead to manuals fairly quickly.

Jumps/gaps. Shit myself when there’s a hole after any kind of take off. The bigger the gap, the bigger the shit.

Manuals, never not cool!

Wheelies. Jumps, drops, techy stuff etc I'm more than happy with my abilities but I'd love to be able to learn to wheelie/manual.

Carrying speed better through jank. Largely a confidence issue and the jankier the trail, the more I ride with just enough speed not to come to a dead stop. But mastering that so I could float over stuff faster would be nice!

I have a 130/140 trail bike which is generally fine and not what is holding me back at all...but I did have a go of my mate's big 170 enduro bike once at inners and the difference was pretty stark I won't lie. But I was still relatively slow.

All these people who desperately want to wheelie. You could crack it in a couple of hours if you went somewhere and focussed on just that. Especially with someone who knows how to do it.

Should we organise a wheelie camp?

I bet I could get a few people doing a good few pedal strokes at least. Once you learn to sit in the right spot you can go as far as you like.

All these people who desperately want to wheelie. You could crack it in a couple of hours if you went somewhere and focussed on just that. Especially with someone who knows how to do it.

I tried Ryan Leeches wheelie course over lockdown.

I did not master wheelies

Not the same as being in a car park with a bunch of mates egging you on.

It's a tough one between a manual or jumps. 

I can wheelie for about 20 pedal strokes but always veer off to one side. Tried steering with my hips etc but still the same. More practice needed I suspect.

Would like to master trials style back wheel gap jumps.

Another one for manuals.

Wheelie, which I assume would lead to manuals fairly quickly.

Not really, without a ton more practice.

I can’t manny properly (endlessly downhill). I can do small ones over roller doubles etc.

I can wheelie for pretty much as long as I want. My weekly MTB ride has around 8 miles each way on gravel to meet my mates. I sorted my wheelies by practicing endlessly on that. I think riding no handed for long stretches helps train the side to side balance aspect for wheelies. Sometimes I can do coasters for a bit. I tend to find if I haven’t ridden in a few weeks I get rusty and lose a bit of balance.

I’m decent at big jumps and drops, again it’s just time practising. I ride a lot at Leogang which has jump lines with dozens of tables and step downs. I can follow my lad and his mates on new stuff to get the speed.

I’m 55 this summer. Might challenge myself to properly crack manuals before my birthday.

Bearing replacement.

Not to feel terrified when both wheels leave the ground simultaneously.

I can ride fairly proficiently but one thing I'd really love to master is the trials style pedal kick rear wheel hops.

Totally useless skill for 99.5% of my riding but looks so ****ing cool when I see the trials guys hopping up onto something then balancing on the rear wheel, then a pedal kick/hop/drop back down onto the floor.
Even better if I could master it on an Eeber in a Chris Akrigg style.

Manuals. I can manage manuals for long enough to overcome trail issues (like a big dip where you don’t want the front to dive down), but anything over say 5m long is not happening. There’s not much use for longer than that really other than it looks f’kin cool.

Opening a bottle of beer using my pedal without getting spillage on my gloves.

Or maybe the skill of riding PAST a bub?

Trackstand.

That and align a stem with the front wheel correctly first time.

All these people who desperately want to wheelie. You could crack it in a couple of hours if you went somewhere and focussed on just that.

I've been trying for 3 years on and off, every day in lock down, and I still practice on every ride. I can get the fore and aft balance OK, but I can't steer and inevitably have to stop when I'm tipping sideways. I've probably managed 10m at best.

Especially with someone who knows how to do it.

This would help!

Oh, I can roll a joint while riding no hands, but I stopped smoking over 20 years ago so it's not much use to me now.

Why waste time on small stuff?

So I reckon I could learn to jump pretty well, or manual, or do a nice spinny endo turn maneouvre, if I could just be arsed to practice. So instead of those obvious ones that'd actually help my riding, I choose trials hops, because that's something that seems like sorcery and that you can't sneak up on it by just riding loads.

I can roll a joint while riding no hands

Full on oldschool five sheet construction or just Kingsize Rizla?

Drops. Nothing major - just standard trail type drops that I watch people float off & carry on down the trail, while I plonk my wheels down & trundle on my way.
Sometimes (not very often) I can do them - a bit more caffeine in my morning brew or something - and the feeling of sailing over a lip in the trail & just carrying on is magical. Then I get to the next one & squuuueeeaaallllll.......donk....donk....trundle trundle.

oh. And your bog standard jump. Not 3 shopping trollies & a burnt out car type jumps. Just a little pop over a reasonably sized lip & a second or so of floaty air.

Full on oldschool five sheet construction or just Kingsize Rizla?

Two small blue Rizla, using the glue from a 3rd to stick them together 🙂

Like a lot of people for me it would have to be smooth, balanced long manuals.

In my younger years I could jump OK and hit drops that give me pause now, I know I can do that again if I actually bothered to practice more.

I remember being able to balance and hop on the back wheel OK as a teenager, and I can still pull off an OK coaster wheelie now and then but a but a decent manual at speed has always eluded me.

Manuals for me as well, I can do maybe 10 metres (enough to help lift my front wheel over a trail obstacle) but never enough to look steezy.

Sadly there isn't really a crossover from knowing how to wheelie, I'm pretty good at wheelies but after years of practice, still decidedly average at manuals

All these people who desperately want to wheelie. You could crack it in a couple of hours if you went somewhere and focussed on just that. Especially with someone who knows how to do it.

As kids (16/17 or so), a bunch of us used to go to the local BMX track - sometimes we'd spend hours there just playing around. One of the guys was *really* good - he was the only one of us who could ever clear the big doubles, we all just rolled them.

And in all that time of trying, I never mastered wheelie-ing. He'd be there roiling round on his back wheel, waving, telling us what to do and we'd be there falling over. We never got it. Tried it saddle up/saddle down, flats/clips, all sorts. Nope.

I can hoik the front wheel up enough to clear a small log or puddle. That's my limit.

Trackstand.

Now *that* I can do for hours!

Taught myself some basic trials skills. But not mastered them. Often find it frustrating, exhausting, and puts my nerves on edge!

https://youtube.com/shorts/0U5KP38jVHM

Dreamt I could manual several times, and it was awesome! So I think manualling will be the thing!

@sirromj

Better bike control than most of us on here I bet!

I’ve also had a few manual dreams. Actually woken up and been gutted!

Hucking

I think the ultimate htaf skill is the genuine no handed wheelie, by that I mean no hands to initially pull up on the bars, didn't think it was possible until I saw Elliott Heap do it, insane skill, God I hate him 😀

As many others, the Manual. Can get the front up over a trail obstacle for a second or two but thats it! Oh and lots of the spicier tech trails local to me need endo turns to clear, which I'm also useless at.

Torn between manual/wheelies to give me skilz to look kool/rad in the car park or bunny hops as a skill I could actually use on the trails. Can’t do either for toffee.

Massive pocket airs - Corey Walsh style.

Flying

Dreamt I could manual several times, and it was awesome

Damn. You just reminded me that I dreamt that recently. I was showing my boys how easy it was once you’ve got the balance point.

I can never get the balance point.

A mate in his 60s learnt how to wheelie recently off the kids in his street. He’s really good already. Bastard.

I think we need a wannabe wheelie and manual support group.

Manual longer than 5-10m. I can do enough to get over an obstacle, etc. But last year my mate Fin was doing effortless manuals down fireroads at Afan, and I was well jel! 😆

OTOH I can trackstand forever, and I'm ok at jumps - once I get my eye in - there's a local spot with a step up into double that you can clear 25ft with enough speed. I've mastered that well enough to make watching teenagers make approving 'yeah bruv!' noises 😁

Rolling endo turns on switch backs.

Proper manuals.... always beaten me. Can wheelie fine mind!

Has to be bunny hops for practical use.

Also faster information processing so things feel a bit calmer.

Drops. Nothing major – just standard trail type drops that I watch people float off & carry on down the trail, while I plonk my wheels down & trundle on my way.

Sometimes (not very often) I can do them – a bit more caffeine in my morning brew or something – and the feeling of sailing over a lip in the trail & just carrying on is magical. Then I get to the next one & squuuueeeaaallllll…….donk….donk….trundle trundle.

I finally learned this skill at 47 (my comfort zone is still probably not more than 2 feet at the lip but that's all I need 99% of the time).

I spent hours over a couple of weekends at the new skills area at QE park in Hampshire.

I'm not brilliant at delicate balance stuff and always struggled with anything airborne but the endless rinse, repeat on small drops builds confidence and experience at a low risk of injury and it's that intensive thing.

I want to be able to manual.  I may have to make a manual machine from scrap timber.

I may have to make a manual machine from scrap timber

I did that ... still don't have the t-shirt though.