Hey guys, I just started BMX about a week ago.
My bike is a WeThePeople Reason 2022 and this is my first BMX.
I’m really struggling with manuals. I can lift the front wheel but I can’t hold it for more than a second. I either loop out or drop it immediately.
I’m practicing on flat ground and trying to find the balance point but I just can’t seem to get it.
Do you have any tips, drills, or things I should focus on?
Would really appreciate any advice 🙏
Can’t hold a manual at all – need tips
byu/tesekkurler3 inbmx
by tesekkurler3
7 Comments
Lock your arms and drop that ass, as my mentor Chubbs Peterson taught it’s all in the hips baby
You just have to practice. I had a rough time when I switched to mtb. Thing about keeping your weight over the rear axle and just repeat, feather the brake if you go too far back. I had friends that could literally manual forever but I would get excited if I had a long 100 foot one. You just gotta find the sweet spot. Some people get it, some people don’t it’s like tailwhips, I learned those before I could manual. Totally backwards learning.
Get comfortable riding with a finger in your brakes so you can “feather “ them while doing a manual. It can help you drop your front end a bit.
Firstly, I’d lose the bag, that’s just going to make it harder to get used to locking into your balance point, which will be directly above where your tire touches the ground.
Next, try keeping both your body and front wheel lower to the ground (lower center of gravity is easier to balance).
Lastly, keep your arms and legs as loose as you can because you’ll use them to adjust your balance point. Your arms control the bike and your legs control your body.
Bonus tips, going a little faster will make it easier, and try practicing in a parking lot so you can use the spaces to track your progress/set goals.
You want to literally try to sit on the back tire, that’s how low and back you need to be.
From there, you don’t “pull up” as much as you do shoot the bike *forward* with your legs. It should feel like you’re hanging off the back of the bike, knees bent, arms stretched (but loose-ish).
You can practice just getting into this position (because it’s actually a bit hard without conditioning) by getting on the bike as it’s sitting parallel to a wall so that a barend is touching it and keeping it up. Just hop on stationary like that and squat as low and far back as possible. You should be able to loop out backwards without “pulling” up, kind of like how you can loop out an empty shopping cart by hopping on the back of it.
It always feels impossible at first and takes a while to master, but part of why it feels so hard to balance is because the position that you’re in now doesn’t facilitate a lot of range for adjustment, and any little motion you do from up that high is acting like a lever and amplifying your inputs.
You almost can’t be too back and low. The goal is always lower, lower, lower.
Edit: to add, drop your heels, too. It helps with that sense of getting your weight to the back and behind, and helps with that forward driving push, like you’re trying to get your weight under the bike like a wedge to lift it up. That’s where all the balance control comes from.
Pedal wheelies are stage 1.
It would be interesting to see vids from all the people giving advice on manuals. I would love to see a loose arm vid where you keep balance, not with legs and hips, but with arms.