Help me manual & wheelie

danlightbulb

I've been trying for weeks to pull off a manual or a wheelie and I cant do it at all.

I've watched video's, read up on the technique and I still cant do it. Out of 5 attempts I'll get the front wheel more than 1 ft high only once and it just plods straight back down again.

Every time I ride I have a go, on a flat grass field. I've tried it with forks locked out and without, in a high and low gear, with the saddle slammed and at normal riding height.

It cant be this hard can it? What am I doing wrong?

paulneenan76

They are not the same thing and require different techniques. I'm no expert and I can't manual properly for toffee but I suspect your problem is in finding and trusting your balance point. Slam your seat and move your arse further and further off the back. Eventually the front wheel will lift as you push out with your feet. Keep practising.

SteveH28

Try it in a mid gear thats low enough not too need too much effort but high enough to give you some power.
Practice on a light downhill may help.
Biggest thing that helped me was to lean back but not to be scared of falling off the back. For me body position was a big factor. I was always scared that if i leaned too far i would fall on my butt and get hurt. Once i got past that i could lean back enough to wheelie.

Manuals will follow. Practice on a slope you can roll down at a briskish pace but not too fast and again its down to body position and balance point. I tend to give the bike a little push forward with my feet as i lift the front as i find it easier to do a standing manual than seated. The slope helps you to manual if your rolling letting you concentrate on body position.

Thats just how i learnt. Hope it helps.

pesky_jones

If you've read the techniques then you'll know the key in popping the wheel is a mixture of shifting body weight and accelerating. You need to come off the back a few times before you find your right balance point

jairaj

Getting over the "I'm going to fall off the back" fear is the big part. I purposely shifted my weight too far back to fall off the back to get used to the feeling. You soon realise that you will save yourself from landing cleanly on your butt.

Also try filming your self or getting a friend to help. then you can replay and see what you are doing wrong. went on a coaching session with Clive Forth who was very good and liked the way he would film you and then show you exactly where you went wrong.

Often what you think you are doing is not what you are actually doing.

thelonegroover

This may be usefull...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_sX3PVpUKY

ali4390

If it's anything like it was for me, something will just click one day.

I could never wheelie for longer than maybe 5 or 10 metres. The key really is finding the balancing point and not being afraid to go over the back.

Most important thing is keep your rear brake covered, that way if you're going to go over the back you can use the break and it will reign everything in. Initially, I would imagine you will pull the brake too hard and the front wheel will slam down to the ground but you will get to a point where you can feather the brake and wheelie for as long as you like.

If I was you I would:
- Make sure I was in a low gear
- Pedal hard without pulling up so you get used to the front wheel coming up slightly
- Sit back on your seat and pedal hard (only for a couple of rotations until the front of the wheel comes up high) with a little tug of the bars, but remember to keep your rear brake covered - this is to get used to the front wheel coming up quickly and quite high
- I would also practice getting the front wheel up to a point where it falls back down but falls slowly - if you can get to a point where you can get the front wheel to feel like it wants to stay up without going back over but you don't need to pull the brake to bring it back down, you have found the balancing point

On none of the above should you be trying to wheelie for any amount of distance, you are purely trying to get used to the wheel rising and falling in a controlled motion as well as finding your balancing point.

Once the above comes together, it is a case of selecting higher gears and practicing going for distance. Once that 'thing' has clicked, it really is a piece of cake.

Manuals are more difficult because they are using your bodyweight and rear brakes to keep the front wheel in the air. Once you have masted a normal wheelie and got used to the balance point and shifting your body weight around, manuals become a lot easier so I wouldn't bother trying to learn them until you have sussed a normal wheelie. When you are reasy to try them, find a shallw downhill slope and get to a point where the bike keeps wanting to go over backwards and keep it at that point with small dabs of the rear brake and use of your bodyweight.

Seating position makes a big difference when learning to wheelie. I would say that having a high seat is probably easier to learn on as a low seat can make it seem like the front wheel is coming uncomfortably high. However, a low seat can make it easier to have slow control of a wheelie when you get ready to practice going round corners etc.

ETA: Where are you based? I'm more than happy to spend a day pulling wheelies/helping you out if you're local to me. I'm in either Derby or Essex.

danlightbulb

Thats really nice of you to offer, however I'm in the midlands so my usual local trail is cannock chase.

I have yet to fall off the back of the bike, so obviously I'm not taking enough 'risk' in trying to perform the moves. Will try again at the weekend!

gt-arrowhead

This is the way i do wheelies, works for me.

1. Coast along pretty slowly, at around jogging pace in the gear that gives you enough power without having to pedal like mad (too much pedalling makes you lose balance)

2. Make sure your seat is the same height as your bars, no higher...thats usually best, but whatever you prefer.

3. Have the pedal up on the side that you favour to push down on.

4. Lean on to the front of the bike but not too much, just bending your arms.

5. Then all at the same time, sit on the seat while leaning back, get your arms straightened out, push down and carry on pedalling.

Whenever i do a wheelie, i tend to have the sterring bent in mid air most of the time, and i change the direction to try and keep me going straight. I always do the best wheelies on oversize frames, i dont know why, probably because of the seat position.

The best tyres for wheelies are something like 2.2s or around that, inflated to less than 30 psi. This gives you alot of area to keep you going straight, and alot of grip to make sure you arent speeding up too much (effectively trying to slow you down)

I never stand up and do wheelies, its always better sitting down, but some people do it standing.

If you start to go sideways, dont wait, just jump straight off the back and hold on to your bars, otherwise your facked.

I find wheelies to be better/easier going up hill slightly.

I find that every bike has a different "balance point". As in the point at which the limit is before jumping off the back is slightly higher on some bikes and slightly lower on others. Bikes with a higher "balance point" i find always allow me to do longer wheelies. If your front wheel is too low down then you power to try and get it back up and this means you are going to fast to do the wheelie for long enough.

Never do wheelies when you are really really exhasted, or going way too fast.

Hope that all helped...

Newfish

I'm midlands based and am up at Cannock fairly regularly if you want someone to look and give pointers. I can't manual well at all but I can wheelie. (I'm Solihull side, where bouts are you?)

If you haven't gone off the back yet you aren't putting enough effort in . Every bike varies, but the balance point is surprisingly far back, a good rough guide for a mtb would be the bottom of the front wheel about level with the top of the back wheel, so roughly 2 feet off the ground. If your only getting your wheel about a foot up your half way there!

That Video about four posts up is brilliant, very informative and easy to follow.

Good luck, persevere, you'll get there.

ali4390

danlightbulb wrote:

Thats really nice of you to offer, however I'm in the midlands so my usual local trail is cannock chase.

I have yet to fall off the back of the bike, so obviously I'm not taking enough 'risk' in trying to perform the moves. Will try again at the weekend!

Not sure where you think Derby is?

Cannock is about 30 mins from my front door in Derby so more than happy to meet you there sometime, if you fancy it then PM me.

Kowalski675

danlightbulb wrote:

I've been trying for weeks to pull off a manual or a wheelie and I cant do it at all.

Not just me that can't do them then, lol? I'm crap at motorbike wheelies too, but they're a lot better than my pushbike ones, lol.

Here's another vid to look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSqkKtnMM_U

Adam k

I live in Derby I go Cannock most weekends or I do road riding on my 29er in the week round Allestree.i ride with a guy who does riding classes round Cannock.im still not great at doin manuals but one thing iv learnt is cover your back brake as if you start goin to far back a dab of the rear brake will put your wheel back down.first time I tried a manual I was on my 29er that I had like 2days I pulled one and went to far back flipped the bike landed on my arse and elbow cause I was clipped in and I snapped my rear mech