Just about cracked wheelieing after a year of trying on and off, still not 100% comfortable but getting there. the trick I found is to break it up into little parts rather than trying to crack the whole thing. First thing is get used to covering your rear brake, so deliberately pull the front wheel up past the tipping point and learn to feather the rear rather than panicking and grabbing a fist full of brake. This gets you used to being around the balance point and not panicking if you over-cook it and start falling back.

Then start to learn how to pull the wheel up properly without pulling with the arms or using too much power in a low gear. Aim to keep arms straight – I found that if I pulled with the arms i’d get the wheel up, but immediately be going off to one side, or if used too much power in too low a gear, once you got it up you were in too low a gear to continue.

Then just practice keeping in a straight line and correcting any left to right deviation – this is where i’m at now, but feeling pretty close to cracking it and that’ll be wheelies ticked off the list.

My manual practice has been all about getting that L-shape and trying to use my legs to manage the balance point, I can feel it, but just not spent enough time practicing and honing it while i’ve been working on wheelies. However I can manual well enough to get over an obstacle or large puddle out on the trail, which is the real practical use of a manual.

It’s good fun though.

From the comments read here I can manual mtb or BMX longer than all of you.
Haven’t ever thought about how long it took to learn. Sorry. It was a long time ago. and I was just having fun. I manual every ride. I still ride almost every day.
What I can’t do is hold a manual using my rear brake to hold the balance point as many mtbers do. I learned manuals brakeless. it makes long downhill manuals end up very high speed.

Wobbliscott- You don’t actually need to use that “L” shape at all to initiate a manual and hold it. I never have. ever. all that’s required is a push/kick forwards with the legs through the thighs while simultaneously hanging back from your bars.
The “L” shaped advice seems like it has been added by skills tutors in order to find a repeatable teachable technique which forces you to push your legs while moving your weight backwards. This does not mean it’s the only correct technique.

most mtb riders are not dynamic enough on their bikes and do not have strong enough muscles to manual comfortably when learning.
Plenty mtb skills coaches can’t manual very well at all.
Ask for a refund if you ever find yourself on a course with one who can’t.
Seriously. (it’s a basic skill).

Bookmarking.

There are many variables that affect how long it takes one to master manually, of which a few are controllable i.e.

Pedals – greatly helps to have flat ones, gives more confidence that if you overcook it you can slide off the back rather than falling on your arse.

Tyres – large ones with fairly low pressure creates a large contact patch which enlargens the balance point, making it easier to find it and learn what it is like being in the zone.

Seriously. (it’s a basic skill).

Just riding a bike is a basic skill. Manuals and wheelies are advanced for most, similar to learning kickflips, shove it’s, ollie etc on a skateboard.

I’ve questioned if I’ll ever be able to initiate a manual promptly enough on the trail to be a useful tool over obstacles.

Pre-load/ chest to the forks, straight arms, slide weight back ‘L’ shape.. blahblah.

By the time I’ve done all that I’ll have plowed through said obstacle, gone over the bars and met a fiery death.

From the comments read here I can manual mtb or BMX longer than all of you.

haha wow! Straight in there!

I do agree however it’s a basic skill

I’ve questioned if I’ll ever be able to initiate a manual promptly enough on the trail to be a useful tool over obstacles.

Conversely it’s only on the trail that I can ever actually accomplish any sort of useful manual, manualling ditches or depressions or puddles etc.

Probably because in reality those are only 2 second manuals, and the depression/puddle/ditch/whatever actually helps the process because it lets the back wheel dip and move forward a little.

Either way, it’s good enough for me 8)

From the comments read here I can manual mtb or BMX longer than all of you.
haha wow! Straight in there!

I do agree however it’s a basic skill

You guys are my heroes 🙄

Why the eye roll?

It’s IMHO a basic skill for mountain biking, not for riding a bike.

A manual front wheel lift (which is different to a front wheel lift ) can last two seconds, it doesn’t have to be 30 secs manual out of a table top jump.

a basic skill for mountain biking

It’s a useful skill for mountain biking. Doesn’t mean you can’t mounain bike if you can’t wheelie. That would make it a basic skill.

It is a basic skill for showing off to chicks down the park though.

Guy up there’s gotta be GW, hasn’t it…?

The moniker’s too obvious so maybe I’m wrong.

I do agree however it’s a basic skill

I’ve never found a trail i couldn’t get down in some form, and I can’t manual at all

I think its far from a basic skill, more like an advanced one.
I’d class cornering as a basic skill!

I’m going to build me a manual bike at the weekend.
29 front wheel, 26 back, reversed stem, high bars and no chain.
Shall wait til it’s dark and fail miserably.

twisty – Member

There are many variables that affect how long it takes one to master manually, of which a few are controllable i.e.

It’s a lot easier to learn on a hardtail too

I think its far from a basic skill, more like an advanced one.
I’d class cornering as a basic skill!

I’d also class manuals (only wee ones) as basic, along with jumping but that’s just me.

…oh and 47 and still learning/practicing. There’s a 2km path that’s flat or gently down sloping that i practice on on every local ride. I can’t wheelie (never practiced) for shit but can manual ok.

Guy up there’s gotta be GW, hasn’t it…?

Ha, that was my first thought too

I can’t produce a decent manual on the road, but on a trail I’m quite capable of lifting a wheel over whatever I need to / bunny hopping on flats etc.

However, in the past this has been all upper body as hats worked fine. Since I swapped to a new slack enduro style bike it’s much harder – so have been concentrating on pushing forward with hips / legs to get back where I was.

Had a go on a ‘normal’ length bike the other day and literally hurled myself off the back of it as the front popped up so quickly.

Need to continue practising manuals on the new bike as I understand it’s almost an essential part to building up to being able to jump well.

Goodness, all this talk of whether it is a basic skill or not.

Manualing is a technique which requires some skill to accomplish, the the level of accomplishment in the technique increases with increased skill.

Skill is developed through practice, whether it is a basic or difficult technique for you mostly depends on how you spend your time on the bike.

Interesting vids above. This weekend at Swinley expect to see plenty of 40-something blokes on T-130’s and Bird Aeris with stems the wrong way round. Perhaps a new standard for the future.

The show-off sustained manual is not a basic skill. Lifting the front wheel up enough to clear say a small puddle is more a basic skill 🙂

Can you get over a log/rock/puddle/drop without pedaling or pulling back on the bars but by using your hips and feet? If so you can probably manual enough for it to be useful.

There was a film of someone on here a while back, I think it was Bike Park Wales, on him going really fast and then crashing out and breaking his collarbone on a drop where his front wheel just disappeared down over the drop. If you can manual I guess that kind of crash would be a much less common as the tension of your arms and push forward of you feet keep the bike from nose diving and mean the front wheel is light and back wheel flowy so you are less likely to get thrown forwards.

After trying for ever on Sunday to manual it finally twigged. It’s not about ‘having’ your weight over the back wheel it’s about ‘moving’ your weight back. So, keep weight forward then smoothly and swiftly move it back.
It twigged after spending half an hour riding round hanging off the back trying to lever up the bars like a baggy-shorted chimp!

My back and arms have only today stopped aching from an hours worth of ‘manuals’ on Sunday. I’m still crap at it but the basic technique is there.

6h 55mins to learn to wheelie 100m, must be similar for manuals

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTYJMke4kd8[/video]

More aimed at the other guy who appears to reside on a throne of pure liquid awesome. Laughing at us mere mortals because he’s so rad and can manual for four weeks.

Don’t think he was laughing or claiming to be awesome, just pointing out the facts as he sees them. He even offered good advice on what to do to help someone learn. How you interpret that is up to you i suppose.

His opening and closing statements were a bit much, but I was being petty hence the edit. Now your post looks mental as a result. 😀

That wheelie video is interesting. I would argue that it took nine days to learn them, not the quoted 7 hours.

I can’t reference any peer reviewed scientific papers but I think I’m right that you continue learning when you are not doing something. Like the brain processes the information when not practising . So the rest inbetween is still learning to wheelie. Or that could be total b0llicks of course.

Still 9 days is impressive!