I cannot manual for shit, yet can do all drops thrown at me from 6″ to 6′, take from that what you will.

drops you only need to loft the wheel for half a second, push with your arms, unless your doing 0.5mph.

I race bmx and all the basic skills (manualing,pumping,jumping) at every club I know are taught/learnt in flats. Surely it’s important and safer to master the basics in flats before even considering spds?

Anyone ride bmx with clips… Anyone ?

Anyone ride bmx with clips… Anyone ?

Pretty much every single BMX racer!

unwieghting the front of the bike for drops has nothing to do with the old wieght back manual rubbish

That’s music to my ears, thanks Jedi.

Iain, Graham is trying to organise a skills weekend for the club with Clive Forth, might be worth a punt too.

I can highly recommend Clive, great bloke and a great teacher. Really enjoyed my day out with him, learnt loads of stuff and really got me riding better.

Yeah, I train and race in clips. But you don’t need spds to manual pump and jump. It’s a lot safer bailing off the bike in flats when it all goes wrong when learning new techniques.

Iain, Graham is trying to organise a skills weekend for the club with Clive Forth, might be worth a punt too.

interesting , cheers, will drop him a line,

well, I did the 121 session with Rab of Dirtschool last week at Cathkin – very, very useful, sorted out a few intrinsic bad habits. Had lots of ‘sessioning’ sections to put into practise, and found yesterday when out on a normal ride I was using much of it, to my benefit.

I would tend to agree with those who say that a skills session is one of the ‘best upgrades to your bike’

Oh, and he was happy for me using SPD’s 🙂

I used to ride with Clive when he lived around Leighton buzzard and he’s something else, used to leave us for dead on anything but road Tarmac,

As for manuals, i would say if you are just looking to pop the front end up over the odd trail bump then what ever footwear your most comfortable in but if your like me and a big show off that likes to ride on the back wheel when ever possible then I’d use flats and make sure the back brake is good. I have a pretty much ruined wrist through flying off the back of the bike manualling in the wet with naff brakes and spd’s… Never again.

Hi OP

Firstly, congratulations on booking a days coaching, especially a 121 session, it may well be the best thing you have done for your riding ever.

Secondly, please do not go into it with preconceived ideas of what you want to be coached, the coach will watch you and decide what he can do for you to help improve your technique across the board and in specific areas, yes you should mention these.

In my opinion spending valuable time learning how to manual would be a waste and is unlikely to resolve your face plant over 3 foot drop issue.

An open mind and a little preparation will ensure you come out a far better rider than you went in.

When i say preparation, take plenty of food and drink, it is surprisingly tiring learning new skills (and unlearning old habits), both on the body and the mind. Make sure your bike is in good nick and set up how you like it, yes that does mean with the pedals you normally ride. Be prepared though, the coach may well advise changing a few things like brake lever angle etc (this may be part of the solution to the face plant problem).

Lastly, enjoy and please report back.

Bum…. ha ha.

So the session went well 🙂

Glad to hear it.

Just use caged SPD’s with sticky SPD shoes (5:10’s etc). Start off by riding unclipped and as the day progresses clip back in.

It’s really daft to change what you have done for 20 years and I would have thought that Chris Ball’s dirt school should be able to teach either type of pedal with zero issues. Especially with him being the top boy in the Enduro World Series where you will see the most skilled riders in the world riding everything……………..clipped in.

The trick with flats is to position your foot, midfoot over the spindle rather than ball of the foot

I’ll disagree with that! Not sure why you would want your foot in a different position than any other pedal.

After my Jedi session I now place my feet further forward, I don’t ride with the ball of my foot over the spindle anymore

The trick with flats is to position your foot, midfoot over the spindle rather than ball of the foot
I’ll disagree with that! Not sure why you would want your foot in a different position than any other pedal.

I think the reason is that with a stiff spd shoe the whole foot is supported by the sole of the shoe. With flats the weight feels better if the pedal is more centered.

Getting used to moving your bike around is the most important thing for me. Pump track helps wonders with this and drops from just doing the same drop over and other again and when you are comfortable trying moving your body around and seeing what works.

I did an xc race at the weekend and then after used the uplift to do some downhill stuff. I was a bit tired so was messing up drops and jumps. One messed up table top that chaged into a nose dive was saved by pumping midair to push the back down and a far to slow jump/drop was also saved by knowing how to move the bike around.

Try dropping your heels with the ball of your foot over the axle of a pedal. Now try it with the mid part of your foot.

Thats why.

Try dropping your heels with the ball of your foot over the axle of a pedal. Now try it with the mid part of your foot.

Thats why.

This?

It’s much easier to drop your heels and push through the bike, with your foot a little further forward on the pedal. Axle just behind the ball for me.

Fascinating discussion. It makes me wonder why we spend so much time on here discussing bikes (which most of us probably accept don’t make much material difference) and so little time discussing technique.

For me, more often than not, I only manual for a wee confidence booster, bit of style, bit of fun.
I rarely do them when necessary: puddles, cattlegrids, Showing Off For Pretty Girls etc.

Learned on a trials bike and just moved the skill to the big hardtail. I’m still a bit of a shover though, certainly no Sultan Semenuk of Flow.

“Power Assisted Front Wheel Lift”. That’s handy mind.

Also stopped my feet slipping off the pedals when the bikes moving around

That one little change has really helped

Hi OP

Firstly, congratulations on booking a days coaching, especially a 121 session, it may well be the best thing you have done for your riding ever.

Secondly, please do not go into it with preconceived ideas of what you want to be coached, the coach will watch you and decide what he can do for you to help improve your technique across the board and in specific areas, yes you should mention these.

In my opinion spending valuable time learning how to manual would be a waste and is unlikely to resolve your face plant over 3 foot drop issue.

An open mind and a little preparation will ensure you come out a far better rider than you went in.

When i say preparation, take plenty of food and drink, it is surprisingly tiring learning new skills (and unlearning old habits), both on the body and the mind. Make sure your bike is in good nick and set up how you like it, yes that does mean with the pedals you normally ride. Be prepared though, the coach may well advise changing a few things like brake lever angle etc (this may be part of the solution to the face plant problem).

Lastly, enjoy and please report back.

I realise you missed the fact that I had already been on the session when you posted, but reading your post, its spot on advice for anyone doing a skills session IMO 🙂