Viewing 28 posts - 1 through 28 (of 28 total)
  • Can anyone teach me how to manual?
  • whereisthurso
    Free Member

    I’ve moved house in the last year and am now in the happy situation where I can mountain bike straight from my front door so I’ve ditched the SPDs and decided to get back into trying to improve general skills.

    I can wheelie forever and am reasonable at bunnyhops but I have never been able to manual and have hit a mental block as I seem to be over cautious about looping out and ending up on my arse. If only I was a kid again and had no fear (or consequences) of broken bones!

    Any advice other than MTFU?

    Euro
    Free Member

    Cover the rear brake. It only takes the slightest brush with the lever to bring the front back down. Slight downhill gradient helps til you get the hang of it.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    Not much help, but I share your pain. I have no problem covering my rear brake, but I’ve not yet managed to grab it in time to save me landing on my rear.

    I think the key is in the legs though. So, first you’ve got to get the hang of rocking back enough to just lift the front wheel but with your legs nicely bent. Then it’s a case of straightening those legs at just the right time to control the rest of the lift. At least, that’s my thinking today 🙂

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    agentdagnamit
    Free Member

    You can bunny hop but not manual? I’ve trying to learn to manual so that I can then bunny hop properly.

    I’ve read all the tips, but just cant do it properly. It seems to be important to use your body weight to pull the front up, not bent arms.

    But dont listen to me….

    Lifer
    Free Member

    Don’t think about pulling up. Throw your arse backwards/push forward through the pedals (keeping them both parallel to ground) which will straighten your arms while unweighting the front and you’ll be manualling. Then it’s just a case of finding balance point…

    Watch some BMX manual vids, it’s easier to see what’s going on (IMO)

    jonnyb1972
    Free Member

    A modern Bunny Hop seems to be what we used to call a horse lift in old BMX speak, ie front up followed by the back end, a bunny hop was both wheels together, but we may have been doing it wrong when we were kids 🙂

    creamegg
    Free Member

    jedi taught me in 5 mins. I couldn’t believe I managed it so quick. Still learning to master and control it properly though. But once you get showed what to do properly its easy to pop the front wheel up.

    Practice on a flat bit of grass with soft landing

    bigmountainscotland
    Free Member

    First up loosen up by bouncing up and down on the bike.

    Then, whilst covering the rear brake, forcefully lean back, as if to sit on the back wheel.

    Keep your arms straight and look ahead.

    Use your knees and hips to maintain balance, dropping your heels will also help force the front wheel up.

    Speed is your friend and gives stability~ start out about jogging pace and as you get more confident, try it with more speed.

    It takes a long time to perfect, so don’t be disheartened if you can’t achieve any distance within a week… reckon on a few months of practice to maintain the balance point.

    Stevelol
    Free Member

    There was a great thread on this a couple of months ago with lots of replies and useful links to vids.

    I took the advice on board and although I can’t manual yet, I’ve gone from the stage of hopelessly lifting (and dropping) the front end to getting the weight balance there where I need to tap the back break to stop looping out.

    As already mentioned, the key to it is pulling back, getting your weight behind the rear axle and straightening/pushing with your legs. Get someone to lift the front wheel up as you’re sat on the bike and leaning back, this way you can get a feel for where the balance point is.

    But really, have a hunt for that thread 🙂

    robdob
    Free Member

    If you want to go somewhere and practice I would recommend laying some sticks or rocks at the side of a flat piece of land and giving yourself a target. Start small, a couple of metres, where you have to keep the wheel up, and gradually extend it. You’ll be able to track your progress and get some joy in knowing you’ve improved!

    When I riding BMX I always found it easier to practice by hopping up onto and accross a platform – could be low like a small section of kerbing (often found in big shopping car parks) – if your front wheel didn’t touch the pltform it felt great. Not so useful in MTB but combining the two skills was very satisfying when you got it right

    whereisthurso
    Free Member

    jonnyb1972 has it. My bunny hops are definitely with both wheels together so don’t get as much height as a ‘modern’ bunnyhop. Hopefully i’ll be able to improve this when I’ve sorted the manual!

    uselesshippy
    Free Member

    Throw your arse backwards, till your arms are straight. this suld pop the front up, the you kind of push the pedals and back wheel forward. To keep the balance point, use your legs.
    It’s quite hard to explain. 😀

    jimification
    Free Member

    Have a search for how to manual mtb on youtube. Some older guy taught himself by turning the stem around and made a tutorial. He said it made it TONS easier and he learnt in about a week.

    Edit: Here you go:

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RGHQMCWCsc[/video]

    Cheezpleez
    Full Member

    Great vid, thanks for that. He’s even older than me!

    jairaj
    Full Member

    That’s artificially shifting your weight further back than it would be normally.

    What happens when you put your normal stem back on? All of a sudden your poor technique isn’t quite as effective?

    Suppose it might be OK to use as a stepping stone to learn it properly but I think I’d just start off normally and learn it correctly.

    I also disagree with people who are saying you pull on the bars. Thats not what I was taught in my lessons. Its all about pushing out with your legs your arms are just for stability and balance. The front popping up comes from the legs.

    Stevelol
    Free Member

    That video is amazing! I think if you have a couple of stems then you could eventually get your bars back to a more regular position. I’m going to be trying it once I get my bike back

    peter1979
    Free Member

    Cheers for the video. I don’t speak French though so its not been any help to me.

    prezet
    Free Member

    Did he say he was 56?!

    trickydisco
    Free Member

    I also disagree with people who are saying you pull on the bars. Thats not what I was taught in my lessons. Its all about pushing out with your legs your arms are just for stability and balance. The front popping up comes from the legs.

    What’s funny is rown sorrell tried to teach a load of us at afan by pulling up on the bars.

    Few years later i went to jedi and he said about unweighting the bike more rather than pulling on the bars

    davidtaylforth
    Free Member

    It’s a smooth movement that some people probably can’t explain properly. You do pull on the bars, but there’s obviously alot more to it than that.
    Just pulling up on the bars will lift your front wheel, but then it’ll drop straight away.
    You need to pull up and lean back and find the balance point (or at least get close to it, I think its pretty hard to stick in one “balance point, you need to shift about quite alot).
    Like any bike related trick, once you’ve got it, its dead easy.
    You just need to practice.
    If you want to cheat, keep your finger over the back brake lever and dab it slightly if you think you’re going off the back.

    eulach
    Full Member

    old thread
    I’m afraid you’ll have to teach yourself. Read the writings, watch the videos and then go and practice, and practice some more, and after that more practice. You know what comes next.

    kudos100
    Free Member

    Until you can loop out without worrying about it, learning to manual will be hard.

    You need to go past the balance point to comfortably know where it is.

    Loop out a few times on purpose by quickly shifting your weight forward and then back and the jump off the pedals.

    jairaj
    Full Member

    Using your arms is OK but the main movement must come from your legs and shifting your weight back.

    But the main thing is this:

    kudos100
    Until you can loop out without worrying about it, learning to manual will be hard.

    jedi
    Full Member

    flat land manual or over jumps etc

    FuzzyWuzzy
    Full Member

    What happens when you put your normal stem back on? All of a sudden your poor technique isn’t quite as effective?

    I disagree it’s letting you get away with poor technique. There are two parts of the manual you need to master, a smooth wheel lift and staying at the balance point. Until you can do the first one then you’ve not got much hope of the second as you’ll probably already be twisting to one side making it much harder to stay at the balance point. By reversing your stem it just allows you to life the front wheel with less effort using the correct technique (lean back and push through your legs) so quite a good idea IMO, I’d agree though as soon as you’ve mastered a smooth wheel lift it’s worth putting the stem back to normal before practising maintaining the balance point.

    Euro
    Free Member

    Looking at the vid, his technique is spot on – funny stem or no.

    roverpig
    Full Member

    I was having another go at these last night. Mine are improving very slowly, which is fine. I’m in no hurry.

    The key for me at the moment seems to be to start in a nice attack position with a big bend in both elbows and knees. As I rock back I try to focus on keeping that bend in the knees. I’m trying to basically rotate about my pedal axles, so the heels drop as I go back. When the arms are almost straight then I start to push forward with the legs.

    Not sure about the revered stem, but he makes a very good point about the safety advantages of moving further back. You can manual without shifting too far back, but the front wheel needs to be quite high, which increases the risk of looping out. If you shift further back then the balance point comes when the wheel isn’t so high so the risk of looping out is much lower.

    I’m not sure about the need to get comfortable with looping out. I’ve done it a few times and it hurts. Not sure I’d ever find it comfortable 🙂

    wirral
    Free Member

    Good video – shame it looks like he’s making sweet love to the bike mid manual

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