Learn to Manual

There must be a market for a modern version of this ;)

NEEDZ MOAR SPARX

It takes aaaaaages to get good at things like manuals so persevere and just practice as much as you can, and as long as your enjoying the process it will come with time.

Started to put a bit more time practicing and although its too early I am feeling a bit comfy with my bike lifting the front wheel but cannot hold it there yet so I am hoping that in time it will eventually come.

As nickc mentioned learning to manual from a german shopper bike I am not anymore thinking that it is my bike making it difficult :)

In other words it’s easy to try for 10 mins… then just say bugger it… and go riding..

😀 Made me smile – I’m the other way round in that if I get back after a ride and the rest of the family are out that’s carte blanche to spend 10 min in the street until I go over the back and land on my arse (I have flat pedals and can usually complete a landing on my feet, but once in a while my feet stick on the pins).

Right, now that junior can ride I can go out with them!

Mine are now content to play around in the street, so that’s a good excuse to pretend to be interested in what they’re up to whilst trying avoid their heads with my wheel. Of course it’s only a matter of time before they’ll be able to manual like pros themselves and will want to distance themselves from their embarrassing dad…

you don’t need to be able to manual for miles to get the most out of it riding trails

I think that is a really good point. One problem I have I think is that when I’m out on the trails my saddle height makes it challenging to manual properly (I don’t have a dropper post), but I still see some rewards from being able to get the front (and back) wheels up enough. In the street at home I can manage a manual for about 10 metres probably once in every 10–20 attempts (at the moment) and get the front wheel up properly when the saddle is all the way down and it’s easier to get down and over the back.

I was going round with 10 other bikers earlier this week in a club ride and nearly half of them were manualling at every opportunity, it looked great. Especially when it’s Fat Bikes.

I’d really like to do it but can’t. I find the Car Park sessions very dull.

About 10 minutes is about the longest I can spend in a Car Park trying to do tricks before I really get very bored.

I can sometimes do a Wheelie but can’t hold it for long.

With manuals I’m useless, very rarely does the front wheel lift off the ground much and when it does I can never keep it there.

After lurking on the last couple of threads about manuals I went out to start practicing last night.

Total skillz failure, on about the 5th or 6th attempt the bike went over the top, I failed to step off, and landed flat on my back… It was so quick, and then I couldn’t get up for a good 5 minutes.  I’ve since consumed many many mg’s of every painkiller I could get my hands on, and had a GP consultation to check me out.

I’m just glad I was on grass and not concrete !

LittleNose,

Flats or clipped in?

Flats or clipped in?

flats… I think probably I’m just to old and slow

When I take the dog for a cycle ride, or my son, or both, I practise my wheelies.

My plan is to master the wheelie before moving onto the manual. I’d like to learn to bunnyhop properly after that, I can manage about 3 inches at the moment which isn’t particularly impressive

am seriously considering buying of of these to learn safely :

https://sender-ramps.com/collections/toys/products/sender-manual-master-machine

i wonder about rim damage on the back wheel though..

But you need to be moving to learn to manual, that’s just hoiking the bike up and balancing on the back wheel for a bit while the bits of wood hold you vertical. You don’t even have to learn to balance left and right! That’s stabilisers for adults, right there ;)

Iainc, There is no danger to the wheel, I made one and it is really easy to balance on it, pretty pointless compared to actually trying to manual.

I know you won’t believe me and order one any way, so enjoy your new bike stand.

^^^^^ yeah, I do suspect it could be a bulky dust gatherer :)

Before this thread I actually thinking the same of having a manual machine but the cons outweighs the pros so finally decided not to do it at this time.

From the majority of suggestions I slowly started putting hours in to practice more and I think I am making progress. I started from zero and I am now able to lift my front wheel but only a very short distance and sometimes looping out.

I am also doing wheelie a bit to aid my learning to get used to balancing but still rubbish and very inconsistent. Sometimes very short and sometimes maybe a couple of meters. It is no where near a controlled wheelie. I am within that region which is a mix of everything, slamming the front wheel hard, looping out and good short ones in between. But I am happy with what I am now able to do at this stage and I think if I persevere I will finally learn to manual even a short one but in controlled manner. Maybe just a question of when:)