Had anyone tried a MTBHopper Balance?

My initial thoughts were that it looked fun but was a bit pricey and I could probably make it myself. But then by the time I’ve bought and got a sheet of 18mm birch plywood home and spent hours making it I doubt it would work out much cheaper.

Ideally my kids would use it too, so it would need to cover 24 – 29″ wheels

I’ve never tried one but where is your nearest large empty car park? In my experience that’s the place to learn to manual. Or wheelie, or stoppie, or anything else.

It’s probably helpful for some stuff, but without a tether it could be dangerous in-doors, also as you have no forward momentum it’s not that realistic, but does give you the feel for how far up you should be.

The falling off the back risk is surely the same on a trainer or on the road?

No because on the road with some forward momentum you would use your rear brake to drop the front wheel before you fall off the back.

I knocked one up out of scraps when the whole manual machine thing was the latest fad.  It was interesting to try but I wouldn’t spend money on one.  It isn’t all that similar to an actual manual, just gives you an idea of where to balance.  You really need to take the chain off too as otherwise you ratchet the cranks back as you wobble up and down (not an issue when you are rolling along rather than static) and using the rear brake allows you to lock the bike in any position rather than bringing the front down in a hurry.

I didn’t use any ply, just some lengths of timber from an old roof.

@sharkattack aha that makes sense. The car park approach is fine for me, but my kids are typically difficult to encourage!

and I’d say getting up to the balance point doesn’t feel the same.  I don’t know how to describe it but moving your weight around a bike fixed in place isn’t the same as a bike that moves under your weight