Author Topic: Tricks you've never bothered to learn  (Read 5437 times)

Offline aliasdck

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Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« on: March 25, 2019, 06:39:07 PM »
I started riding ~23 years ago and have learned a decent number of tricks over the years. Lately I've been trying to relearn holding a spinning pedal to pedal time machine with the hope of being able to start pedaling it (called a blender?)


Anyways, it got me thinking that I may want to first learn to do a wheelie first so that I can get used to maintaining balance on the back wheel while pedaling.


It's kind of embarrassing that I cannot wheelie, or at least not very well, considering how long I've been riding. I just never really tried to learn how. Shouldn't be too difficult for me, I can ride a unicycle fairly well. Lol.


How about you? Any 'basic' tricks you never bothered to learn? These are the three of mine that I can think of:


Wheelie
Manual
Nose manual

Offline broke_khe

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #1 on: March 26, 2019, 06:23:51 AM »
hitchhikers... dumptruck... cherrypicker... whiplash.... switch anything... bunnyhop barspin... hopcrankflip...sidesqueekers...bunnyhop 360... halflash...backwards hop over switch handed ...hop leap switch land opposite foot.. heh... tons of others i yet to learn dont feel bad only if you ride all the time will  you master this activity... The pros cant do certain tricks too... you seen the video with mattias vs terry adams? game of bike video on you tube its worth watching. PROFILE / HARO 4 LIFE!

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2019, 11:37:09 PM »
Cool thanks for that, those Game of BIKE videos are fun to watch

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2019, 05:44:24 PM »
Yesterday I spent some time trying to do a wheelie while sitting down. I managed to do one for almost three full rotations of the pedals, which is pretty good since I've never spent too much time/energy on this trick. I had to feather the brakes a bit though.

I think sit down wheelies are hard on flatland bikes for tall guys like me. The back end of the bike is so short that the balance point is too low. Anytime I would lean back too far I would almost not have enough room to get my feet planted on the ground in order to avoid landing on my ass. I think this would be easier/safer for me on a longer bike.

Offline Timmer74

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2019, 08:38:39 AM »
Ha, looks like I'm replying to another one of your questions tonight!
yeah man, I cannot wheelie to save my life. I can sort of manual with my feet on the pedals (something I sort of would like to get better at). from the pegs I can go for miles though. I would consider myself a more rear wheel rider than front. So yeah, peg stuff I can do OK. But, sitting down and doing a wheelie. Nope. I dont think that I can with how my bike is setup anyway. I too am tall. I also ride with my seat lower than I think most tall flat guys ride. Nothing slammed or anything. But, sitting down and pedaling is not really comfortable on my bike.

When i was younger though I was able to wheelie pretty well sitting down. But, my old Haro Master feels like a boat compared to the bike I ride now. Also helped having that laid back seat post too.

Here's a funny one. I am a horrible bunny hopper (is that even a term?). I absolutely suck at jumping a bmx bike. I sucked as a kid and I suck even more now. As a kid I would ride my bike everywhere though. So, I would go off jumps and have to hop a curb and stuff like that. Now, I never do. I also have next to no interest in doing it (at least on my flatland bike...). Being a terrible jumper is probably what lead me down the riding flatland path years ago.

Funny and/or embarrassing  story to go with my lack of bunny hopping skills. A few years back (I'd been back riding for maybe 6 months or so after 23 years away) I was riding and this dude came up to me and says "hey, I was telling my girlfriend that you could bunny hop that map over there"... there's a map of the USA painted on the ground where I ride. It's about ~20 feet from East to West coast and maybe 10 feet from Montana to Texas. Not that big... However, I knew my ability and was "sorry man, no can do!". The dude was so persistent in proving his girlfriend wrong (I guess she was saying that nobody could make that jump) that he kept hounding me to try. After some time I said "Man, I havent bunny hopped in literally 23 years...there is NO way I can do that". More hounding... he's literally starting to get mad. I finally say "OK, let me at least practice a bunny hop before I try".... I'm rolling at a comfy speed... I crouch down... I lift the front end up...I lift the rear end up so far we're doing great! I get what felt like a mile in the air..which in reality might have been 4-6 inches... I'm flying man...flying!!! Then everything goes wrong. I lean way too far forward and we're in an instant nose dive. Front wheel slams down, my feet slip off my pedals and I literally put all my weight down on my shins as they go from my shoes to my knees down my pedals. Two of the worst shinners I have ever gotten in my life. Blood was flowing from both shins down my legs and into my shoes. The dude looked at me, shook his head and walked off.

OK, I think I've bored you all enough with my replies to these threads by now. Good questions though... I love flatland and talking about it. Keep em coming and I'll probably keep throwing out my long winded replies!

cheers
Tim




Offline aliasdck

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2019, 12:53:05 AM »
Ouch man, I totally cringed when I read the part where you bashed your shins into the pedals *shudders* I can relate.


One thing about not being able to do wheelies is that "do a wheelie" is the number 1 thing I get asked to do when a stranger tries to talk to me while I'm riding. It's kind of annoying, I can be doing all kinds of difficult tricks and then they want me to do a simple wheelie, lol.


So usually I just keep my headphones on and try to ignore people.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2019, 12:54:38 AM by aliasdck »

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2019, 09:38:05 PM »
Ever since making this post I have been farting around with manuals. Most days I'll spend the last few minutes of my session on them. Some days it's only 5 minutes but even then it's been helping: Back in March, when I first made this thread, I could barely hold a manual at all. Today I rolled one for about 40 feet (12 meters or so). Sweet!

Felt really good too, I had a huge grin on my face afterwards. I'm still not very consistent with them, I still need lots more practice. I also can't steer them yet, sometimes I start to turn left and I haven't figured out how to force it straight again.

This really  has encouraged me so I think I'm gonna start working on nose manuals next, but they seem so difficult to me still. I can do hang 5, opposite hang 5, hang 10 and hang nothings all pretty good already, maybe I'll learn pedal hang 5s first then just try to put free leg on the other pedal.

What do you guys think? Do you think learning pedal hang 5s first is the way to go or should I just go for it and learn them the old fashioned way. Any tips? Ive already watched a few how-to's that I found on YouTube.

Offline metalbmxer

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2019, 03:52:28 AM »
Never learned pedal 5's! but sounds like you're making good progress on the manuals. It's an essential rolling trick to have

Ok I have 2 tricks that stand out to me which I never learned: pivots and decades
Dax (now in LAS VEGAS as of July 2022)

Offline aliasdck

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Re: Tricks you've never bothered to learn
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2019, 05:06:32 AM »
Oh yes, I'd love to get a few pivot tricks down, so many possibilities and they look cool and fun.


I think I landed a decade maybe once or twice when I was like 17 years old. I've been trying them occasionally the last month but since it was so long ago it's like I'm learning the trick for the first time. They aren't easy, committing to the landing is my problem.