Home » Outdoor & Recreation » Mountain Biking » Tricks and Tip – Wheelies made easy

Tricks and Tip – Wheelies made easy

© Joseph Pucci

In Mountain Biking, over coming gravity is often a necessity. The wheelie is one of the most basic skills of mountain biking and mastering it will help many riders develop the more advanced skills required for conquering the need to dismount the bike on technical trails.

The getting over obstacles like logs, boulders, ruts, ditches, small stream and creeks without dismount will sometimes require the use of more advanced techniques such as bunny hopping, and lunging. Bunny hopping and lunging are skills that enable you to put the bike where you want it go even if the trail had something else in mind. Before you can master these two, you must first learn the wheelie. The Wheelie is the launching pad for improving balance and control.

Popping a Wheelie, getting Airborne

The act of just getting the front wheel off the ground is relatively easy. Practice these moves in a place that has soft ground and grass. Don't forget to wear safety gear. If you use Toe Clips, keep them loose. If you use Click-in Clips, you may want to practice while wearing hiking shoes. Pick a spot on the ground for an imaginary obstacle. During practice you should not use a real obstacle because you will need to develop a sense of what to expect from your wheelie. As your wheelie performance becomes more predictable you'll be to time your movements and avoid ramming into the obstacle, resulting in you flipping forward.

As you approach the obstacle, you have to move to the ready position. Both legs bent slightly, crank should be at 3 and 9 o'clock, butt slightly off and back of the saddle, elbows should be bent.

From this position You will now have to practice transitioning your weight from the rear of the bike to the front. The following all happens in a single motion. Press down on the handle bars, almost like your going down do a pushup, this will compress the front wheel. Now, throw your weight up and back, and pull back on the bars. With practice, this technique can yield wheelies of 6 or more inches. This technique will only provide 6 to 16 inches of forward movement thru out its arc. For a more sustained distance and greater height a modification to this technique is required.

Rolling Wheelie

Switch the bike into an easy gear. Get in the ready position, but this time place the crank at 2 and 8 o'clock with your dominant foot in the power position. Again in a single fluid motion, Press down on the handle bars to compress the front wheel, as you transition your weight up and back, mash the pedal and pull gently back. As you become vertical, move one or two fingers to the rear brake handle. This is your emergence stop, apply it gently if you go too vertical and start to fall backward or have an appreciation for that soft ground and grass I spoke about. If you practice, you can easily ride the wheelie ten to fifteen feet.