I know a lot of people who come to this website are looking for help on how to Bunny-Hop, Manual, Endo and just learn about some of the tricks, I know I did so I've decided to write an article about first starting to do tricks. Before anything you'll want to get the proper equipment.

Here's a list of all the things I would suggest getting:

Ok, now on to some of the basic tricks. The first thing you'll want to do is ride your bike around for a bit to get the feel of it. Once you've done this you should start working on Bunny-hopping. It is probably the easiest but also the most important trick in BMXing. First start by practising front pulls, once you can get it 1 foot + in the air try to lift the back end up without the brakes. To do this point your toes down on the pedals, lean your weight forward so it is over the front axle and pull up on the pedals. You'll only need to get it a couple inches, I'd say 2-4, off the ground. After this try putting the 2 motions together. First do a front pull and then lean your weight forward and pull up on the pedals. At first you may only get a couple inches, but if you keep practising you'll get better. It helps to have something to jump over or onto. A pop can box works well. You can set it three different ways so as you progress it can get higher. Once you can hop about 1 foot you'll need to start adding a crouch. Basically once you hop you go back into the position you were in right before the jump, don’t push your body down though, bring the bike up to you.

Another basic trick you can learn is a manual, basically this is when you glide on your back wheel only, without pedalling. When you are first starting to try this you most likely will be looping out (falling off the back) or having the front end just fall back down. This is perfectly fine. If you are having trouble pulling the front end up, make sure you are putting your weight over the rear axle and then pulling up. Once you can get the front end up consistently you'll need to start pumping. This is when you shift your hips back and forth, on the same plane, to compensate for the bike looping out or falling back down. Pumping will allow you to keep manualing until your balance point sets in. This is when you find the point at which you will not loop out or have the front end fall back down. Remember, when trying to manual you should always have your arms straight (except when lifting the front end) and you should always be in a crouching position.

Finally the Endo. This is when you stop, but whilst stopping have the rear wheel in the air. There are 2 ways of doing this, the first of which using your brake. It isn't very complicated but its more a mind game. You have to lose your fear of going over the front of your bars. First, ride at a moderate to slow pace. crouch and lean your weight forward, next pull the brake as hard as you can so the bike will come to a complete stop and at the same time throw your weight forward. don’t throw your weight to hard, or go too fast because then you will fly over the front. If you are having trouble building up the confidence to do this try on a grassy area where it wont hurt to fall. The other way of doing an endo is called a footjam, to do this you push your foot against the tire where it meets the fork, as hard as you can, this will be instead of braking. From there you pretty much do the same thing as with a brake.

That’s pretty much the basics to learning your first few tricks in BMXing, once you can do all of these things well try some variations of the tricks or some more difficult tricks.

Thanks,

kw_bmx