Manualing Made Easy - 3 Simple To Follow Steps!

learning how to manual has never been this easy in fact anyone at any age on any bike can do it by following the simple steps in this video and applying them with some practice I'm Mike Welcome To Joy a bike today I'm joined by Matt Cordova and Chase wheie and collectively we're going to teach you how to manual so you don't need much to learn how to manual really all you need is a bike with a back brake a parking lot some flat pedals and a little bit of confidence some common misconceptions in learning how to manual is pulling up with your arms to start the manual it's all about technique not strength another common misconception is thinking that you need to know how to wheelie before you can learn how to manual these two skills are pretty similar to each other but you don't need one before the next and with the manual we don't want to start practicing to learn this skill in the grass I know this one might be a little bit controversial but grass has a lot of rolling resistance and it can be kind of bumpy which makes it really difficult to find that balance point so to kick this off we're going to identify the three simple and easy parts of learning how to manual part one is going to cover transitioning from a neutral riding position to an actuated riding position part two is getting comfortable with the loop out and part three finding and practicing the balance point so let's dig into part one first off we're going to identify the pivot point of the bicycle which is the rear axle so I'm going to have Chase jump on his bike so we can demonstrate the different types of Leverage you have in different positions on the bike for this first example Chase is in a neutral position on the bike as you're going to notice here where his body position is where his weight is it's almost impossible for me to lift this front end off the ground now he's going to drop back into that actuated position and what happens is that front end becomes as light as a feather before we get on the bike we're going to start with an example of something that we're all probably familiar with and that's leaning back in a chair if you've done this before you've experienced a balance point and one of the big reasons we're using the chair as an example is because you can try this at home and find that balance point and it also is very similar to what you're going to be doing when you get on the bike so to start off for this example I'm going to sit here in basically what is my loaded position before I go back into that actuated position and this is where a lot of people get stuck in the manual your weight's not far enough back and you're trying to apply Force into your pedals or into the ground to get the front end up and the front end just doesn't want to come up and it's the same thing with what's going to happen on this chair when I apply Force into the ground in this position I can only go so far and I can't get comfortable and I can't sit here in Balance look this is going to make my legs really tired sitting here like this but the second I sit back into an actuated position I'm able to actuate my legs put my weight back and get into a balance point that's nice and comfortable now if this is something you want to try and feel at home just be really careful because just like a bike a chair runs out of balance point and you end up looping out and unlike the bike you can't get your feet out to catch yourself all right enough of the chair let's go get on our bike now that we're on the bike we're going to start learning the skill we're going to start off by Rolling at a little more than a walking pace but whatever feels comfortable to you you're not going to want to go fast here at all and while we start rolling here we're going to want to find oursel in a neutral position from this position we are going to go into what we're calling a loaded position and to do this all we're doing is essentially just crouching down from neutral and loading our legs up now that we're comfortable riding in that loaded position we're going to start transferring our weight backwards now as we start to do this I want you to be mindful that we want to keep our hips in the same horizontal plane that they are in in that loaded position and to do this we're going to essentially just start straightening our legs or basically actuating them like this so let's run through all of those positions together we're going to start rolling at a little bit more than walking pace I'm in my neutral position now I'm going to drop down into a loaded position and then I'm going to actuate my legs to get my weight back now that we're comfortable in the neutral position the loaded position and the actuated position we're going to work on making these all one swift motion as this is what starts bringing the front end off the ground in the manual now as we make this one swift motion just be careful because the front end is going to start to get really light okay now that we've gotten comfortable riding in that actuated position we're going to talk about the loop out what is the loop out well like Mike said earlier if you've ever leaned back in a chair you've probably felt that balance point if you've ever leaned back in that chair a little bit too far and you've felt your heart drop and that wave of panic kind of set through your body yeah you you felt a loopout point it's very similar to how that feels on a bike the challenge with manuals and what kind of makes them so scary is at first the the balance point and that loopout point feel really really close to each other but the nice thing is unlike in a chair we actually have tools on the bike that can help us from going all the way on our backs and looping out now it might seem a little counterintuitive to talk about the loop out in a manual video but the truth is looping out is just a part of learning the manual and if you are going to learn the manual more likely than not you're going to end up looping out at some point the three of us do it all the time so we really want to equip you with the skills that you need to manage it effectively and get out of it safely the other reason it's important to talk about the loopout is if you get comfortable looping out it'll help you start to identify where that balance point actually is I think it's pretty common for people to be scared to really commit to finding the balance point because they're scared of looping out but if you just commit to going past it and get comfortable with the tools and the skills that we're about to share with you um it'll help you kind of dial that back and really start to find where that balance point actually is okay to do the loopout we're effectively just going to do all of the steps that Mike just shared with you but when we get into that actuated position and start pulling our weight back we're really going to exaggerate that and do everything that we can to pop the bike all the way up and once the bike gets to about here about this vertical position we're just going to jump off the back this is why we recommended to do this with flat pedals cuz if you're clipped in it's going to be a lot harder for you to Dismount off of the bike but if you're on flat pedals all you really need to do is just jump off and try your best to land on your feet and you can just start walking away with the bike just like Mike did I'm going to start at about a walking pace I'm going to do all the Motions to get into the manual and I'm going to show you what it looks like to Loop out you can see as soon as I got to that point where the bike was too steep for me I just jumped off and planted my feet firmly on the ground remember it's okay to fully ditch your bike and save yourself you can replace the parts on your bike but it takes time for your body to heal so if you feel like you just need to ditch this thing just let go of it let it do what it wants and uh walk away safe okay let's practice the loop out one more time now I think it's really important to say here this is a skill that you should practice again and again and again until you're comfortable with it like I said earlier the three of us Loop out all the time and it's really something that is never going to go away so you should be as comfortable with it as you can the other Beauty about practicing it is it helps you start to identify where the balance point actually is as you transition from bike to bike like we have here you'll recognize that the balance point is definitely going to be different from a BMX bike to a dirt jumper to a mountain bike it also might just be different than what you think initially going into it so practicing the loop out using that as a tool to really start to gauge where that balance point is is a perfect way to practice so we said that we were going to give you tools plural on how to avoid ending up on your back and the loopout bailing off of the bike is the first tool the second tool is using your back brake we started with the Loop out specifically because like we said this is a really important skill to know and practice but the back breake is going to end up being your best friend as when you're in that balance point and you start tipping a little bit too far back you can just slam on this thing keep your weight back but slam on this thing and it'll drop your front end down and keep your riding for another attempt now let's bring it all together for part three now that we've gotten the loopout all figured out we're going to taper off the energy we're putting into the bike through that leg actuation as we begin to dial in the balance point something that's really helped me with figuring out where that balance point is is setting goals for myself which is one of the big reasons we chose to do this in the parking lot parking lot lines are about 8 ft apart this is a perfect place to start and once you got one you can move on to two three and by the end of it you'll be manualing the whole parking lot while going from Line to Line here's something to keep in mind keep your eyes locked on your Target and your head up once you drop your head you're more than likely to drop your manual now that we have our goal set let's apply these techniques that we learned so far and start [Music] manualing as I drop from my neutral position into actuated notice as I transfer my weight backward I'm driving that energy through my legs and into the bike as I initiate the front end lift while my arms stay straight and strong but not locked out as I go through this manual note how my hips stay relatively in the same plane as I actuate my legs to counterweight the front wheel's height as the front wheel gets too high I come forward on the bike and as it drops I transfer my weight backward finding the balance point is key but once we find it and want a manual longer managing it becomes crucial we chose to teach this skill in the parking lot because it's smooth flat and predictable making it the perfect place to learn and practice this skill however you can apply it anywhere you like to ride such as the pump track once you've got the manual dialed in on flat ground the next best place to take it in my opinion is a pump track there's a couple really good places to practice the manual at a pump track the first one being roller to Roller and the next one being from BM to burm across a deck like this so let me demonstrate one of my favorite things about applying the manual at the pump track is once you've got a manual dialed in on a set of rollers you can start doing the next set of rollers which is a double manual and then you can start doing a whole straight all right real quick I wanted to to let you guys know about our brand new Joy Vibes capsule it's a collection of really rad Joy of bike gear it's available on our website right now that's Joy of bike.com I'll put a link to it in our episode description below and we're off to the skate park some of my favorite places to apply the manual at the skat Park is the pyramid boxes and the decks of [Music] bowls [Music] and last but not least applying the manual on the trail is not only going to make Trails more fun but you're also going to be able to ride them a little faster so I'm going to show you how I like to apply the manual on the trail this first little bit I'm just going to spice the trail up a little bit and then we're going to look for something where I can apply the manual to get through the Section just a little bit faster if you enjoyed this video cruise down and hit that like button we're also super curious to know what your goal manual is in terms of parking spaces so comment that down below let us know and if you want to see more videos like this click that subscribe button and don't forget to ring the notification Bell with that being said thank you guys so much for riding with us and we'll catch you on the next one later oh jeez Mike you forgot to turn the camera off again uh since we're here click right here if you want to know how to Bunny Hop and uh click right over here if you want to know how to pump your bike effectively we got two of those instructional videos already on the channel so cruise over and check those out till next time love you guys thanks for being here see you

Channel: Joy of Bike

Views: 139,286

Keywords: manualing made easy, mountain biking, mountain bike, mtb, manual, manual mountain bike, manual mtb, how to manual a bike, how to manual, manuals, how to, mtb how to, mountain bike how to, downhill mtb, enduro mtb, mtb skills, mountain bike skills, bmx skills, bmx manual, how to manual bmx, how to manual bike, bmx hot to, manual progression, manualing mountain bike, dirt jumper manual, manual how to, manualing over 30, manualing over 40, manualing over 50, mike murfitt

Id: SCSlkXiFg4M

Length: 13min 50sec (830 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 07 2024