Manual

Key facts

Skill level

4/5

Risk

3/5

Terrain

rollers, drops and flat ground for practice

Bike types

MTB

Manual or wheelie

A wheelie is powered by pedalling and balanced sitting down. A manual is done standing, without pedalling: the front comes up because your weight goes back, and you hold it there with your hips.

How to learn it

1. Roll at walking pace on grass or a gentle slope, pedals level, one finger on the rear brake.
2. Bend your knees and elbows, then push the bike forward and drop your hips back with straight arms — do not pull on the bars.
3. Find the balance point with your hips: forward when the front drops, bent knees when it comes up too far.
4. If you go over the balance point, tap the rear brake — the front drops at once. Learn this first.

On the trail

A short manual carries the front wheel over a hole or off a drop and lets you skip a roller without losing speed. It is also the first half of the bunny hop.

Related articles

• Dirt jump (DJ) — Riding a line of hand-built dirt jumps on a small, stiff hardtail — for height, flow and tricks. Close to BMX in spirit, and where many riders learn to fly.
• Attack position — The standing stance every descent starts from: pedals level, knees and elbows bent, weight centred over the bike and eyes up. From here you can react to anything the trail throws at you.
• Bunny hop — Lifting both wheels off the ground without a ramp — front first, then the rear. It clears logs, roots and holes and is the base of every jump and trick.
• Jumping — Leaving the ground off a take-off and landing smoothly on the far side. Good jumping is less about launching yourself than about letting the lip do the work and staying relaxed in the air.
• Drop — A vertical step down on the trail — a ledge, a rock or a built platform — where the ground falls away under the wheels. Small drops can be rolled; bigger ones need speed and a clean take-off.