this was great! you touched on a alot of points that literally nobody talks about in their wheelie tutorials such as the sore extensor on your forearm you'll get from feathering the break to maintin the wheelie ⚡
Hey man, I messaged you a while back about your old Roscoe 7, I don’t know if you remember or not. Anyway, I just picked one up and took it for my first ride today. I ate it once 🤣, but man, those tires make a huge difference! I was riding an old Specialized Hard-Rock with 26” wheels before. Man what a difference!!
I have just started 2 days ago, bought my first Haro 29. I wonder if I need to change my break( it's the break that comes with it when I bought) , my hands ain't big, so my finger gotta stretch harder to reach it, if u know what I mean. It just feels like a lots going on, trying to get front wheel up, and using that break. I am not sure if it's something I must get used to, or changing break would help. Anyways, I just found out your channel, great stuff, great tips. Thx for answering my question if u see this comment. Subscribed
just started bmx one week ago, practicing everyday getting the front wheel higher and higher, still cant get it where i have to jump off thanks for the motivation bigdog
I just got a fast ripper and been practicing on the easiest gear, and somewhat on the second easiest. I was surprised to see you’re not using the easiest gears which is what I was looking for on here today…to see what gears guys use on the fast ripper…I’m going to try 6th out but kinda feel like it’s going to be super hard to pull up lol
@@MattyActive another guy said 6th gear was the wheelie gear on a Facebook post I just made. I’ve been using the very easiest gear for the last couple days only. Im totally new to this shit but I didn’t feel like guys in videos were using that gear but you were the first who said it. I look forward to your next vid
Perfect timing for this video. I've been riding around with my son trying to get this wheelie thing down. I'm a little quick on the brake because I've looped out many times. Having a bigger problem with the side to side once the front wheel is up. Any tips or tricks?
Make sure you are not practicing on a windy day or you are not gonna learn anything about how to move the bike right or left, the wind is gonna move your bike and you are gonna believe it was you. Put your feet well positioned over the pedals (that will help you to start with the wheel straight from the ground to up), and make sure you go straight to the balance point or is gonna be hard to control it. Once your up, imagine your knees making circles when your pedaling, a little out of the bike, and a little close to the bike. That's how you do it. If your bike goes to the right, your left knee makes a circle far from the bike and you control the direction. You need to time it because if you do it too slow, you are gonna lose the direction. If you switch to another bike that's too light weight you are gonna have to adjust the way you move. I start controling right or left the moment I put the wheel up. You are gonna realize you can control it with the knees, moving the handlebar and when I got wind I move the torso fast to compensate, and I can even move the entire bike making the hips to change the way I sit on it. The tires that Matty use are the best for swerve, but you are gonna see that a fast rolling RC tires work pretty good also. Practice and do not quit, if you want to do it, you are gonna practice everyday and eventually you are gonna get it.
Side to side balance is one of the key skills, and most TH-cam wheelie tutorials don't really explain it in a way that would make sense to a beginner. To complicate things, there are several techniques you can use. However, here's one way to do it: 1. You control the left/right direction of the bike by leaning it left or right whilst you're rolling forward. That's the only control input you have - there's no steerable front wheel on the ground. 2. You have three types of input to lean your bike left or right: your butt, your hands and your feet. All these will need to work together to make the bike lean. 3. A good exercise for a beginner is to wiggle your butt left and right as soon as you've 'popped' into the wheelie. This will start to get the 'butt steering' into muscle memory. 4. In order for your butt to be able to steer the bike, you need to take the weight off it. Otherwise, it's too hard physically and therefore too slow. 5. To take the weight off your butt: (1) pull back equally on the bar grips (your arms should be straight, and the pull is like doing a pull-up in the gym) whilst (2) pushing down equally on the pedals. This will lift some of your bodyweight off your butt. 6. Keep repeating the 'pop' followed by an attempt to steer with your butt. It will take a long time to get into muscle memory, but each fail is actually a win - you're learning something each time. Don't just accept a failed attempt though: work out what went wrong and consciously correct it every time. Common problems that will result in you immediately veering off left or right are: (1) Failing to get back to the balance point (because butt-steering is physically difficult until you reach the balance point.) Keeping your chin up and arms straight throughout the wheelie will help you get to, and stay at, the balance point. (2) Popping up with one arm bent. This will result in unequal pressure on the bars and will force the bike to turn immediately. The 'pop' should be an equal press with the heels of the palms (to get your torso moving back) followed by an equal pull with the fingers to pull the bar up. Also concentrate on making sure the 'pop' brings your head up tall and vertical - if it's off to the left or right, you'll turn. (3) Forgetting to wiggle your butt - it's easily done, and means you're a passenger rather than controlling the bike. (4) forgetting to lift some of your body weight up and off your butt by pulling on the grips and pressing on the pedals. (5) Being too rigid - it's a dynamic movement and it will only work if you're completely relaxed and your body is reacting automatically without you thinking about it. That's why it takes so long to learn: it won't work until you've trained your muscle memory to do the movement. (6) Focusing your eyes on a specific point - you should instead be taking in the 'bigger picture,' i.e. looking ahead at the direction you want to head and using your peripheral vision to allow your brain to understand what's happening in terms of the angle of bike and the direction it's moving in relative to the direction you want to go. 7. I found the optimum duration of a training session is 1 hour. As soon as you start getting physically tired or frustrated, you'll start making more mistakes and this isn't good for training your muscle memory. I like to have at least 1 day off between sessions so that you feel fresh and enthusiastic each time. If you really aren't feeling it, don't do it - an angry, rigid training session will actually set you back. (Many videos talk about 'steering with your knees' or 'turning the bars to steer.' These are just other ways of achieving the same goal, i.e. getting the bike to lean left or right. They will work, providing you understand that the objective is to get the bike to lean. Just turning the bars, or waggling your knees, without using that to change the way your body weight is pulling on the bike, will have absolutely zero effect on steering the bike. So, for example, if you want to turn the bars to steer, you need to first have you bodyweight pulling through your hands equally on both bars, and then maintain this equal pull whilst turning the bars, which will result in your torso shifting left or right which will adjust the way the bike leans. Also, it's perfectly possible to wheelie with bent arms (or one arm) as demonstrated in this video, but while you're learning it's a lot easier to just keep them straight - that removes one variable and you really want to make things as simple for yourself as possible.)
Yo, I am getting pretty good but I find it hard to feather the brake it seems like its on or off soon as I tap it drops. So I coast or apply more pressure to the pedal to keep momentum.
For me I can only op the wheel up without my finger on brake but when I put my finger on the brake I can pop it up like I lose all my strength. Pls help
Hey, do you have any tips and tricks for me, no problem getting the bike up and going for like 5 meters and then i just slam down, how do i keep it up and going?
You are the most underrated youtuber Matty.
This is absolutely the best wheelie vid on TH-cam. Thanks!
this was great! you touched on a alot of points that literally nobody talks about in their wheelie tutorials such as the sore extensor on your forearm you'll get from feathering the break to maintin the wheelie ⚡
Thanks for the video, I also just got the Mike Buff fast ripper so it was good to see a wheelie video with a fast ripper.
Yay! I've been waiting for this one! Can't wait to learn how!
Hell yeah Matty👏 thank you my friend😎
An excellent choice of bicycles!
NICE tip with the seats bro, Ill be trying this out soon
Great tips . A part 2 would be cool.
Hey man, I messaged you a while back about your old Roscoe 7, I don’t know if you remember or not. Anyway, I just picked one up and took it for my first ride today. I ate it once 🤣, but man, those tires make a huge difference! I was riding an old Specialized Hard-Rock with 26” wheels before. Man what a difference!!
Great tips man
Great video! Awesome hanging out yesterday!
Thank you I really appreciate it! I had fun also
Thanks for the tips bro!
I have just started 2 days ago, bought my first Haro 29. I wonder if I need to change my break( it's the break that comes with it when I bought) , my hands ain't big, so my finger gotta stretch harder to reach it, if u know what I mean. It just feels like a lots going on, trying to get front wheel up, and using that break. I am not sure if it's something I must get used to, or changing break would help. Anyways, I just found out your channel, great stuff, great tips. Thx for answering my question if u see this comment. Subscribed
just started bmx one week ago, practicing everyday getting the front wheel higher and higher, still cant get it where i have to jump off thanks for the motivation bigdog
se big ripper silver blue
Yes to a part 2
Almost 7,000 subs Matty! You really are a good teacher. Do you have any interest in coaching baseball, or are you all done with it?
Thank you I really appreciate it! And I was thinking about it but not sure.
Never been a first view on a video before
I just got a fast ripper and been practicing on the easiest gear, and somewhat on the second easiest. I was surprised to see you’re not using the easiest gears which is what I was looking for on here today…to see what gears guys use on the fast ripper…I’m going to try 6th out but kinda feel like it’s going to be super hard to pull up lol
I will make a updated video here soon about wheelies. I also have a fast ripper! Best and easiest bike to wheelie in my opinion
@@MattyActive another guy said 6th gear was the wheelie gear on a Facebook post I just made. I’ve been using the very easiest gear for the last couple days only. Im totally new to this shit but I didn’t feel like guys in videos were using that gear but you were the first who said it. I look forward to your next vid
another thing worth noting is your wrists will hurt like a b when your first getting conditioned slamming the wheel back down
I've adjusted my back Brake it's still to hard what should I do
Perfect timing for this video. I've been riding around with my son trying to get this wheelie thing down. I'm a little quick on the brake because I've looped out many times. Having a bigger problem with the side to side once the front wheel is up. Any tips or tricks?
I would say try to use your knees to balance. Make sure the ground your riding on is level also.
@@MattyActive side note: your soundtrack is killing it!
Make sure you are not practicing on a windy day or you are not gonna learn anything about how to move the bike right or left, the wind is gonna move your bike and you are gonna believe it was you. Put your feet well positioned over the pedals (that will help you to start with the wheel straight from the ground to up), and make sure you go straight to the balance point or is gonna be hard to control it. Once your up, imagine your knees making circles when your pedaling, a little out of the bike, and a little close to the bike. That's how you do it. If your bike goes to the right, your left knee makes a circle far from the bike and you control the direction. You need to time it because if you do it too slow, you are gonna lose the direction. If you switch to another bike that's too light weight you are gonna have to adjust the way you move. I start controling right or left the moment I put the wheel up. You are gonna realize you can control it with the knees, moving the handlebar and when I got wind I move the torso fast to compensate, and I can even move the entire bike making the hips to change the way I sit on it. The tires that Matty use are the best for swerve, but you are gonna see that a fast rolling RC tires work pretty good also. Practice and do not quit, if you want to do it, you are gonna practice everyday and eventually you are gonna get it.
Side to side balance is one of the key skills, and most TH-cam wheelie tutorials don't really explain it in a way that would make sense to a beginner. To complicate things, there are several techniques you can use. However, here's one way to do it:
1. You control the left/right direction of the bike by leaning it left or right whilst you're rolling forward. That's the only control input you have - there's no steerable front wheel on the ground.
2. You have three types of input to lean your bike left or right: your butt, your hands and your feet. All these will need to work together to make the bike lean.
3. A good exercise for a beginner is to wiggle your butt left and right as soon as you've 'popped' into the wheelie. This will start to get the 'butt steering' into muscle memory.
4. In order for your butt to be able to steer the bike, you need to take the weight off it. Otherwise, it's too hard physically and therefore too slow.
5. To take the weight off your butt: (1) pull back equally on the bar grips (your arms should be straight, and the pull is like doing a pull-up in the gym) whilst (2) pushing down equally on the pedals. This will lift some of your bodyweight off your butt.
6. Keep repeating the 'pop' followed by an attempt to steer with your butt. It will take a long time to get into muscle memory, but each fail is actually a win - you're learning something each time. Don't just accept a failed attempt though: work out what went wrong and consciously correct it every time. Common problems that will result in you immediately veering off left or right are: (1) Failing to get back to the balance point (because butt-steering is physically difficult until you reach the balance point.) Keeping your chin up and arms straight throughout the wheelie will help you get to, and stay at, the balance point. (2) Popping up with one arm bent. This will result in unequal pressure on the bars and will force the bike to turn immediately. The 'pop' should be an equal press with the heels of the palms (to get your torso moving back) followed by an equal pull with the fingers to pull the bar up. Also concentrate on making sure the 'pop' brings your head up tall and vertical - if it's off to the left or right, you'll turn. (3) Forgetting to wiggle your butt - it's easily done, and means you're a passenger rather than controlling the bike. (4) forgetting to lift some of your body weight up and off your butt by pulling on the grips and pressing on the pedals. (5) Being too rigid - it's a dynamic movement and it will only work if you're completely relaxed and your body is reacting automatically without you thinking about it. That's why it takes so long to learn: it won't work until you've trained your muscle memory to do the movement. (6) Focusing your eyes on a specific point - you should instead be taking in the 'bigger picture,' i.e. looking ahead at the direction you want to head and using your peripheral vision to allow your brain to understand what's happening in terms of the angle of bike and the direction it's moving in relative to the direction you want to go.
7. I found the optimum duration of a training session is 1 hour. As soon as you start getting physically tired or frustrated, you'll start making more mistakes and this isn't good for training your muscle memory. I like to have at least 1 day off between sessions so that you feel fresh and enthusiastic each time. If you really aren't feeling it, don't do it - an angry, rigid training session will actually set you back.
(Many videos talk about 'steering with your knees' or 'turning the bars to steer.' These are just other ways of achieving the same goal, i.e. getting the bike to lean left or right. They will work, providing you understand that the objective is to get the bike to lean. Just turning the bars, or waggling your knees, without using that to change the way your body weight is pulling on the bike, will have absolutely zero effect on steering the bike. So, for example, if you want to turn the bars to steer, you need to first have you bodyweight pulling through your hands equally on both bars, and then maintain this equal pull whilst turning the bars, which will result in your torso shifting left or right which will adjust the way the bike leans. Also, it's perfectly possible to wheelie with bent arms (or one arm) as demonstrated in this video, but while you're learning it's a lot easier to just keep them straight - that removes one variable and you really want to make things as simple for yourself as possible.)
Yo, I am getting pretty good but I find it hard to feather the brake it seems like its on or off soon as I tap it drops. So I coast or apply more pressure to the pedal to keep momentum.
Sounds like you’re there, just need to master that brake. Keep practicing and it’ll come for sure
For me I can only op the wheel up without my finger on brake but when I put my finger on the brake I can pop it up like I lose all my strength. Pls help
Nice bro. You rockin the Oakley sutro? I orderd 2 last week lol got a Troy lee edition. I need to get better at wheelies
Yea I love these glasses, didn’t know they had Troy lee edition!
Haha yeah bro 😎
Hey, do you have any tips and tricks for me, no problem getting the bike up and going for like 5 meters and then i just slam down, how do i keep it up and going?
Try to keep pedaling and go faster to keep the front wheel up
It's probably dangerous but I find it easier to get balance point n hold it for a second or 2 at higher speeds 🙈
Can you wheelie on a Marlin or any other 29er hardtail?
Yep that would be perfect to start practicing on for sure
hello! Trek Roscoe is good for wheelies? or any other mtb?
Yes the Roscoe is actually a great bike to wheelie. I used that all the time when I had my Roscoe
@@MattyActive wich size of roscoe you had? M or M/L?
Will maxxis tires help you wheelie better?
Yes
If I’m barely learning how to wheelie should I lower my gear ratio from 46/16 to 39/16?
No you don’t need to. Just have to practice a lot and see what gear feels best for you
The gear I have 46/16 feels to heavy and hard to get the front wheel up
@@dannym4717 oh yea then you definitely should change it. You want to practice in a lighter gear first
@@MattyActive Okay thank you 👍
i used to do this in fourth grade
Is it possible to wheelie a hybrid bike?
For sure. You can wheelie any bike with a good rear brake in my opinion
Where do you get your se bikes from
Derby bicycle center in the Denver area
That's where I got my so cal flyer from
What was the gear u were in
6th
How can you do a wheelie on 6th gear isn’t it to hard
I've been practicing wheeling for 8 months and can only go 2 meters
Practice hours n hours not minutes at a time like me