What is the Manual Move in BMX Riding?

Series Summary

A fairly recent craze has hit cyclist everywhere. Bicycle MotoX, known as BMX, has gained international attention. Formed in California in the late 1960s, BMX originated from a group of young teenagers engaged in some healthy imaginative play. Imitating their motocross heroes, these kids started to do tricks on their bicycles. Extreme sports has never been the same. Now, there are extreme BMX competitions all over the world! Within these competitions, two primary forms of BMXing emerge: racing and freestyle. BMX racing focusing on the racer who can most successfully master rough terrain and dirt jumps. Freestyle BMX riders are asked to creatively blend tricks and stunts to achieve mystifying combinations.

In this free video series, let Garson Fields show you some simple freestyle tricks to begin your BMX experience. He will show you how to do various manual tricks on your BMX bike. Also, learn how to ride your BMX bike backwards. Garson gives advice about maintaining weight distribution and controlling your speed. With his help, you can start riding your own BMX bike today. Who knows? You may even start creating your own BMX freestyle moves.

Video Transcript

"Much like a bunny hop a manual is really elementary maneuver that really you only get better at with time. It takes a lot of practice but once you get it really down it is definitely worth the time that you spent to learn it. A manual in ascent is a wheelie without pedal so you basically get off of the back of the bike and you coast a wheelie. This skill is really important for pretty much any aspect of BMX riding if it be freestyle, racing, any pretty much anything you can do is a really good way to link in between tricks, fun little thing to do between lines, even if you are jut pedaling around. So it is really a worth while skill to learn. It takes a lot of practice and it actually babels a lot of people sometimes years. I have friends who after years of practicing still can't manual more then a couple of feet but hopefully with this how to information you should be able to have your manuals dialed in a little bit better and hopefully it would help you in all the different riding that you are doing."