How To Fakie

[duane]

Hi,

Any tips on how to fakie, however high or low I take the endo, I come down with no backwards momentum at all. I have tried using a slope to help, but the I still come down and stall on the spot, help !

Duane.

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

Fakie...asin roll backwards??

[Tomm]

Hi,

Any tips on how to fakie, however high or low I take the endo, I come down with no backwards momentum at all. I have tried using a slope to help, but the I still come down and stall on the spot, help !

Duane.

You're pedalling backwards, right? If you're not, you need to. I recommend starting on a steep-ish hill (E.g. a steep road or something, nothing too steep) and just rolling up it with a bit of momentum until you come to a stop. At this point you'll start rolling backwards obviously, but it's not so rushed as with an endo

[haydon_peter]

Also dont forget to master track stands! Track standing is the most important skill you will ever master on a bike! It will help you with any low speed moves in any type of cycling!

[ghosts_cloak]

Hi,

I used to find that also (no momentum after the endo). If you have your weight a little more forward than normal when you do the endo, then as you land quickly shift your weight backwards you will be rolling backwards fairly quickly! You will know when you have got the motion right as you will have plenty of momentum, if you jump back to early or late however it will feel "forced" and wont work.

Gareth

[Dan6061]

Endo - let go of the brake - pull back - pedal backwards.

[jay119]

I find that dropping the back wheel fairly hard after the endo gives me momentum.

[PaRtZ]

I foun bunnyhopping helps when learning cos i cant correct my balance when I go back, so i just do 1 complete pedal rotation, hop, pedal back again, hop again etc etc

Its not very graceful, but it works

[craigjames]

try it from a 180 endo, roll at just over jogging speed, 180 endo, as you feel the freewheel kick in pedal slowly backwars, you want to pedal no faster than the actual chain moves, basically to stop the hub engaging, as you feel your speed going calmy turn the bars to 90 degrees and lean into the turna nd you should end up facing the right way

thats the way i learned

trying to learn off of 180 drops now, thats har dot keep the momentum!!

hope this helps

craig

[Jez]

Possible problem you may have is letting the front brake off before the back wheel touches down. If you let the front brake off as a means of dropping the back, it robs you of your momentum. Take it off *just* before the back wheel touches the floor and you should be fine. And like someone said, move your weight back and pull on the bars a bit as your back wheel touches down.

[joshywa]

I find the best trick is to allow the pedals to turni the cranks and move your legs acordingly, if you go too fast it becomes harder to balance IMO !

Also learn them at a slower pace and gradualy build up i.e. start on flat grond with a small endo then slowy move onto a bank/slope.

[Krisboats]

I find the best trick is to allow the pedals to turni the cranks and move your legs acordingly, if you go too fast it becomes harder to balance IMO !

Also learn them at a slower pace and gradualy build up i.e. start on flat grond with a small endo then slowy move onto a bank/slope.

Nah, find a bank/slope/half pipe ride up it a couple of feet, well however far you feel comfortable with really. As you get to the apex of your ascent up the said slope i.e. the point at which you stop going up do a little hop so that the bike comes off the floor, this helps build up a bit of momentum and helps to prepare you for when you start to fakie out of abubaca's and things.... you'll be prepared and used to fakieing as soon as you land so it won't be as hard to master.

Land this little hop with the brakes off and for a starter just land and allow the bike to roll back, peddling slightly faster than the chain is moving so that your slow turning feet don't accidentally slow the backwards travel of the bike, this will allow you to travel further backwards when your just starting because if you try to control the speed using your peddles like you will do when you get more skilled at doing it you will be more likely to loose your balance.

Keep trying it and eventually you'll notice an increase in your ability to fakie and this is the time you want to start thinking about spinning out of the fakie, this is ideally done with the rear brake when your first starting, you'll want to be fakieing and the start to turn the bars in the opposite direction to which way you want to spin. As you start to turn apply the brake slightly and lift the front wheel off the floor to leave just the rear wheel on the floor and effectively increase the spinning speed. PLace the front wheel back down again when your ready and you should be riding away nicely.

To imporve this move you can start to control the fakie with the use of your peddles, don't use the rear brake at all and instead slow your peddling rotation down to cause the hub to engage, at the same time as engaging the hub turn the bars lift the front wheel and spin round, still keeping the hub engaged. you will now be able to give a little peddle stroke and spin the bike round further and slower, somethign which looks very cool indeed.

Most of all, have fun

[duane]

Thanks all for the suggestions, I will have a go tonight and let you know how I get on,

Thanks

Duane.

[Brian Bleech]

Keep your pedalling smooth too

trying to learn fakie to 180 up onto something, but its so hard...

[Tomm]

Keep your pedalling smooth too

trying to learn fakie to 180 up onto something, but its so hard...

Haha, I've been trying fakie to up something backwards, now that's hard. I didn't think it was possible, but Leech does it in Manifesto. b*****d!

[mat hudson]

Keep trying it and eventually you'll notice an increase in your ability to fakie and this is the time you want to start thinking about spinning out of the fakie, this is ideally done with the rear brake pedal pressure when your first starting, you'll want to be fakieing and the start to turn the bars in the opposite direction to which way you want to spin. As you start to turn apply the brake slightly and lift the front wheel off the floor to leave just the rear wheel on the floor and effectively increase the spinning speed. PLace the front wheel back down again when your ready and you should be riding away nicely.

[Krisboats]

Nah, rear brake helps beinners loads more.

[boon racoon]

you'll learn to fakie a hundred times better if you do it without your fingers over the brake...ride deathgrip to practice.

[mat hudson]

Nah, rear brake helps beinners loads more.

yer it helps begginers, thats why i used to do it, and it took me ages to get out of the habbit. best start as you mean to go on.

[duane]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the previous replies, I have been trying to fakie off and on since my original post. I can now consistently get enough momentum out of an endo and about 200 times too much momentum out of a front wheel stall on a 1 foot curb. The problem now is that I dont know whether I should be turning the bars in the direct in which the bike is leaning (and ultimatley falling) or the opposite direction, I have tried both but can't see any difference ?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Duane.

[eskimo]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the previous replies, I have been trying to fakie off and on since my original post. I can now consistently get enough momentum out of an endo and about 200 times too much momentum out of a front wheel stall on a 1 foot curb. The problem now is that I dont know whether I should be turning the bars in the direct in which the bike is leaning (and ultimatley falling) or the opposite direction, I have tried both but can't see any difference ?

You mean turning back round out of a fakie?

Try pulling your rear brake when your bike comes round to 90degrees to bring the front wheel up. With enough momentum the bike should turn around by its self.

Hope that helps. Be easier if someone showed you.

Keep practicing.

[duane]

Hi Eskimo,

At the moment I am not worried about turning back out of fakie, I can pretty much 180 from static so that should be a problem. I just want to be able to roll backwards for more than a bike length, but can't due to falling to one side or the other, how do I counter falling to the left for example ?

Cheers

Duane.

[eskimo]

Try hoping to straighten yourself up or hop to regain balance. That might work for you. It should center your balance every time you hop.

When you say you fall to the left, do you mean you just lean to much to one side or do you turn your front wheel and then loose balance?

Try keeping your feet on at all costs and see what happens. It is rather funny especially on a bmx as your pedal will hit the floor and you will spin out of control and proberly/ will go flying but you should end up rolling out of it. So it won't hurt

[duane]

I want to try and avoid hopping and just steer to stay up, so if I initiate the move with a straight endo which comes down straight, I roll backwards for at most a bike length before the bike keels over to one side or the other, I could learn to hop the bike back under me, but surley there is a way to steer it back under or something else cleaner than hopping ?

[Heatsink]

Another fakie variation to try; roll up to a curb at wallking pace and tip the bike forward using only your body weight and not using any brakes. If you tip enough then the front wheel will compress against the curb as your rear wheel rises and not bump up and over it. When the back wheel lands simply do the usual back pedalling and pulling backwards and turn the handle bars so the bike reverses and turns to face the other direction.

Sometimes if the reverse causes me to loose balance then putting the brakes on and doing a little horizontal hop to bring both wheels underneath the bike helps.

It's quite a useful little trick for manoevering your bike around just using your rolling momentum, and you can do it off walls, posts etc too.

It's quite cool to be able to reverse your bike in circles with successive squeezes of the front brake + body weight forward when brake is on to compress the tyre followed by a pull back. You get questions from observers as to whether you have a special drivetrain without a freewheel. I think the fakie riding is more impressive to the public than we may think.

I always turn the same direction as I reverse, and being able to ride backwards in a straight line would be harder!

Steve