[loosecanon]

hey fellas! I've been riding a Trek Bruiser 26" HT for a few yrs. now. I have no problem hitting ramps and doing wheelie drops up to 5 ft. on this bike, but trying 5ft. drops on the Haro Shredder BMX bike I just got has been deadly for me. The bike is friggin' heavy and I can't get pull it back far enough to make sure my rear wheel hits first. Instead my front wheel crashes into the pavement and I go flying. Not good! Please give me some tips on how to handle these big drops on my heavy-ass 20" BMX bike! I have already brought the bars closer in which has helped, but I need to work on my technique w/ my new 20 inch. All help is well appreciated! -LC

 

[Mudpuppy]

If the problem is the weight then you should workout some. No, but maybe practice more with it. I had some problems with my bmx also but my main problem was that I wasn't used to the higher gearing.

I'd recommend just practicing doing power wheelies on flat until you're confident. But you could get a smaller chainwheel. That would make it easier to get the front up.

 

[pnj]

if you can do them on your other bike then you can do them on the bmx.

the style is different though, as you've found out.

it's not really a weight issue. it's a balance point issue.

just practice on smaller stuff. find a curb and re-learn them on that.

once you figure out the balance point of the smaller bike, you'll be able to do them anywhere.

I find that when i'm learning something old on a new bike, i just need to back down a few notches and take a little bit of time to re-adjust. that saves me from killing myself but teaches me what I need to be doing w/ the different bike.

so slow down, relax and have fun. the rest will follow.

 

[Hacim]

do everyone a favor and don't do wheelies on a 20'' do manuals. they look so much better and they are a little more difficult so you will get more props from the bros you ride wide with.

 

[pnj]

Originally posted by Hacim
do everyone a favor and don't do wheelies on a 20'' do manuals. they look so much better and they are a little more difficult so you will get more props from the bros you ride wide with.

by doing wheelies on your 20 inch you are giving props to the grandfathers of bmx.

he didn't ask how to do wheelies. he asked how to do wheelie drops.

i would suggest not doing wheelie drops and just riding off the drop at a faster speed.

 

[Hacim]

good point, but you must admit wheelies look kind of gay compared to manuals... they are just so damn old school

 

[pnj]

Originally posted by Hacim
good point, but you must admit wheelies look kind of gay compared to manuals... they are just so damn old school

i have this thing about riding that doesn't really alow me to judge others riding. I kind of pretend I am the only one that has a bike and that everyone else is blind.

so if i'm doing a sit down old school wheelie and it feels good, i keep doing it. I try not to let the fact that someone else might think it is gay looking.

but coasting on just your rear wheel without pedaling feels better in most cases. and of course they look better....

i'm sure that made very little sense to anyone but me.

 

[Mudpuppy]

It made sense to me.

I'll do wheelies if I feel like it!:angry:

I don't ride my bike because other people think it's cool. If I wanted to be cool I'd play football or something.

I ride for me and I like wheelies.

 

[pot]

Don't wheelie drop unless you have to just drop and position you weight better start off with curbs and progress from there or you can bunny hop off which can put you in a better postion ( some people do tend to loop out on landing. a wheelie drop is wasted on a bmx as they are more manuevorable.

 

[Echo]

Practice practice practice. But I don't think many people wheelie drop BMX's. Better off manualing.

 

[shifty S]

owie!

just thinking of doing drops on a 20"er is scaring my wrists. its bad enough on my rigid 24"er, but that extra few inches gives me the ability to set the wheel down instead of dropping it. i would assume if you get to the right point you could do the same on a bmx bike

 

[SwisSlesS]

Getting an easier gear ratio would be one thing you could do. But if you don't want to go down that I road, I agree with the other people who say you should do manual drops .

 

[RandomV]

You need to pull up harder. And if you're pedaling to bring the front end up, really mash it down. That should help. Also, instead of just dropping off the ledge or whatever, you should try bunnyhopping off. That'll help you land better. All in all, doing drops of that size is gonna kill your wrists and ankles however you do it.

 

[pnj]

don't trials riders do wheelie drops alot? and don't they ride 20 inch wheels sometimes too?

 

[Mudpuppy]

Originally posted by pnj
don't trials riders do wheelie drops alot? and don't they ride 20 inch wheels sometimes too?

Yes, but they have like a 1:1 gear ratio and 19lb bikes too.

 

[Rik]

But remember, most trials moves are fairly static, as in, roll up to ledge, scope landing, position body right, drop, land on big fat rear tyre and let the front end down gradually. Remember, the light bike and fat tyres help, as does the way they land...

If you hit a ledge at speed, it's basically hold on tight and make sure the rear lands first, not much time for maneuvering the bike. When I used to bash about on my 20", I'd take drops as fast as possible, and had my weight very rear, lifted the front end slightly as I left the ledge, and that was it, no wheeling, only a tiny "manual".

 

[giantrider89]

yeah, kinda sounds like your trying to do trials on the equivalent of two trials bikes...Maybe just get a stock trials bike, they look cooler too

 

[manhattanprjkt83]

 

[sayndesyn]

bwahahahah.. how the hell do people not realize it when a thread is 3 years old..